Salted Vanilla Caramel Macarons

Unfilled Shells

SALTED VANILLA CARAMEL MACARONS 
Ingredients
125g Fresh Pouring Cream (min 35% fat)
175g caster sugar
5g Fleur de Sel (or substitute Maldon sea salt)
175g unsalted butter (chopped into small cubes)
1 vanilla bean (seeds removed)

Step 1. MAKE THE CARAMEL: Melt the sugar over low heat until it caramelises. Heat the cream and vanilla seeds in a separate saucepan until it reaches boiling point then slowly pour it into the melted sugar.  Blend with a whisk and allow the caramel to cool.  When it reaches 45 degrees celsius add the butter and whisk until well combined. Pour into a shallow stainless steel tray, place cling wrap on the top, to prevent a skin from forming, then cool in the fridge. When set, remove from the fridge, bring back to room temperature, sprinkle the salt on top and hand whisk again until the colour changes and it becomes glossy.

Step 2. MAKE THE MACARONS: Follow the basic recipe and make 1 quantity of macarons coloured caramel.

Step 3. FILL YOUR MACARONS

This is also my entry for Mactweets.  Salted Caramel Macarons are a favourite in our household and I think I would have been in lots of trouble had I not made them during the holidays so here they are with a vanilla twist.  The colour reminds me of autumn but the saltiness reminds me of an Australian summer at the beach! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all at Mactweets.

Orange Flower Water Macarons

To make these macarons follow the basic recipe and colour the shells orange.  Make a white chocolate ganache with a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to cream and add a tablespoon of orange flower water. 

Zumbo's Salt and Vinegar Macaron

Zumbo's Salt & Vinegar Macarons

To make Zumbo's Salt & Vinegar Macarons, make two batches of my basic macaron recipe, one coloured purple and the other brown.  

To make an adapted version of the ganache set aside 50g Modena Aged Balsamic Vinegar, 2g Maldon Sea Salt flakes, 240g White Chocolate & 140g Pouring Cream (minimum 35% fat).

Bring the cream to the boil then blend with the white chocolate

In a slow stream add the balsamic vinegar and combine, fold in the salt then allow to set

Pipe your macarons and assemble. Store in the fridge for at least 12 hours but preferably 24 hours before eating - try to resist the temptation.

I'm not exactly a fan of salt and vinegar crisps so I'm doubtful that these we will be my favourite but we'll see. They're currently in the Perfect Fresh zone in my new Miele fridge soaking up all that lovely humidity!

I just checked the macarons after 12 hours and they still don't have that lovely fudgy chewiness inside yet.  This is because Zumbo's recipes don't make as much filling compared to Pierre Herme.  Had I made Pierre Herme's recipe with oodles of ganache these would have been ready to consume by now but because the filling is sparse they need another 12 hours to mature. I'm rather fussy as I like my macarons to have the perfect texture both inside and out - nothing worse than crisp flavourless shells. 

After 24 hours these macarons were just PERFECT and gave salted caramel a run for their money!

Zumbo's Strawberry Bubblegum Macaron

This Teaberry Gum Stand is perfect to display Hubba Bubba Bubblegum, French brand 'Malabar' would work just as well

Pop Rocks

The biggest tip that I've got when you make some of Adriano Zumbo's recipes in his new book Zumbo is to prepare as much as you can in advance so that it makes your job easier.  There is nothing worse than learning a new recipe and trying to tackle too much, spending hours in the kitchen and getting stressed.  Who wants that... nuh uh not me!  So I've bought my ingredients and all's good.  I plan to make these beauties on the weekend and although I haven't planned when, I've already started on the pop rock insert.  This recipe is going to be a bit like your progressive dinner party in that I'm going to do a bit of this and a bit of that then update this post. And, by the end hopefully it'll be an explosive hit!  

Zumbo's strawberry bubblegum macaron comprises of the basic macaron recipe, the strawberry bubblegum ganache and the pop rock insert.  

Day One - I decided to prepare the pop rock insert, turned the music up loud and had an awesome time consuming  Blue Raspberry Pop Rocks whilst I worked.  This part of the recipe is easy peasy lemon squeezy! 

Slowly microwave the cocoa butter

When it cools to 32 degrees celsius add the pop rocks and combine

You can get colour coated pop rocks or plain from Melbourne Food Ingredients Depot

This dim sum rolling pin I bought in Hong Kong worked wonders 

Roll out until a couple of mm thick and allow to set 

Work really hard to feed your face whilst concentrating

Day Two - I followed  Zumbo's basic macaron recipe instead of my own.  I made the shells with fresh egg whites and 2 grams of egg white powder just to see how they would turn out.

mmmm, not bad at all

I also smooshed up the strawberries and popped them in the fridge ready for when I need to make the ganache.  

I used 2 punnets of strawberries to get 150g of strawberry puree

Strawberry Pureee done and dusted

And, I  broke up the pop rock insert.

Day Three - Today, I made the strawberry bubblegum ganache and assembled the macarons.

First I heated the strawberry puree and bubblegum

As soon as it reached near boiling point I blended it with a stick mixer

The ganache is made of white chocolate,  cocoa butter,  butter, strawberry puree & bubblegum - there's a link to Zumbo's recipe at the bottom of this post. 

I poured the strawberry puree & bubblegum mix over the chocolate.  When cool I added the butter and cocoa butter then mixed it with a stick blender.

