Under wraps.

There's a certain feeling of freedom one gets when perfecting a staple recipe. The Perfect Creme Brûlée. The Perfect Basic Roast Chicken. From Scratch Macaroni & Cheese.

For me, that obviously happens with macarons.

I have four kinds of shells laying out. Almond, Vanilla, Blueberry Lavender, and Chocolate Bacon (Yaaaaaaas, lawd, I did it. I put bacon crumbles on a macaron shell). Tomorrow they'll get iced: Almond Buttercream, Vanilla Buttercream, Lavender Lemon Buttercream, and Chocolate Coca Cola Buttercream (because why the heck not, at this point, go hard or go home, amirite‽). 

The first two recipes I pretty much have down pat. Actually, scratch that, I DO have them down pat. I only get the cookbook out so I remember my measurements. The second two I pretty much have invented as I've gone along. Scary? Sure. Exciting? You bet. Especially when the smells from the oven are sinfully delicious and the colors are gorgeous.

I have my shells under Saran Wrap (well, the bacon ones; the other ones are okay until tomorrow morning), as well as the already soft butter for all the buttercreams. Everything's premeasured (that can be) and set aside. Heavy cream is in the fridge, ready for use.

Now I'm in my bed with my heating pad on my back. Thankfully I had the smarts to do a lot of the folding and whatnot sitting down, but leaning over to pipe them out still made my back whiny. I am pleased. Quite pleased, actually. Except for the fact that the outside piece to my coupler has gone rogue, baking went splendidly. So I now have to get up in the morning and run by the craft supply store for a new one. Worse things have happened, right?

I have made one change to the Almond macarons: I add a slice of almond to the top! That way people can easily tell the difference between it and the Vanilla.

 

I saw a video recently where someone was saying how getting in the kitchen and baking is their form of self care. I need to remember this form more often. :)

Salted Caramel Chocolate Popcorn Macarons

When life is about as sucky as a vacuum that won't work, you need happy food.

Catherine Mayhew, blogger of The South In My Mouth, is a local who goes to my church and is a dear friend. We bond over our love of bacon (and yes, Catherine, I'll be making chocolate bacon macarons soon) and all foodie things. Her son is two years younger than me and was one of my first friends at the church (also an avid SnapChat partner). And when she voted Salted Caramel macarons, I couldn't resist. I had made them before for our church's bake sale this summer (she even wrote about them!) and while they went well, I was secretly somewhat dissatisfied. Again, I had emerged with pinwheels instead of flat beauties, again, they were slightly too crunchy, and don't even get me STARTED on the salted caramel. That resulted in a salty sticky mess that took ages to clean up.

I've revamped the recipe. The shell ingredients remained the same, and that I pulled from the Salted Caramel macaron recipe in my handy Macarons and More book. The filling I mixed between Macarons and More, and this recipe for popcorn macarons with salted caramel filling from Eat, Show, and Tell. That's right, I also added popcorn. It adds a perfect crunch to the top and is just swoony.

Filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cream

1/3 cup unsalted butter, cubed

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup water (to dissolve gelatin)

1 1/3 teaspoon gelatin powder

Shell:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup almond flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 egg whites

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

Popcorn:

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup salted butter

Filling first, as it has to chill. Place a saucepan over medium heat and pour in your sugar through a sifter or sieve. I didn't, and I paid for it.

I recommend stirring with a wooden spoon, but stir it constantly. 

See those hard bits? THAT'S why I needed to sift. Any lumps in your sugar will stay lumpy. And it sucks butt. And they make a megalump.

 

It'll mostly all melt eventually, and in the meantime it smells heavenly.

Now would be a good time to heat up your cream in another saucepan, or just zap it in the microwave, until bubbles start to form around the edge. Turn on your overhead vent and CAREFULLY pour in the cream while stirring with a long wooden spoon. Yes, it matters. Now turn it down to low. 

Pictorial evidence of the megalump that formed when I finished with the cream. Some did eventually dissolve over the low heat, but dissolving more would've risked burning the caramel.

Once combined, add your butter a cube or two at a time and stir until melted. Add in your salt and stir. Have your lemon juice and water in a measuring cup, then quickly and thoroughly stir in the gelatin powder. 

IE, NOT THIS. -.-

Add this mix to the caramel. Any lumps in the gelatin will melt out, don't worry. Stir stir stir until you think there's absolutely no way there could be gelatin lumps, then pour in a metal bowl, cover with saran wrap, and stick it in the fridge. This needs some time, preferably overnight, to set up. It also probably wouldn't hurt to stir it every few hours.

Now the popcorn. If you've never popped popcorn on the stove, what are you doing with your life? Seriously, what the heck is wrong with you? I'm ashamed of you. It's pretty much the easiest thing EVER. No joke. Take a decent sized pan with a lid, like a large saucepan, and put in your oil with 3 popcorn kernels over medium heat and cover. When the first one pops, add the rest. POPPING EXTRAVAGANZA! When it slows to around 3 seconds between pops, take it off the heat and pour into a bowl. Turn the heat off the unit, but take the butter and melt it in the pan you just used. When it's all golden and melty, pour it over your popcorn and toss with a big ol spoon. Wham bam boom, guys. Salty, buttered deliciousness. Get about a cup full and smash it to bits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.

This is great when you've had an especially crappy day. Yell expletives and take out your bad mood on those popcorn buds! And don't worry about what the neighbor thinks. Bashing things with a rolling pin is totally normal.

And finally, the shells. Preheat for convection at 325 again. Sift your powdered sugar, then almond mealflourstuff, then coca powder. 

Stir to combine as thoroughly as possible. 

Beat your egg whites until frothy, add the sugar, mix to combine, then WHIP AWAY! When you have the meringue, fold the dry mix in by about thirds. 

Then MACARRONER! I also heard the term macaronnage today, and I didn't take French, so I have no idea which term is right. I'll probably start say macaronnager because why the heck not. 

Pipe onto your parchment, then sprinkle with the popcorn bits. YUMS. 

Bake for 11 minutes.

When they're cooled, pipe or spoon the caramel onto the macaron shells. WARNING: THIS FILLING IS MESSY. BUT IT IS DELICIOUSLY MESSY AND MUCH LESS MESSY THAN THE ORIGINAL RECIPE. Have a container ready for your assembled macarons to go in. 

You'll probably have leftover caramel and popcorn, in which case you can mix them and, if you're the brave type, use it to dip the macarons in while eating them. You can also use it on top of ice cream, cake, bread pudding, or a spoon. You know. I mean, I can't be the only one who goes after peanut butter in the jar armed with just a spoon...

Let them chill for two hours and they'll be perfect. Or go ahead and...uh...taste test. You know. For poison and stuff. Yeah.