Cinnamon walnut macarons with apples and burnt caramel filling

For every great macaron, behind lies a supportive ice-cream. Whenever macarons make an appearance on the blog, 90% of the time is because I had made ice-cream and have lots of leftover eggwhites. I made black sesame ice-cream (for another post when I retrieve my currently lost pictures from my 'gone case' laptop) and was debating on what flavour macarons I should make.

I tossed some ideas around and posted on Facebook to get votes on what flavours I should make. I had like five eggwhites and I wanted to make two flavours cos I like variety. (: I didn't end up making the perennial favourite, the Ferraro Rocher, but I did the Hazelnut one (here) which was kinda similar since Ferraro Rocher = chocolate + hazelnut yes? I was very interested in making a matcha one, but then I wanted to sandwich something red bean-y in between and we had no red beans at home. That flavour combo shall be next on my list (I've since bought a bag of azuki beans). In the end, I decided on a making a plain macaron filled with salted caramel filling and apples. But what I first came up with was only the beginning of my flavour experiment...

Cinnamon walnut macarons with apples and burnt caramel filling

I was web surfing for inspiration, and came across a blog that used walnuts(!) in the mac shells. Boy was I intrigued. I have a huge bag of walnuts at home and I was like "yeah babeh...", so gonna try it out. And then just because I love cinnamon and add it to almost everything I bake, it was almost a no-brainer to sprinkle a generous amount into the batter cos nuts and cinnamon have such a good marriage. Then I added another shake of cinnamon on the shells while they were sitting out to dry. Just because. (:

Making the caramel filling; Macarons; Green apples

Apple bits sitting atop a seductive swirl of caramel

 I diced some Granny Smith apples and oven baked them at a low temp to dry them out. I made the salted caramel, or should I say I tried. Cos what turned out had more of a burnt caramel taste. ;) I could never succeed so far with my caramel making. Not even after getting a heat thermometer damnit. Somehow, I always remove the caramel a tad too late (though the colour is a really nice hue) from the fire and the overall taste would be slightly bitter. I must must must get the caramel down pat! This means more tries in future with caramel flavoured desserts...(: 

Macaron filled; Macaron halved

Introducing the Cin-nut-car-apple macaron

Overall taste: Omg I love these! Damn addictive. I've mentioned before I'm not a huge fan of macs but I like trying my hand at making them for fun, and also trying interesting flavours when I see them in retail shops. But these, to toot my own horn, are friggin' kickass! Alot of people pointed out the bitter tones of the caramel straight after eating them. But then, that's what I like!

Wenli totally got my meaning cos she was the one that pointed out it tasted like burnt caramel ice-cream (which she liked), so she liked it too. (: These really benefit from sitting in the refrigerator for at least a day cos the flavour really gets to mesh together then. The chewy dried apple bits also provided some texture and were slightly sour (cos I used green apples). So in all, there is a salty, sweet, sour and bitter taste merging into one awesome explosion in the mouth. Amazing! I couldn't stop popping them into my mouth like nobody's business. *guilty expression* So far, of all the macaron flavours I've made, I think these hold the top position. As of now. It might change in the future. Who knows? But for now, I'll leave dreaming about these babies and wishing I had some at this moment...