Snickers macarons

I absolutely love Snickers candy bars, they are so hard to resist. The combination of peanuts, caramel and chocolate is just spectacular.

My love for snickers inspired these macarons. For the filling I made a slated caramel, chocolate ganache and peanut praline. The base of the macaron is layered with peanut butter followed by the salted caramel, topped with crushed unsalted peanuts and finished with the chocolate ganache. The peanut praline was sprinkled on the macaron shells before baking for extra peanut flavor and it also made for a nice decoration.
I wanted to make the shells a little bit special. I wanted to achieve a marbled effect with two colors. It worked out great and the macarons looked very pretty.

I piped these macarons on a Silpat (non-stick baking mat, high quality mashed silicone) that my husband bought me for Christmas. The Silpat is not so known in our country and it is not easy to find. I was so excited to try it out. I must say that the Silpat worked out great, the macarons turned out beautifully, the feet were nicely formed and they came off the silicone easily.

The macarons tasted a lot like snickers and I would recommend them to any Snickers lover or to anybody who loves macarons.

Snickers macarons

(Makes about 40)

    Time:

Preparation: 50min

Resting: 30min
Baking: 15-18min

Cooling: 20min

For the macaron shells:

• 95g room temperature egg whites
• 125g granulated white sugar
• 40g water
• 135g almond flour or finely ground almonds
• 135g icing sugar
• brown food coloring (optional)

For the salted caramel:

• 125ml heavy cream
• 25g butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 165g white granulated sugar
• 62ml water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

For the chocolate ganache:

• 100g dark or milk chocolate
• 100ml heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)

For the peanut praline:

• 50g white granulated sugar
• 20g unsalted peanuts
• salt flakes

For the filling:

• 60g crushed unsalted peanuts
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter

Making the salted caramel:

Place the sugar and water in a medium sized pot on medium heat. Place in the candy thermometer and wait until it reaches 150°C-160°C (302°F-320°F). Meanwhile place the cream, butter and vanilla in a sauce pan and bring to the boil. When the sugar reaches the right temperature, take the cream mixture and slowly pour it in the sugar whisking constantly. Be careful, the sugar is very hot and will bubble up. When the cream is incorporated cook the caramel on medium heat for 2 minutes and whisk. Set aside and add the salt, gently mix and pour the caramel in a heat-proof bowl to cool. Once cooled, pour the caramel in the piping bag and set aside.

Making the chocolate ganache:

Chop the chocolate in small pieces and put it in a heatproof bowl, set aside. Pour the heavy cream in a sauce pan, add the vanilla extract and espresso powder and bring to the boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Set aside for 2 minutes, then stir until all the chocolate is incorporated. Pour in the piping bag and put in the fridge to set. 

Making the peanut praline:

Put the sugar in a small sauce pan and place on medium heat. When the sugar starts to melt shake the pan a few times to ensure that all of the sugar melts. Cook until the sugar is dark amber, shaking to ensure even browning of the sugar. Meanwhile prepare a baking tray with parchment paper, arrange the peanuts on a parchment paper. 

When the sugar is dark amber pour it over the prepared peanuts, tilt the baking pan so that the caramel spreads around the peanuts and evens out. Sprinkle over salt and set aside to cool.

When the caramel is cool enough break it into pieces and place it in the food processor. Blitz until you end up with fine crumbs.

   

Making the shells:

The preparation for the shells is the same as in the Basic macarons recipe.
To achieve a marbling effect on the shells follow the basic macaron recipe and do not use any food coloring. When the mixture is ready to be pured in the piping bag, pour only 1/2 of the macaron mixture in a piping bag. Color the other half of the mixture with brown food coloring. Pour the brown mixture in the same piping bag. Place the spatula in the piping bag and gently mix the two different colored mixtures in the piping bag.
Pipe the macarons on a parchment paper/silicone mat. Take some of the peanut praline and sprinkle over the macaron shells that will form the top of the macaron.
Bake in the preheated oven at 150°C (302°F) for 15 minutes. If the macarons are still sticky at the bottom return them to the oven and bake more. Set aside to cool completely.

Assembly:
Take the macaron shell that will form the bottom of the macaron and spread over a little peanut butter. Pipe over the caramel, sprinkle the crushed peanuts over the caramel and pipe the chocolate ganache on top. Place over the macaron shell with the peanut praline and gently press down to even out the filling.
Put the macarons in the fridge to set. Let the macarons rest in the fridge for 24 hours to ensure the best texture of the macarons. When you are ready to serve them, take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving.
 

After I made the macarons I had leftover caramel and chocolate ganache. Because I hate wasting food I made a simple snickers bar from the leftovers. I placed store bought cookies in a baking dish. I spread some peanut butter on the cookies, piped over the leftover caramel and sprinkled over the crushed peanuts and peanut praline. I re-heated the chocolate ganache and poured it over. I placed the dessert in the fridge for the chocolate to set. It came out great, was so simple to make and used up all of the leftovers.