Caramel au beurre salé

[PariS]

I finally hit upon a caramel filling for macarons that I like and sets up thick enough to stay put and not run out all over the plate. It's the little successes in life that keep me happy!

Caramel au beurre salé

1/2 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8-1/4 t. fine sea salt or fleur de sel, according to your taste

Into a large saucepan, measure the water, sugar and corn syrup. Stir to blend, and cook over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until you have a dark caramel, about 10 minutes. Carefully whisk in the butter, cream and salt (the mixture will bubble up, so stand back). Whisk until smooth, then cool.

I think just maybe...if refrigerated this will set up hard enough to cut and with the proper mix-in's might tide me over until my next trip to Jacques Genin I made it just this morning, and have been busy with macarons all day so I haven't been able to experiment with it as a candy, but it is very tasty!

One of the girls I went to Paris with last fall has been begging me to teach a class on macaron making, but I'm no pro! I finally gave in, so that's happening tomorrow night and explains the macaron frenzy (hey Suzanne--if you would like to come up, my house is only an hour away--don't you need to visit your folks?! ). Anyway, I spent Bastille Day making macaron shells (plain in pink and yellow, and a batch of chocolate), and today making fillings (chocolate ganache--Truffaut's recipe --cherry almond, lemon creme and the caramel au beurre salé). So if anyone's in the neighborhood, I have goodies ready!

[jo]

Drool..........wonder if I can get a really cheap flight to California this morning? Annette, it all sounds wonderful. Have fun today!

JO

[Katharine]

Annette...

Thank you SOOO much for this recipe. A bowl of this and spoon will do me fine. ;D

Good luck with your class today. Sure wish I was going to be in the neighborhood...sounds fantastic!

Katharine

[Jody]

YOu're no pro, but you could be !

I've taken to sprinkling fleur de sel on dulce de Leche ice cream!

[Shoesy]

Annette - I think that just reading your yummy post has just made me gain a few pounds. ;D

[PariS]

LOL--Kathrine, I'm with you! And trust me Shoesy, I've been doing more than reading...my Jenny Craig counselor is not going to be happy with me next week So that's why I better not try Jody's idea just yet--but that's a fun little tip! And speaking of tips, Luc was kind enough to send a few my way--wisdom gleaned from his mom, who undoubtedly made fabulous caramel--

"Mother would always be careful about 2 things:
1) to use a large pot so the sugar can melt uniformly
2) to make sure that the cream is really warm when added or it will cristallyse the sugar."

I will definitely heat the cream next time around--that makes so much sense.

And Luc is ever-so-patient with my foibles at French grammar. I don't really understand why "salé" is used in this case rather than "sel", but I at least want it to look like I know the difference, so I fixed it!

[PariS]

Jo, arrange your flight to Ontario, and I'll have Darryl pick you up on his way home

[Happygoin]

Annette, how interesting that you don't need a candy thermometer! I wonder how it can work without one. But really,
it does take the guesswork out of it eh?

I agree that it should be sel and not salé. You know they only do that to confuse us, don't you?

Your macarons were gorgeous. No wonder your friend wants you to teach a class. Hope it's a dry day! Good luck!

[PariS]

Happy, I think to make it hard enough for candy, a thermometer should be used. If I remember right, the recipes I've read say to bring it to 247 (? or somewhere around there) after adding the cream and butter, but for this filling you don't cook it any longer. Maybe next week I'll play with it some more. I did poke a couple pistachios into a spoonful of it after lunch tho....YUM. Jo, what were the flavors of caramel you bought at Jacques Genin? Do I remember a mango something-or-other?

[jo]

Annette, we bought the beurre sale caramels (the mango ones were too expensive ~ I can only pay 5 euros per caramel, lol!)

Jo

[PariS]

You mean for 36€ they didn't even give you the exotic flavors? How disappointing LOL

[nutsabouttravel]

Annette, I think salé means "salted" (or salty) which makes it an adjective instead of sel, the noun. Perhaps our native French speakers can confirm or correct this.

[Anne]

Yes, the translation is salted butter caramel because the traditional receipe from Brittany (maybe also Normandy ?) uses salted butter .

[PariS]

Okay, that makes sense! Thanks Nuts and Anne

[gertie]

Oh my this recipe is divine and you are a doll, Annette, for sharing. I don't know about cutting them up, but I made turtles with it. I used pecans I roasted and salted for the head and footies, drizzled some of this in the middle of each on trays with waxed paper and stuck them in the freezer until they set up pretty well, then a dollop of rich dark chocolate and yummy! They weren't quite firm enough to dip well (though perhaps if I waited longer), but I was able to scrape them off with a little spatula and drop them on caramel fudge sundaes which my family adored. They are keeping on the waxed paper sealed up in a plastic container in the freezer very well. Haven't been able to bring myself to making macrons, much as I love them, as I think I will keep them for a special treat only in Paris.

[PariS]

You're welcome, Gertie! I'm glad you drug this old post up because I was just wondering the other day which caramel recipe I used last time! LOL I bet it was great made into pecan turtles!

[gertie]

This section has got me started on a lot of French recipe cooking lately (drat that wonderful Gitte and her french cooking picture pages website! ;D ) Thank goodness my family loves trying new things.

[Jody]

Just to tempt you further!

Have you looked at our member Anne''s page

afoodiefroggy.canalblog.com/

[GitteK]

Gertie - I simply can't remember those cooking sites you are referring to ??

As to "salé" .......... I once managed to scold a café waitress for having a very "salé" ladies's toilet !! ;D ;D
Imagine the astonished look on her face........ "Our potty is salty ??"

Well, it was ! And more so !

[gertie]

You gave links to several sites on another thread some long time ago, one of them is in French and has pictures. I've been working my way through that, and my family says to tell you you are welcome to dinner any time you are in Dallas. Oh, and also to pass on any further cooking site links you might care to share. But don't mind them on that last, I think they are just hoping for more desserts. I made a chocolate cake from the picture site for dinner tonight.

Whups forgot the link! tiny.cc/1po8n << that's the picture recipe site. I think it was originally mentioned somewhere other than in the recipe section, but I'm not finding the original post easily. There were a couple of other recipe website links in it as well, but I'm still working on that one as yet.