Chocolate & Salted Caramel Macarons

Step 1

Put one third of the granulated sugar into a saucepan and place on a medium heat, when it dissolves add the next third of sugar. Once that has melted, the final batch of sugar can be added.

Step 2

Heat the sugar until it turns a golden colour.

Step 3

Turn the heat down to low and add the cream in small batches. Take care as the mixture will bubble up, so you will need to stir quite quickly.

Step 4

When all of the cream has been added, take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter, this stops the caramel from cooking any further.

Step 5

Finally use an immersion or stick blender to mix the caramel until the butter and caramel are combined.

Step 6

Pour into a bowl, cover with cling-film, making sure the cling-film touches the surface of the caramel and put it in the fridge to chill.

Step 7

Preheat the oven to 170C Fan and line four baking trays with baking parchment, if using templates place these under the baking parchment. I used 3.5cm templates, but you can use anything up to 5cm, but you will have less macarons.

Step 8

Add the water and granulated sugar to a pan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Step 9

Put half of the egg whites into a stand mixer and whisk them on a medium speed until frothy.

Step 10

Bring the syrup to a boil and heat until it reaches 118 degrees.

Step 11

Pour the syrup in a slow steady stream into the egg whites as they are being whipped on a high speed. Keep whipping until the meringue forms a stiff peak, about 5mins. Add the red food colouring, enough so that it is a pale pink shade.

Step 12

Grind the ground almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar together in a food processor and then sift them into a clean bowl.

Step 13

Add the remaining egg whites to this mix and beat it, until it forms a paste.

Step 14

Add a third of the meringue to the almond paste and beat it in thoroughly.

Step 15

Fold through the remaining meringue, ensure the ingredients are mixed thoroughly.

Step 16

Put the macaron mix into a piping bag and pipe out the macarons, you will have enough to make around 48 whole maarons.

Step 17

Tap the bottom of the tray to remove any bumps or air pockets, then put the macarons in the oven for 12-14 mins per tray. Turn the trays halfway through cooking to ensure an even bake.

Step 18

Let the cooked macarons cool completely before trying to remove them from the tray.

Step 19

Then sandwich the macarons together with the a ring of chocolate ganache filled with a blob of salted caramel and place them in the fridge to set.

Step 20

Macarons are usually best left in the fridge for a few hours before eating, so that they can set, take them out the fridge 30mins before serving.