Irish Cream Caramel Macarons

Instructions

1. Make the caramel by combining the granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves, brushing the edges of the pan with clean water as needed to prevent crystallization.
2. Increase the heat to medium high and let the sugar cook to a rich golden brown. Do not stir, just gently swirl the pan occasionally to promote even heating.
3. When the sugar has reached the right color, remove the pan from heat and immediately whisk in the butter and heavy cream until fully incorporated.
4. Slowly stir in the Irish cream liquor and transfer to another container to cool. I prefer a glass jar.
5. Make the macaron shells by weighing out all your ingredients. Place almond meal/sugar mixture, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, and 55 g egg whites in a bowl and set aside (do not mix together).
6. Place 150 g caster sugar (fine granulated sugar) in a small saucepan with 25 g filtered water and fitted with your thermometer. Place the other 55 g egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment.
7. Cook the sugar and water over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally to ensure even heating until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage at 235 F. When the mixture reaches 220 F, start your stand mixer at medium speed to start to foam the egg whites.
8. When the sugar syrup reaches soft ball stage, immediately remove from the heat, increase your mixer speed to high, and slowly pour in the sugar syrup in a thin stream avoiding the sides of the bowl as much as possible.
9. Continue whipping the egg whites until you’ve reached a soft/firm peak. You don’t want to over beat or you’ll have too much air in the egg whites and the shells won’t rise properly. You’ll know it’s ready when the egg whites are stiff enough to form a soft “cloud” inside the whisk.
10. Form a small well in the egg whites and dump in the entire almond meal/sugar/egg white concoction. Using a rubber spatula, cut into the center of the bowl, scoop out to the edge of the bowl, and fold in. Work your way around the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well incorporated. Keep going until you have a nice homogeneous mixture that moves at the pace of slow lava when you scoop up a bit and drop it back in.
11. Carefully fill a piping bag with your macaron mixture and pipe onto your prepared baking sheets in little rounds.
12. Fill both your baking sheets and then take each sheet firmly in your hands and rap them twice on the counter. Rotate 90 degrees and rap them twice more. This is to remove any air bubbles that would cause your shells to crack in your oven.
13. Allow the shells to rest, uncovered, while you preheat your oven to 300 F.
14. Bake the shells one sheet at a time for 15-18 minutes, until you can easily lift a shell cleanly off the baking sheet.
15. Remove the shells from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes before transferring, upside down, to a cooling rack to cool completely.
16. To make the ganache in the microwave, combine the chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute at 50% power. Stir well. Microwave for additional 20 second intervals at 50% power, stirring after each time, until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache is shiny. Set aside until firm enough to pipe.
17. Fill the macaron shells by piping a circle of ganache around the edge of the shell, filling the center with caramel, topping with a sprinkle of fleur du sel if desired, and covering.
18. Allow to rest 24 hours in and airtight container in the refrigerator before eating. Remove from the cold a few minutes before serving to allow the filling to soften.