Salted Caramel Banana Macarons Recipes

SALTED CARAMEL COCONUT MACAROONS

Steps:

• Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick foil.
• Stir coconut, flour, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract until well blended. Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop and drop 2-inch balls of dough onto the prepared sheets. Using your thumb, make an indentation in each dough ball.
• Bake in the preheated oven until coconut is toasted and bottoms are golden, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. If cookies puff, re-press centers with the rounded side of a measuring teaspoon. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool completely.
• Spoon a scant teaspoon of caramel topping into each indentation. Sprinkle each with several flakes of sea salt.

SALTED CARAMEL BANANA PUDDING PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put the vanilla wafers in a food processor and pulse until the cookies are finely crushed. Reserve 1/2 cup to layer in and to top the pie. Pour the remaining crumbs in a 9-inch pie plate. Pour the melted butter over the top and, using a spoon or your hands, combine the ingredients. Press the mixture in the bottom and up the sides and onto the lip of the pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Peel and slice the bananas, adding them to a bowl. Stir the salt into the caramel sauce and toss the banana slices with the salted caramel. Arrange some banana slices evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread half of the warm Vanilla Pudding over the bananas, top with some more crushed vanilla wafers (reserving some for garnish) and more caramel-coated bananas. Spread the remaining Vanilla Pudding over the top.
• In a large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Add the almond extract and sugar and beat until peaks form. Make sure not to overbeat, or the cream will become lumpy and butter-like. Spread the whipped cream over the pie. Just before serving, garnish with a caramel swirl and the rest of the crushed vanilla wafers.
• Combine the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. This is the only time you can stir the sugar. If you stir it while it's cooking, it turns to rock candy. Place the saucepan over medium to low heat until the sugars start to dissolve, 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until the sugar starts to caramelize, 5 to 7 minutes. Do not stir while this is happening. You've got to watch the pot, because it goes from caramel to burnt really quickly. And be careful, the mixture is extremely hot!
• Turn off the heat and stand back to avoid splattering. Slowly add the cream. Don't panic - the cream will bubble violently, and the caramel will solidify. Just give it more time to liquefy again-trust me!
• Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.
• 3 cups.
• In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour until all of the lumps are gone. Once it is a fine powder, whisk in the egg yolks and whole eggs and continue whisking until a smooth paste is formed. Slowly whisk in 1 cup milk, and once this is incorporated add the remaining 1 cup milk. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it reaches the thickness of chilled pudding, 10 to 15 minutes. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will be thick enough to hold soft peaks when the whisk is lifted.) Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

SALTED CARAMEL BANANA MACARONS

Steps:

• Cook's Notes: You don't need to go out and purchase older egg whites, you can simply used the eggs that you've had in the refrigerator for the last 4 or 5 days. After you separate the eggs, make sure you allow the egg whites to come to room temperature before whipping. Room temperature egg whites whip better and faster if at room temperature.
• For the meringue cookies: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Prep 2 half sheet pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.
• Sift together your almond meal and powdered sugar and set aside.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer, or with an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy. Begin sprinkling in the meringue powder as you beat. Then increase the speed to medium and beat until soft peaks form. If adding food coloring at the point, you can divide the meringue, add to a separate bowl and dye as desired (see Cook's Note, below). Beat to combine. When you get to soft peaks (the peaks will curl when the whisk is lifted from the mixture), carefully proceed; you want firm glossy peaks in your meringue, you do not want to beat all the way to stiff peaks (peaks stand up straight when a whisk is lifted from the mixture).
• Add a third of the almond mixture, folding it in gently. Once combined, add the remaining almond flour in 2 batches. Be very, very gentle! Make sure to fully incorporate all your ingredients, but do not over-fold.
• Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2-inch tip. (You can also use a ziptop bag with a corner cut off.) It's way easier to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
• Pipe 1-inch mounds of batter onto the prepared sheet pans. Using a wet fingertip, tap the mounds to a smooth tip. Alternately, pick up the pan with both hands, and holding it level, tap it firmly onto the counter several times. Allow any residual water to dry out. Sprinkle each cookie with fleur de sel. Allow the cookies to rest 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the humidity.
• Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, 1 sheet at a time. Let the cookies cool.
• For the filling: In a heavy bottomed saucepan set over medium-high heat, combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water. Slowly let the sugar melt and turn into caramel (do not stir). Carefully add the butter and heavy cream and stand back as it will release a lot of steam. Stir until everything is fully incorporated. Add the fleur de sel.
• In a small bowl, mash the ripe banana with a fork. Once the caramel has cooled, add it to the mashed banana. Spread the mixture on the cookies, making sandwiches. Place in the refrigerator and allow to mature for at least 24 hours.