Salted Dulce De Leche Macaroons

There is something that competes with chocolate for my favorite dessert flavor, and that is salted caramel.

Salted caramel ice cream? Yes please. Salted caramel cupcake? Oh my. Chocolate covered caramel with sea salt on top? I’m giddy with excitement.

So when I decided to bake coconut macaroons for the first time, I could’ve gone the chocolate route and incorporated chocolate chips or cocoa powder, or dipped the macaroons in chocolate. But I thought, no, let me give some love to my other favorite dessert flavor. And to make it even better, instead of caramel, I’m going with dulce de leche.

Dulce de leche is caramel’s more exotic, sensual cousin. Dulce de leche is milkier, silkier, thicker. It’s not overly sweet (as I make my caramel to be) and best of all, it can be purchased in a can from good ole Nestle:

of course if you're the patient/enterprising type, you can make your own dulce de leche - boil some milk and sugar and wait and wait wait - but I like the ease of enjoying this heavenly treat in a can

just look at how thick that is!

these macaroons are really easy to make - the hardest part is trying not to lick the batter

an old friend is making an appearance in this recipe: espresso salt

Remember espresso salt sprinkled on top of Nutella fudge and dark chocolate cookies?

espresso salt works equally well, if not better, sprinkled on top of dulce de leche coconut macaroons

and I'm telling you, these macaroons, they are luscious and right on point with salty-sweet goodness

In fact one of my friends even said that he will die a happy man because of these macaroons. You know if your friends start hypothesizing about their happy demise with your baked goods, that you’re doing something right.

Salted Dulce De Leche Macaroons

5 cups shredded coconut
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 can dulce de leche (or about 8 oz)
1 egg white
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon espresso salt (you can also use sea salt or any other flavored salt you prefer)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix the coconut and flour together, then add the rest of the ingredients except the espresso salt. Stir everything together until combined.

Place 2-inch balls of the mixture on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You’ll end up with about 2 dozen macaroons. Sprinkle the macaroons with espresso salt. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Salted Sulce De Leche Macaroons

The bottoms got a teeny bit burned but they only tasted more caramelized and got stickier. The salt tempers the sweetness of each macaroon, so if you like salty-sweet desserts, you will like this!

Do you have a favorite salted dessert?

Tagged as: caramel, coconut, condensed milk, dulce de leche, espresso salt, macaroons