These salted caramel macarons are a perfect combination of sweet and salty. They’re made with creamy salted caramel buttercream and topped off with a royal icing drizzle sprinkled with salt.
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Salted Caramel Macaron Recipe
- Powdered sugar – same as confectioner’s sugar
- Almond flour – use blanched almond flour so you don’t get brown bits in your shells
- Egg whites – use room temperature egg whites
- Granulated sugar – you can also use caster sugar which is a bit finer
- Powdered egg whites – powdered egg whites help if you’re having trouble getting a strong meringue
- Vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring – 2 drops of orange gel food coloring
How to Make Salted Caramel Macarons
- Prepare the dry ingredients – weigh and sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together.
- Make the meringue – whisk the egg whites until you have medium peaks. Add the vanilla extract and gel food coloring, and then continue whisking until you have stiff peaks.
- Combine ingredients – add the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture to the meringue in three parts, folding and deflating the meringue until you have a batter that flows down in ribbons.
- Pipe the shells – pipe the shells in 3/4 inch circles about an inch apart.
- Tap the baking sheet – in order to get rid of air bubbles, tap the baking sheet about 8 times against the counter. If you see a few bubbles appear at the top of the shells, you can pop those with a toothpick or scribe.
- Rest the macarons – the macarons will need to rest until the shells are dry, this can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the level of humidity in your kitchen. If you touch the shell and the batter isn’t sticky, they’re ready to bake.
- Bake the macarons – bake at 300F-310F for about 14-16 minutes. You should start to see feet forming about 5 minutes into baking.
- Rest the baked macarons – let the macarons cool for about 15 minutes before removing from baking sheet.
- Decorate the macarons – drizzle royal icing on the shells and top with salt.
- Make the salted caramel buttercream – using the whisk or paddle attachment, combine the powdered sugar and butter until creamy. Set aside.
- Make the caramel sauce – place 8 soft caramel candies, milk, and salt in a small bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until melted and let cool for a few minutes. Add to the buttercream and whisk until fully combined.
- Assemble the macarons – Pipe the buttercream on half of the macarons and top with the remaining half.
Easy Salted Caramel Sauce
- Soft caramel candies
- Milk
- Salt
This is the easiest salted caramel sauce you’ll ever make. It uses only three ingredients and takes two minutes to prepare. The trick to this sauce is the soft caramel candies. The caramel sauce is essentially made for you, and you just have to add milk and salt. Combine the candies, milk, and salt in a small bowl and microwave. You can also make the sauce on the stove top using a saucepan if you prefer. Easy and delicious!
Can I Melt Caramels in the Microwave?
Absolutely! Place the candies, milk, and salt in a small bowl and microwave for two minutes. Stir until melted.
How to Store Salted Caramel Sauce
Store salted caramel sauce in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to a month. The sauce will solidify so you will need to reheat in the microwave or the stove top when you’re ready to use it.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- Powdered sugar – you can sift it, but it’s not really necessary
- Salted Butter – room temperature
- Salted caramel sauce
Combine the powdered sugar and salted butter and whisk until creamy. Add the salted caramel sauce and continue whisking until fully combined.
Can I Use Salted Butter Instead of Unsalted for Buttercream?
Yes. I always use salted butter in my buttercream to balance the sweetness of the powdered sugar.
Why Are My Macarons Not Chewy?
If your macarons are not chewy, they may be over baked. If the temperature is too high, the macarons will get crispy, and even letting them mature in the refrigerator may not help. If this happens, lower the oven temperature by a few degrees.
What Salt Do You Use In Salted Caramel?
You can use regular table salt or kosher salt for the salted caramel sauce.
I usually use Pink Himalayan salt to top off my salted caramel macarons because I think the color looks pretty on the shells. I’ve also used coarse salt and it works fine too.
More macaron recipes to try
- Passion Fruit Macarons
- Mango Macarons
- Vanilla Macaron Recipe
- Earl Grey Macarons
- Orange Macarons
- Honey Macarons
Macaron resources
Salted Caramel Macarons
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Stand mixer
- Spatula
- One 16 inch pastry bag
- Two 8 inch pastry bags
- Round piping tip
- Two silicone mats
- Two half sheet pans
- Oven thermometer
Ingredients
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 80 grams almond flour
- 70 grams egg whites (room temperature)
- 70 grams granulated sugar
- 2 grams egg white powder (optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 drops orange gel food coloring
Salted caramel buttercream
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick)
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 8 soft caramel candies
- 1 tbsp milk
- ⅛ tsp salt
Royal icing drizzle
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp meringue powder
- ½ tsp water
- ⅛ tsp salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Prepare dry ingredients
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour using a whisk to break down any clumps. Set aside.
- Line sheet pans with silicone mats.
- Insert the piping tip into the 16 inch pastry bag.
Make the meringue
- Whisk the egg whites on medium speed (speed 4) until you see small bubbles (this can take as little as 15 seconds sometimes).
- Slowly add 3 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, waiting about 10 seconds between each tbsp.
- Whisk until you start to see tracks in the meringue.
- Increase speed to 6 and continue slowly adding the remainder of the granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until you’ve added all the sugar.
- Once you have soft peaks, stop the mixer, scrape the sides and add the vanilla.
- Whisk for about 2 minutes, or until medium peaks, and then add 2 drops of gel food coloring.
- Whisk until stiff peaks.
Combine ingredients
- Add in the powdered sugar and almond flour mixture in three parts, 1/3 at a time, folding each part until fully combined.
- Once fully combined, fold a few more times to make sure there are no dry ingredients.
- Now you need to deflate some of the air in the batter by taking the spatula and smearing the batter on the sides of the bowl two or three times, and then folding once or twice.
- Repeat the process of smearing some of the batter on the side of the bowl and folding until the batter looks smooth and glossy and runs down the spatula slowly in ribbons.
- You can test the consistency by lifting the spatula and letting the batter run down. If it falls in ribbons and sinks back into itself within 30 seconds, the batter is ready.
Pipe the macarons
- Transfer the batter to the 16 inch pastry bag.
- Holding the pastry bag at a 90° angle, pipe the macarons into ¾ inch circles about 1 inch apart.
- Tap the tray against the counter about 8 times to release any air bubbles.
- Let the macarons rest until they form a skin and are no longer sticky.
- While the macarons are resting, preheat the oven to 310°F.
- Bake the macarons for 14-16 minutes.
- Macarons are ready when they no longer shift if you touch the tops.
Royal icing drizzle
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and a few drops of water and stir with a spoon.
- Continue stirring, adding a few drops of water a time if necessary for a drizzling consistency.
- Once you can lift the spoon and the icing sinks back into itself within 10 seconds, the icing is ready.
- Transfer the royal icing to an 8 inch pastry bag and drizzle on half of the shells.
- Sprinkle the salt on the shells after you've drizzled the icing, doing a few shells at a time because the icing will start drying within a few seconds.
Salted caramel buttercream
- In a medium bowl, using the stand mixer, whisk the butter until smooth.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and whisk until fully combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until combined.
- In a small bowl, place 8 soft caramel candies, milk, and salt and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until melted and let cool for a few minutes.
- Add to the buttercream and whisk until fully combined.
Assemble the macarons
- Fill an 8 inch pastry bag with the buttercream and cut about a ½ inch opening at the bottom of the bag.
- Pipe the buttercream in the center of half of the macarons and top the macarons with the remaining halves.
Loved this recipe! The step by step instructions were very helpful! Thank you!