Salted Caramel Macarons Dipped in Chocolate & Praline Crumble

Mom’s here for a fun-filled Mother’s Day weekend in Chicago and I couldn’t be more happy to have her here! We walked around in Lincoln Park this afternoon and had lunch together. When we left the restaurant, she caught notice of a French Macaron shop, so I asked if she’d be interested in making them ourselves this afternoon instead – so that’s what we did! We made French Macarons filled with salted caramel buttercream that we dipped in dark chocolate, then dipped in praline crumble – YUM, this was seriously so good!! I veered away from this recipe slightly and used pure-cane sugar instead of superfine sugar, and since Macarons can be so finicky we had a few that didn’t make it, so make sure you stick to this original recipe below from Food Network and you won’t regret it! 🙂

Macaron Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bobby Flay’s Salted Caramel Ingredients:

• 1 cup pure-cane sugar (or granulated)
• 1/2cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs unsalted butter
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste

Buttercream Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup homemade salted caramel

Praline Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of pure-cane sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped or ground walnuts
• 8-16oz dark baking chocolate based on how much Macaron you want to coat

1. Preheat your oven to 300 on the convection setting.
2. Prep 2 baking sheets with silicone mats. Have a third flat baking sheet out as well.
3. Place parchment paper on an additional baking sheet for the praline to set.
4. To make the Macaron shells, whisk together the almond flour and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl, then sift through a fine mesh in another bowl until you are left with about 2 tbs of remaining almond flour that wasn’t fine enough to make it through the mesh.
5. On high speed in a stand mixer, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Slow down to medium speed and gradually add the superfine sugar then mix on high until stiff in texture and shiny in appearance – about 5 minutes.
6. Fold the egg white mixture into the dry flour ingredients until well combined, then add your vanilla extract and fold again until well-combined.
7. Put the batter in a pastry bag with a 1/4 inch tip and pipe the batter onto the silicone mat with 1-2 inches in between each circle. Keep the tip close to the mat. Be sure the amount your piping is as similar as possible since you’ll be sandwiching these together.
8. Place the baking sheet on the additional baking sheet (so you’re using 2 baking sheets) and bake for 18-20 minutes until they have risen to form “foots” on the bottom.
9. While the Macarons bake, make your caramel by melting the sugar in a pan with 1/4 cup cold water on medium heat. In another small pan, warm up your cream. When the sugar is amber in color, remove from the heat and add your cream, whisking together and placing back over the heat on low to simmer for about 2 more minutes. Then remove from the heat and stir in the butter and salt. Pour the caramel into a glass container and set aside.
10. For the salted caramel buttercream filling, whisk together the butter and confectioners sugar on high speed until light and fluffy then add the vanilla and continue to mix. Once the salted caramel has cooled, gently fold in 1/3 cup into the buttercream mixture and set aside (you’ll have leftover salted caramel, which is awesome because who doesn’t want homemade caramel for an ice cream topper). Put mixture in a piping back with a tip of your choice.
11. To make the praline, melt the sugar in a pan over medium heat and add the finely chopped walnuts stirring to coat. Pour the mixture on the baking sheet with parchment paper and allow to set and harden. Once hardened, pulse together in a food process to get a ground/roughly chopped combination and set aside in a bowl.
12. Once the Macarons have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Grab one Macaron shell and pipe the salted caramel buttercream filling on the inside then sandwich it together with another shell. Continue this process until all of your Macarons are assembled, then place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
13. Melt your desired amount of chocolate in a double boiler, then dip the Macaroons one at a time into the chocolate, then into the praline mixture. You now have delicious Macarons to share with the ones you love!

This is a bit lengthier of a process, but these textures and flavors are well worth it! The Macaron’s are pillowy and melt in your mouth, the salted caramel buttercream is smooth and balances out the sweet, then you have the rich dark chocolate and praline that takes it to another level! SO good!

Mom & Macarons ❤

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