Sweet 16 Macarons

A friend of recently came to me asking whether I would be interested in making some macarons for her daughter's 16th 'High Tea' themed birthday party.

My response: "umm, hell yeah!"

Having tasted some of my salted caramel macarons before these were definitely one flavour she was keen to have and I can understand why! The sweetness of the caramel enhanced by the salt flakes - dreamy! To mix it up a bit I also decided to do some Jaffa flavoured ones because, well, who doesn't like a little choc/orange sweetness in their lives?

Overall I was pretty pleased with how they turned out (and so was my friend and her daughter most importantly!) and so I present to you the recipes for salted caramel and jaffa macarons, perfect for a High Tea party or as a delicious snack with a cup of coffee...

A stack of salty sweetness!

Jaffa anyone?

 

 

 

 

For the Salted Caramel (recipe from Adriano Zumbo's Zumbaroons)

 

Ingredients:

• 1 x quantity of macaron shells, tinted light brown (see basic recipe here)

• 220g whipping cream (35% fat)
• 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (or you can use 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence)
• 120g water
• 300g caster sugar
• 60g liquid glucose 

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 5g sea salt flakes

Method:

1. Place the cream and vanilla in a bowl and microwave for about 1 minute or until it just starts to boil (then remove vanilla bean if your using one)
2. Place the water, sugar and glucose in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat and cook until the glucose and sugar are fully dissolved, stirring occasionally
3. Increase the heat to medium, and cook the sugar mixture until it reaches a dark amber colour - don't worry if it seems to be taking a long time, patience is a virtue!
4. Remove from heat and, whisking the sugar mix constantly, carefully pour the warm cream into the saucepan - WATCH OUT! the hot sugar will spit when the cream hits it!
5. Continue whisking the mix until totally smooth and pour into a bowl and set aside to cool completely.
6. With an electric mixer beat the sugar until light and fluffy and gradually beat in the cold caramel mixture (you may not need to add all the caramel, just enough that the mixture is at a pipeable consistency and too your taste!)
7. Stir in the salt a pinch at a time (again, add as much or as little as your taste buds prefer).
8. Refrigerate the mixture until it is firm enough to pipe onto your shells without running off the edges and get piping!
9. Refrigerate the assembled macarons to allow them to set and then bring to room temperature to serve.

Voila!

For the Jaffa Macarons

 

Ingredients:

• 1 x quantity of macaron shells, coloured with swirls of orange (see basic recipe here)

• 300g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 100ml whipping cream (35% fat content)
• 1 x Orange

Method:

1. Place the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 30 second bursts, stirring in between each time, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth when stirred. Alternatively you could do this on a stove top using a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.
2. Set aside to cool to room temperature
3. Zest the orange and add to the cooled ganache.  
4. Juice the zested orange and add as much or as little juice as you desire - I was using a chocolate with a very high cocoa content so used all of the juice to balance it's intensity but you can adjust it to suit your taste, the type of chocolate used etc.
5. Refrigerate the ganache mix until it is at a pipable consistency and pipe onto your macaron shells. 
6. Sandwich the shells together and enjoy!