Bubbalicious

After I made the ganache I popped it into the fridge to set.  Then when ready I piped a very small blob onto each macaron to fix the pop rock insert.

Very posh Hubba Bubba indeed!

OMG - I'm still in shock that I made these with FRESH egg whites

These were a lot of fun to make and since its Pinktober I had to absolutely positively enter my Strawberry Bubblegum Zumbarons into this months Mactweets challenge.  Please support Breast Cancer Awareness Week.  And, remember gorgeous girls don't forget regular pap smear tests and mammograms!  

I also had to add this cool photo of a psychedelic strawberry bubblegum macaron made with leftover shells stored in my freezer.  You can see the pop rocks in the middle.  My daughters couldn't get enough of these and thought that they were AMAZING! 

For the full version of Zumbo's macaron recipe and strawberry bubblegum ganache click here.

Update: As at 19 June 13 'The Wrigley Company' confirmed to me via email that Hubba Bubba Original Gum has been discontinued.  I'm very sad :(

Zumbo's Salted Butter Popcorn Macaron

Adriano Zumbo - if you're reading this, now it's your turn to critique my macarons!   Maybe they don't look as good as yours and possibly I put too much melted butter on top of the shells.  And, I most certainly wasn't as adept as you putting the popcorn on top but I will tell you something... I had a bloody good time undertaking the challenge! Just please send an army of oompa loompas to clean up the popcorn!  

Today, I've literally spent hours in the kitchen covered in popcorn and have possibly made the biggest mess ever!  I mixed and wizzed and piped and sprinkled and today for the first time ever made some French buttercream - OH YEAH!  I was totally in my comfort zone preparing the sugar syrup, a bit like making Italian meringue really but then I was totally intrigued about how the whole thing was going to come together as instead of pouring the sugar syrup into egg whites I was pouring it into egg yolks.  The mixture looked really runny for a while and I was starting to panic when Willy Wonka must of heard my pleas for help and voila it just magically transformed into this beautiful, luxurious and delicious thick buttercream. Phew!  Just wish, however, there was more of it as I do like to pipe a generous amount of filling into my macarons.  Next time, I'll double the quantity.

Thanks Adriano for a messy but totally awesome afternoon.  Also, if you've got any more tips to help us domestic goddess's improve please leave a comment.

Pierre Herme & Adriano Zumbo - Books Released September 2011

September seems to be the perfect month to release a book.  Now, I'm not talking just any book either.  First, we had Pierre Herme's English Edition of Macaron released on 19 September 2011 and then OMG, Adriano Zumbo, the Willy Wonka of patisserie released a book too. 


As somebody who is somewhat keen on making macarons - ummm, is it obvious - I had to absolutely, positively get my hands on these bibles a) before the blogosphere gets hold of them and they all sell out; and b) to learn some more secrets!

The average cook may find these books sitting on their kitchen shelves collecting dust as they involve technique, patience and lots and lots of time.  Time is something that we all lack including me but with dogged determination I still churn out little French delicacies albeit not while I'm sick - you just need to be super organised.  Some of Zumbo's recipes are super time intensive and include anywhere between 5 -7 different lots of instructions.  One recipe may even be spaced over several pages.  Pierre's on the hand are repetitive as the instructions for the macaron shells appear in every recipe but hey, the guy has class.  And, after all he is THE macaron master so can be excused.  Some of the photo's and terminology in Zumbo's book are a tad on the tacky side but the level of detail in his instruction more than compensate for this.  Other photo's however, are amazing.  It's also fairly obvious that Zumbo agrees that cooking both involves science and art and this is my sentiment exactly. 


The book includes sections on zumbarons i.e. macarons, chocolates, pastries, gateaux de voyage, cakes and desserts.  It also includes basic recipes and a glossary.  What I love about Zumbo, despite the tacky terminology, is that he thinks outside the box and the recipes are quirky and nothing short of amazing.   I love the flavour combinations, colour, textural elements and artistic execution.  This book is a keeper and pretty much blows most of the other cook books in the market out of the water... sorry guys, but they're just a bit too dull really.  My advice - take note of Pierre Herme & Zumbo and add a bit of creative genius!

Nonetheless, I reckon my macaron library is pretty much complete.  I've got Laduree Sucre: The Recipes, Pierre Herme the English Edition and now Zumbo. 


My extremely busy bee weekend trialled Pierre Herme's gelee and compote concept but now I'm keen to tackle some more demanding recipes contained within Zumbo's book. Zumbo's instructions suit me down to the ground and I'm sure I'll spend many a weekend pouring over the words. 

I now have the extremely difficult task of choosing which macaron to make first... chocolate h2O, cherry coconut, vegemite, pandan coconut, chocolate and peanut butter jelly, salt and vinegar or rice pudding?  There's quite a few more macaron recipes too but you'll just have to order the book to find out what they are.  


Recommended retail price for Zumbo is about $50 but you can get it from Borders for $34.95 with free delivery (within Australia).


Anyway, I'm off to the kitchen to make maybe salted butter popcorn or rice pudding... or even both.  Make sure you come back soon to check them out.


p.s. My macaron recipe closely resembles Pierre Herme and I've noticed that Zumbo's does too... accordingly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Also, if you're having trouble trying to find the ingredients listed in the glossary visit my post Macaron Ingredients Online.