Before we talk about how glorious the flavors are in these
Cashew Dulce de Leche French Macarons are, we need to talk about macarons. Why are they so difficult to make properly? Egg whites, ground nuts, sugar. Doesn't seem like it should be so complicated, right? But they are. Read on, friends.
I've made macarons quite a few times and each time I am sure they are going to be perfect. Only a few times have they turned out picture worthy. These macarons? Well, they're on that fine line between perfection and disaster. I used extra care when measuring the ingredients. I even used a digital scale instead of measuring cups. I sifted, sifted, sifted to make sure the dry ingredients were free of lumps. They looked beautiful pipes onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. The tops developed skins just like they were supposed to. From all I could see, these were going to be the most perfect macarons I'd ever made.
I peeked through the oven window and my macarons even had "feet." And boy did they ever have feet! When I took them out of the oven, they had some mighty big feet. Those macarons had GIANT feet.
I waited for them to cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet. (Okay, I'm totally lying. I ate a few warms ones right off the pan.) The flavor was incredible! Just as I was hoping. But those feet!
It was then that I decided these macarons are a bit like me--
sweet, nutty, perfectly salty, with over-sized feet.
Luckily I have a few friends who helped me troubleshoot on
Instagram. Utah's high altitude makes a tricky cookie a bit more tricky to perfect. But I promise you, I'm not stopping until I get it right! I seemed to have less trouble when I lived at sea level. So this just might take some getting used to. I also didn't use meringue powder, which is sometimes used in macaron recipes. I'll try that out next time to see if it makes a difference. So I guess what I'm saying is that even though
my macarons aren't the most perfect macs you'll ever see (they taste perfect), don't despair. I can see I just need more practice. The recipe is just fine. It's another keeper one from Aran Goyoaga's
Small Plates and Sweet Treats. (It really is one of my favorite cookbooks and if you're gluten-free, I suggest buying it.)
Now let's talk about dulce de leche and cashews. I honestly have never met someone who didn't like dulce de leche. Cashews, yes. I wasn't a fan of them until I was an adult. They are one of my favorite kinds of nuts now. Caramel cashew anything is my favorite. As I was dreaming up my idea for the perfect caramel cashew macarons, it dawned on me that instead of making a somewhat complicated caramel meringue buttercream, I should just use caramel. And then I thought some more and dulce de leche came to mind. Of course there was no other course to pursue. Add dulce de leche to anything and it's going to taste good. I used store-bought dulce de leche because when I make it at home, it never seems to be quite as thick or dark as I want it to be. (You can find it near the Mexican food section of most grocery stores. Or order it online.)
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It was a good choice indeed. I've never seen my family go so crazy over any other treat I've made. I'm thinking it wasn't the macaron part. I'm the one who goes crazy for macarons. They are little dulce de leche fiends and the mac shells were just the perfect, chewy, nutty vehicle.
So I give you perfectly sweet, nutty, perfectly salty macarons with perfectly oversized feet. The dulce de leche filling makes up for their ragged appearance. And even if they are ugly, they taste fantastic and at the end of the day, they just get eaten anyway, right? :)
What about you? Have you ever made French macarons? Did yours come out with pretty feet and perfectly smooth tops? Tell me your secrets!