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Salted Caramel Snickerdoodle Macarons

These indulgent macarons feature a soft snickerdoodle cookie center, silky salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream, and a cinnamon sugar decorated shell. This flavor blend offers a tasty balance of sweetness, salt, and spice in every bite.
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Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Servings 26 2" Assembled Macarons

Ingredients
  

Macaron Shells

  • 130 grams egg whites (Approximately 4-5 large eggs) *Use scale to measure
  • 120 grams granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp cream of tartar
  • 200 grams almond flour Preferably Kirkland Brand or Blue Diamon
  • 200 grams confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 drop brown gel food coloring
  • 1 drop yellow gel food coloring
  • 1 TINY smudge blue gel food coloring (super small pin prick amount)

Mini Snickerdoodle Centers

  • 7 oz all purpose flour 1 2/3 cups measured correctly see notes.
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp cream of tartar
  • 4 oz just softened unsalted butter (1/2 cup *If using salted butter, do not add the 1/4 tsp salt)
  • 3.5 oz granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
  • 1.75 oz brown sugar (1/4 cup)
  • 1 egg plus 1 yolk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Sugar for Rolling (Set aside 1 tbsp before coating cookie dough to roll cookies in after baking)

  • 1½ tbsp cinnamon
  • 2½ tbsp granulated sugar

Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • 90 grams egg whites 185ml (185ml or roughly 3 egg whites)
  • 160 grams brown sugar (3/4 cup)
  • 115 grams salted butter softened but not squishy (½ cup)
  • 115 grams unsalted butter (½ cup)
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp thick caramel sauce (homemade if possible) cooled to room temp, see notes for recipe recommendation
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp fleur de sel or other flakey salt

Shell Decoration

  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 tsp granulated sugar

Assembly

  • Additional fleur de sel if desired

Instructions
 

Macaron Shells

  • Line 2 upside down baking sheets with a silicone mat (circle template optional but recommended).
  • Place a medium sized round piping tip (like a Wilton 2A) in a large piping bag. Twist the bag right behind the tip and add a clip to seal off the opening. Place the bag tip down into either a clean tall cup with the edges folded over the rim to keep the bag open, or clip it into a bag holder.
  • Using a kitchen scale, carefully weigh out and sift the confectioner’s sugar and almond flour into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk well to fully blend the two together.
  • Place egg whites, granulated sugar, and cream of tartar into a large mixing bowl, and begin beating with a whisk attachment using either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer for 2 minutes on a medium low speed (Kitchen Aid Speed 4).
  • Turn up the mixer to a medium speed (Kitchen Aid Speed 6) and beat for an additional 2 minutes.
  • Add the gel food coloring
  • Turn mixer up to medium high speed (Kitchen Aid Speed 8) and beat for 3 more minutes, or until peaks are very stiff and the meringue clumps up in a ball in the center of the whisk. Test stiffness by removing whisk and pointing it upward. (See photos in Basic French Macarons post) Once the peaks can firmly hold their shape flipped upright, your meringue is ready.
  • Pour half of your almond flour/confectioner’s sugar mixture into the bowl with your meringue, and fold 15 times. One fold is scraping all the way around the edge of your batter in your bowl, and then dragging your spatula through the middle. Be sure to scoop around the bottom of the bowl as well so you don’t miss any dry ingredients.
  • Pour in the remaining powdered sugar and almond flour, and continue folding (approximately 30 more folds) until dry ingredients are fully incorporated, your batter is no longer super clumpy. Do not overfold. Please note this recipe stays a bit thicker than most, and should not be folded to the traditional figure 8 test consistency. Start checking your batter’s readiness every 5 folds or so at this point by scraping all batter down to the bottom of your bowl, and then wiggling your bowl back and forth several times. If the batter levels out with few peaks and lines remaining, it should be ready. (See photos in Basic French Macarons post for reference.)
  • Pour batter into prepared piping bag, and twist the opening off. Hold your bag at the twist between your thumb and pointer finger. Remove the clip.
  • Holding the piping bag straight up and down, apply pressure to begin piping your batter in the center of your circle templates, releasing pressure once you are a few millimeters short of your desired size. After you release pressure, use a small quick circular flick to release your tip from the piped macaron.
  • Once you’ve piped a full tray, firmly bang the tray on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles and smooth out shells. Pop any remaining large bubbles with a toothpick. Repeat with the second tray.
  • Begin preheating your oven to 300 degrees, using an oven thermometer ensure accurate temperature readings.
  • Set aside shells to dry until they form a skin and are no longer tacky to the touch. Once you can gently run a finger over your shells, they are ready to bake. Use a fan to speed up the process, rotating the tray every few minutes to ensure even drying. This usually takes at least 16 minutes for me even with a fan.
  • Once shells are dry, and the oven has fully preheated to 300, place one tray in the center of the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 18 minutes.
  • Quickly open door to check the shell’s doneness by gently pressing on the side just above the feet to see if it’s firm. If it moves at all, rotate the tray and bake for another 2 minutes.
  • Check shells by performing the same test, pressing on the side. If they are still unstable, bake for one more minute, and check again. Repeat until shells are firm and do not budge.
  • Allow shells to cool completely, and the carefully remove from silicone mat or parchment paper by gently peeling them off.

