Caramelized White Chocolate Macarons filled with Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword caramelized white chocolate, macarons
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Total Time 3 hourshours
Servings 22macarons
Calories 120kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
100 grams egg whites 3.5 oz
100 grams granulated sugar 3.5 oz
105 grams almond flour 3.7 oz
105 grams powdered sugar 3.7 oz
Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache
12ounceswhite chocolate340 grams (some of the chocolate will be used to dip the shells, and some for the ganache)
2.7ouncesheavy cream1/3 cup, 80 ml
Instructions
Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat.
I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicon mat, or parchment paper. I recommend using a silicone mat.
Measure out all of your ingredients.
Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise speed to high for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should form a bird’s beak shape, but shouldn’t be falling to the side, the peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top.
Pour sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
Add the food coloring at this point, if using any.
It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this, and you might have a couple failed batches before you get this right.
First, I pick up some batter with my spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out a bit, I start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
Test again.
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to over mix. It’s always best to under mix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
This is the most important part about making macarons in my opinion. The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
Place piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
Let your trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
Pre-heat the oven to 300°F.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.
I bake each tray for a total of 18-20 minutes rotating every 5 minutes.
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache
Pre-heat the oven to 215ºF.
Make sure to use good quality chocolate. Don’t use candy melts or white chocolate chips.
Chop chocolate and spread it in a baking sheet, you can do it with or without parchment paper, just make sure it’s a rimmed sheet.
Place baking sheet with the chopped white chocolate in the pre-heated oven.
Every 10 minutes stir the chocolate with a spatula, spreading it out evenly once you’re done stirring.
After about 20 or 30 minutes the chocolate will start to become caramelized, and even seem to form little lumps. Just keep stirring and baking until the color is a light caramel. Total baking time will be about 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate in a bowl.
At this point, divide the chocolate, separate 4 ounces so you can dip the shells later if you wish to do so.
Leave 8 ounces of the chocolate in a small bowl.
Heat up the heavy cream until just hot, don’t bring it to a boil. Heating it for a few seconds on the microwave should do.
Pour hot cream over the 8 ounces of melted caramelized white chocolate.
Stir with a spoon or with a whisk.
Set aside to cool completely. Place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes once the ganache has cooled down.
The ganache should have the consistency and thickness of a buttercream, so you are able to pipe it in the macaron shells.
To assemble
Place the thickened ganache in a piping bag. Pipe some ganache on half of the shells. Top with another shell.
Dip the macarons in the 4 ounces of melted caramelized white chocolate you set aside before. If the chocolate has hardened, place it in the microwave for a few seconds to melt it again.
Set macarons on top of a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. I sprinkled mine with crushed biscuit crumbs.
Storage
Store the macarons in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Or store the macarons in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Notes
Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring. I use Wilton Color Right Performance Food Coloring Set. If you are a beginner macaron baker, I recommend going easy on the food coloring, as it can alter your batter a lot, and it can take extra mixing time, specially if you continue to add the food coloring as you do the macaronage.Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy.Macaron amount: it will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.Baking time/temperature: Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray.Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.Storage: This is the Storage Container I use to store my macarons.