Baking experiment - salt caramel macarons

After a week long delay, I finally got off my lazy behind and attempted to make macarons......the first time since attempting them at school! I was more than a little apprehensive of the task ahead......especially making the Italian meringue bit.......at school, I had my "partner in crime" to give me a helping hand......now, I'm on my tod :(


I decided to have a go at making one of our favourite flavours, salt caramel and attempted a half batch of a recipe given to us by our chef. Making the shells turned out OK and I literally jumped up with joy in my kitchen when I peeped through the oven door and saw that my macarons had "feet"!! My confidence was knocked a little when I realised that some of them were a little undercooked :(


I tried a couple of fillings......first, the ganache as per recipe and second, bought in dulce de leche and both with a sprinkling of sea salt. The caramel infused ganache got more thumbs up than the dulce de leche by my "guinea pigs" but I now need to sort out the tecture of the ganache since its a little on the runny side. I will also need to figure out how to make the shells a darker colour......but all in all, I can't complain......not bad for a first attempt! 

Feet!!