Hawaiian Sea Salt Caramel Macarons

Macaron shell Ingredients:

• Room-temperature egg whites 80g
• Granulated sugar 100g
• Almond powder 100g
• Powdered sugar 100g
• Chocolate brown + Lemon yellow gel food colors

Using French Meringue method.
Hawaiian Sea Salt Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

• Caramel sauce with Hawaiian sea salt
• Butter, 2 sticks
• Room-temperature egg whites, about 2 eggs
• Granulated sugar, about half cup
• Pinch of salt

To make the buttercream:

• Put room-temperature egg whites in the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Add all the granulated sugar to the egg whites. Heat a small sauce pan with water over high heat. Put the KitchenAid mixer bowl above the sauce pan to double boil. While the water is heating up, use a wire whisk to lightly whip the egg whites with sugar until combined. Keep whipping until the mixture is warm. Take small amount of the mixture and rub it between your fingers to test to see if the sugar is melted. Once all the sugar is melted, remove the KitchenAid bowl and put it back to the mixer. Attach the wire whisk to the KitchenAid and start beating on medium speed until the bowl is no longer hot. Increase the speed to high and keep beating until the meringue is firm and shiny.
• Once the meringue is done, remove the wire whisk from the KitchenAid and attach the paddle attachment. Put the KitchenAid on low speed. Cut the room-temperature butter sticks into smaller pieces. Slowly add the butter pieces one by one. After adding all the butter, increase the speed to medium high. The buttercream will start to curdle and it will look as if you're going to fail. Don't Panic :)
• Keep beating the buttercream on high speed. Listen carefully to the sound. After a few minutes, the buttercream should come together and looks smooth and creamy again.
• Now, start adding the caramel sauce and keep beating. Stop adding when you taste and like the flavor of the buttercream.
• Scrape the finished buttercream to a piping bag then squeeze it onto the cooled macaron shells :)