Mini Snickerdoodle Centers

  • Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit, and grease and line an 8" cake pan with parchment paper.
  • In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • Cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a large sized bowl using an electric mixer until well combined, but not super light and fluffy.
  • Mix in the egg, the yolk, and the vanilla, and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
  • With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture, and allow dough to come together until no dry ingredient streaks are remaining.
  • Mix together the cinnamon and granulated sugar for rolling in a medium sized bowl. (Set aside 1 tbsp to roll the mini cookies in after baking to coat cut edges)
  • Using a silicone spatula, scrape the dough directly into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
  • Gently roll the dough ball around until thoroughly coated.
  • Place in cake pan and press down until the cookie is about an inch or two from the sides of the pan.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of the cookie are set and the centers are no longer super doughy and raw. Check with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean.
  • Once cooled a bit, use a small cookie cutter (1" diameter) or even the base of a large piping tip, cut out 28 small snickerdoodles. If needed, squish them down a bit so they aren't too tall for the macaron filling.
  • Roll the sides in cinnamon sugar to coat. Set aside.

Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • Using a medium size sauce pot, bring an inch or so of water to a boil.
  • In a medium heat safe metal bowl that is large enough to rest on top of the sauce pot, whisk together the egg whites and brown sugar. (Use a kitchen aid metal mixing bowl and whisk attachment to save a dish later.)
  • Place bowl on top of the pot with boiling water and continue whisking. Cook until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 165-170 degrees Fahrenheit and no longer feels grainy from the sugar. Immediately remove from heat to avoid overcooking the egg whites.
  • Remove bowl from heat, and use an electric mixer to whisk the mixture until a stiff glossy meringue forms.
    Important Tip: When making a small batch like this, it can be difficult to get it to stiff peaks in a larger bowl. If you find it's been whipping more than several minutes and still isn't super stiff, go ahead and proceed as long as it's not super soupy, because the butter will firm it up. Another way to combat small batch meringue not stiffening is to use a electric hand mixer to ensure all parts of the meringue are making contact with the whisk.
  • Once the meringue cools down to roughly room temperature, cut the butter into several pieces and add it into the bowl one piece at a time.
  • Beat for another few minutes until the buttercream is light and fluffy, and the butter flavor becomes less prominent. (Buttercream may look curdled at first but will come together when mixed long enough)
  • Add in the vanilla extract, caramel sauce, and fleur de sel, and whip until thoroughly combined.
  • To lessen the air bubbles in the buttercream, switch to a paddle attachment on your mixer and mix on low for 5-10 minutes. To speed up the process, see notes for “tempering” your buttercream.

Shell Decoration

  • Match shells together with a buddy shell in the same size.
  • SLIGHTLY dampen a flat paint brush with water, and quickly paint one even stripe across the middle of the top shell in each pair. Paint a skinnier line underneath using a detail brush.
  • Immediately dip the shell brush stroke side down into a dish of cinnamon sugar, tapping it at different angles to thoroughly adhere the cinnamon sugar to the dampened parts of the shell.
  • Set decorated shells back next to their match.

Assembly

  • Fit a piping bag with a #32 tip and fill with salted caramel SMBC. Pipe a small dollop on the bottom shell.
  • Place a snickerdoodle mini cookie on the dollop.
  • Pipe a double layer ring of salted caramel SMBC around the cookie, and then pipe another small dollop on top of the cookie.
  • Optional: At this point you can sprinkle additional fleur de sel if desired. You can always assemble one, and see if you want it more salty.
  • Sandwich the top shell on with the cinnamon sugar design.
  • Allow assembled macarons to mature in an airtight container for 24 hours to achieve ideal flavor and texture. Enjoy!

Notes

If you need a recipe recommendation for a homemade caramel sauce, check out Sally's Bake Blog's Salted Caramel Sauce recipe using the less cream option for thicker sauce! (But leave out the salt)
 
"Tempering" Buttercream Process to remove air bubbles: Take a small amount of your buttercream and melt it in a heat safe bowl in the microwave. Add it back in to the main bowl of buttercream and mix until combined. 
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!