SPICED HAZELNUT ESPRESSO MACARON SHELLS WITH BUTTERY SALTED CARAMEL FILLING.
As if they haven’t gotten tired of making macarons already, about 100 more shells came out of the BooPeaKitchen oven since our vanilla bean macarons a few recipes ago. An unrepentant coffee and hazelnut fanatic, Boo loves his tiramisu and macchiatos and has chowed through literal boxes of raw hazelnuts in his years as a fatty. With Pea’s love of caramel, and macarons being a primary product in their kitchen, batches marrying these these flavors were obligatory.
Hazelnut flour is just like almond flour, and works just as well for macarons, but tastes even nuttier. A few dashes of cayenne pepper and cinnamon in the macaron shells give them a flavor that plays with your mouth unlike many other recipes, with just a bit of a tingle! The salted caramel filling recipe will make leftovers, but is a lot easier to work with in a batch this size. So make more macarons to use it all up, or heat it up and ladle it over a scoop of vanilla ice cream – it won’t need to go to waste!
P.S. If you haven’t made macarons before, read our quickie guide in our French Macaron blurb – it’s a lot less intimidating than some people make it seem, and we break it down into 3 main things to look out for!
Yield: 44-56 shells
Difficulty: 
Oven: 310 F, 18 minutes
Preparation:
- Line 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- If using parchment paper, optionally draw guide circles (diameter 2.5-3 cm) about 3 cm apart on parchment paper, and flip written-side down.
Hazelnut espresso shells:
- Dry ingredients, sifted
120 g hazelnut meal
150 g powdered sugar
1 tb instant espresso powder, ground
0.25 ts cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper - Meringue
110 g (~3) egg whites, room temperature
0.25 ts cream of tartar (or lemon juice)
95 g granulated sugar
- Beat egg whites with cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add granulated sugar to egg whites, and beat to a stiff meringue (tips of peaks should gently curl when whisk is lifted), ~4-6 minutes.
- Add dry ingredients to the meringue. Fold until smooth and falling in thick ribbons (which disappear after 6-8 seconds).
- Using a large round tip, pipe circles onto the prepared baking tray spaced 1.5-2 cm between the edges of adjacent shells.
Small pea tip: Keep the tip perpendicular to, and 1 cm above, the baking tray. Keep the tip centered while piping each shell to desired size; avoid moving it around while piping. - Rest at room temperature until dry to the touch, 60-90 minutes.
- Bake on middle rack, 18 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside until cooled to room temperature. Meanwhile, making filling.
Small pea tip: Lower the oven temperature by 5-10 F, and bake for 1 minute shorter if using a dark pan. - Carefully remove/peel shells from parchment or silicone mat.
Small pea tip: If macarons stick to silicone mat, may run a thin knife across the bottom to help release shells from the mat.
Salted caramel cream:
- Caramel
1 c sugar
2 tb water - 0.33 c heavy cream
- 8 tb (1 stick) butter, diced
- Flavorings
0.25 ts vanilla extract
0.5 ts instant espresso powder
1 ts salt - cold water bath
- In a light-colored pot, heat sugar with water over medium heat to desired caramel color.
- Remove from heat, and carefully whisk in heavy cream until smooth.
- Whisk in butter until smooth.
- Whisk in flavorings, and transfer to a mixing bowl in a shallow cold water bath.
- Beat caramel just until peaks start to form, and remove from cold water bath.
Small pea tip: Avoid over-chilling the cream, since this will cause the butter to solidify and separate from the cream. If it separates, microwave and whisk until recombined. - Assemble macarons.
Assembly:
- Pair shells by size.
- Using a round tip, pipe ~0.5 tb filling onto one shell of each pair. Gently sandwich with the second shell.
- In an airtight or covered container, refrigerate macarons in a single layer, at least 8 hours.
- Serve, and optionally refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 3 months.
OOPS!