Salted Caramel and Apple Macarons

A few weeks back i stumbled upon this recipe by Pierre Hermé and decided to try it out. Needless to say I didn't know what i was embarking myself on.... 5 hours in my kitchen. The morning of, I had gotten my H1N1 flu shot... by the end of the cooking day, my arm was ready to fall off!

Photo by Anne-Claire

Ingredients:

• Same as the ones for the chocolate macarons minus the cocoa powder (+ yellow food colouring)
• 4 to 5 apples
• 330g of cooking cream
• 60g salted butter
• 300g unsalted butter
• 30g of lemon juice
• 100g caster sugar

1. Beging the caramel filling. Warm the cream and set it aside, be careful not to boil it. 
2. Pour 50g of sugar into a pan and melt it. When melted add another 50g. Continue until all the sugar is melted. Allow it to caramelize to a very dark amber colour (this may take a while). 
3. Add the salted butter and mix with a spatula. Then add the cream and cook until the caramel reached 108 degrees Celsius (very long process).  
4. Pour in a baking dish and put a saran wrap over the surface and put in the fridge until it gets cold. 
5. Beat the rest of the butter for about 8-10 minutes, and then add the caramel into two additions and beat until combined. 
6. Assemble your macarons, put some caramel on one side and sprinkle with apple pieces and put a macaron top to finish off. Put in the fridge for 48 hours!

Serve with chocolate macarons if you wish to impress :)

* Do not eat them immediately, as they are quite heavy. 48 hours later they are much lighter and easier to eat!

* Be ready to spend hours in the kitchen!