the fruits of my macaronage
I admit, macaron madness has fully infected the foodgeek household. I must have made at least 7 batches of macarons trying to get a recipe to come out. I’d have entire pans of cracked cookies, pans that only half of them cracked, and others that were perfect.
What did I learn from all of this?
- Do not fold the ingredients like you would a cake. The batter needs to be deflated a good deal to get that ‘flows like magma’ consistency.
- Drying the macarons out before they are cooked provides insurance. While it may not be necessary, I found that the dried batches I made almost never cracked and always formed a proper foot.
- I tried several oven temperatures, for the most part, they all worked. I settled on 335°F because it was what worked the best in the end
- If you add coloring, do so to the egg whites at the end of beating and before folding in the dry ingredients.
With all of the mistakes I made, there was a good deal of success. At the end of all of my experiments, I was able to produce four sheets of uncracked macarons. With those four sheets, I managed to come up with four separate flavors: chocolate, lemon, raspberry, and banana caramel.
This recipe has evolved a little bit, here’s what I’m using now:
Basic Macaron Batter
65g almond powder
85g powdered sugar
2 egg whites
30g granulated sugarPreheat oven to 335°F
Place almond powder and powdered sugar in a food processor. Process with metal blade until thoroughly combined.
Beat whites in a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed. As the whites begin to foam, add sugar in a slow stream while mixing. Continue mixing at high speed until whites reach stiff peaks.
Fold almond mixture into egg whites in two additions. The mixture will deflate quite a bit. Continue folding until mixture is fully combined and shiny. (and flows like MAGMA)
Immediately fill a pastry bag fitted with an 11mm round tip and pipe into rounds onto a baking sheet lined with a silpat baking mat.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the countertop to flatten the macaron.
Leave macarons out to dry for about 30 minutes or until they do not stick to your finger when touched.
When macarons are sufficiently dry, place in the oven to bake. After about five minutes, a ruffled skirt should develop around the bottom edge of each macaron. Rotate the baking sheet by 180 degrees, and bake for another five to seven minutes.
Check to see if macarons are done by grabbing the top of one macaron and trying to shake it. They are done when the top barely slides against the skirt. If they are not done, extend baking time by two minutes intervals, checking after each extension.
Move silpat to a cooling rack. After macarons have cooled enough to touch, remove them from silpat and place upside down on rack. If they do not easily come off silpat, place in freezer for a few minutes and try again.
OMG. I just made my fourth batch. DISGUSTING. first batch. wrinkled sank small. second batch cracked and hollow inside. third same. fourth. the outer shells cracked a lot. I HAVE never gotten feet. horrible. just horrible. i blanched and peeled 2 cups of almonds wit my bare hands and i have half a cup left. i want to try macarons for the last time. PLEASE HELP ME. tell me why they are hollow, they crack, and what is this about waiting for eggs to harden for 24 hours before initiating the cooking? i tried waiting 20 min. da batter was no where near looking dry
How do you retain the gorgeous colors after baking, my turn into a light brown
Have you ever tried Lavender Macarons? I really love it but do not know what kind of essence they use?
I can’t believe you tried to make 7 batches one right after the other. I think I would have gone crazy!
If macarons were ugly I don’t think we’d be nearly as obsessed with them. But they’re not ugly, they’re cute and you can pretty much experiement with any flavour you want which makes for infinite possibilities. I’ve been thinking about doing a taro macaron.
Sandi: I’ll be testing out a few versions this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for a winner!
thank you for a detailed explaination. Can u kindly share the chocolate macs recipe as i love this particular flavour very much.
rgds
Have no fear! The best way to learn how to make them, is to try out a recipe. On to the questions:
I add the food coloring when the eggs are almost fully whipped. I then let the machine run until the whites are colored fully.
I actually have a different recipe for chocolate macarons. Some of the almond meal is replaced with cocoa powder. For the green tea, I just add matcha tea to this recipe.
I use large eggs, the white should weigh 30g.
Banana caramel is caramel with banana puree added to it. It’s basically a dry caramel that is deglazed with banana puree and rum, then cooked until thick.
As for piping, I’ve had lots of practice. I just pipe small rounds, they should flatten out by themselves (and after you rap them on the counter).
Absolutely love yr coloured macs but still lacks of guts in making them.
When i add the colouring to the whipped whites, do i mix until the whites are fully coloured before adding the almond meal mixture?
How many grams should i add for chocolate n green tea macs. Do i need to deduct the amount from the almond meal.
What size of eggs do u used 4 yr macs, i usually use large eggs (70g). Will this be a problem?
What is banana caramel..is it an essence to be added to the macs because i love the taste .
How do u pipe yr macs? Do u start fm the middle and push the piping downward and let the batter form its rounds.
Sorry 4 having that many Q but would love to try making these lovely macs soon. Thanks
I can try! Do you have a recipe you like to use or are you using mine? Why don’t you send me an email at chef*@*myfoodgeek.com (remove the *) and I’ll see what I can do.
hi there! ive made macarons 5 times, sometimes this method, and others using a sugar syrup….but all the time they fail….cracked……no feet…..marshmallowish ( i know…crazy)…..and then hollow. i cant stand the hollow macarons. and a lot of the time they tend to rise on one side and not rise on the other side……can u help me??????
Eileen: After I pipe out a full sheet of macarons, I grab the pan with both hands and smack it on the counter a few times. This should flatten the tops and spread them out a bit.
They should be spreading a bit on their own while you pipe them, as well. If they aren’t you probably aren’t folding enough. I found that you really need to fold quite heavily to get everything combined.
Nice job! i did try baking for 7 times but only the 4th time came out right 🙁 the 5th, 6th and 7th time seem to crack and with no “feet” (so disappointing)
one question: How did u flatten the top of the macarons?
We love those things and yours look delicious!
Good luck with those reserves in the freezer… I can’t help that they are amazingly yummy and calling my name! 🙂
For the banana caramel and the chocolate, I used the Trader Joe’s almond meal (not blanched). For the berry and the lemon, I used Bob’s Red Mill. Today I just got some of the Honeyville Farms almond meal which I’ll have to try out. It looks much finer than Bob’s (and a fraction of the cost).
Food blogger party would be cool. I’d throw one if I had a yard.
Gorgeous Jef! What kind of almond meal did you end up using? I am thinking about throwing a food blogger party at my house in the early summmer if we can get our yard finished – so maybe you’ll get a chance to share them!
Julie: indeed! I’m trying to keep some reserves in the freezer but it isn’t working out so well 🙂
Amanada: Only a dozen, nice. That’s easy! As for the ‘flowing’ comment, if it works for you, go with it. After about 10 batches now, I think I understand the magma part. btw – Thank Tyler for me, his heart was in the right place 😛
awesome. this is exactly what i need before diving in to macarons! i’ll take a dozen of the raspberry and lemon, please. 😛 my only problem with the recipe is that everytime i read “flows like magma”, my mind changes it to flows like smegma. sorry if that offends anyone! just how my mind works. (tyler tried to convince me not to leave this in the comment, for the record.)
Nice job, they look delicious. The can be very difficult but well worth the effort.