How to Make Macarons
Content
How to Make Macarons
Posted by Robyn Lee, October 24, 2007 at 4:45 PM
My friend Lisa making passionfruit macarons at Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven. I'm ashamed to admit that while I have eaten many macarons, I've never made them on my own. Thankfully, plenty of other people much more skilled in the culinary arts than I am have bravely attempted to make macarons in their home kitchens and have shared their results on that massive virtual brain called the Internet. I'm going to list the most promising recipes I found while aggressively sifting through the web and, from those, pool together a list of tips and tricks for optimum macaron creation. All that info follows after the jump. Clement's recipe at A La Cuisine was the most often cited recipe I found while searching through blogs. It also differed from almost every other recipe I found due to giving measurements in volume rather than weight. I would assume that weight is the more accurate way to go, but many have successfully reproduced his recipe. To the best of my ability, I converted his measurements from volume to weight and compared them to other recipes I found below to give you a basic macaron cookie recipe. Basic Macaron Cookie Steps adapted from A La Cuisine. Ingredients adapted from A La Cuisine, Chubby Hubby, Veronica's Test Kitchen, Ladurée and Yochana's Pierre Hermé recipe.
The number of cookies the recipe makes depends on how large you form your cookies. Most recipes failed to give an estimate. If I had to make an educated guess I'd say you could make 30-50 macaron sandwiches with this recipe.
Ingredients
225 grams icing sugar 125 grams ground almonds 110 grams egg whites (about 4), aged overnight at room temperature 30 grams granulated sugar Pinch of salt
Procedure
1. On three pieces of parchment, use a pencil to draw 1-inch (2.5 cm) circles about 2 inches apart. Flip each sheet over and place each sheet on a baking sheet. [Note: You only have to draw circles on the parchment paper if you want absolutely even-sized macarons. If you're skilled with piping and don't mind eyeballing the amount of batter per cookie, skip this step.] 2. Push almond flour through a tamis or sieve, and sift icing sugar. Mix the almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and set aside. If the mixture is not dry, spread on a baking sheet, and heat in oven at the lowest setting until dry. 3. In a large clean, dry bowl whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks—the whites should be firm and shiny. 4. With a flexible spatula, gently fold in icing sugar mixture into egg whites until completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and 'flow like magma.' When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing. 4. Fit a piping bag with a 3/8-inch (1 cm) round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets, in the previously drawn circles. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles. Let dry at room temperature for 1 or 2 hours to allow skins to form. 5. Bake, in a 160C/325F oven for 10 to 11 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar, and rotate the baking sheet after 5 minutes for even baking. 6. Remove macarons from oven and transfer parchment to a cooling rack. When cool, slide a metal offset spatula or pairing knife underneath the macaron to remove from parchment. 7. Pair macarons of similar size, and pipe about 1/2 tsp of the filling onto one of the macarons. Sandwich macarons, and refrigerate to allow flavors to blend together. Bring back to room temperature before serving. Bittersweet Chocolate Cream Ganache Adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme by Dorie Greenspan. - makes about 2 cups (550 grams) -
Ingredients
8 ounces (230 grams) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, finely chopped 1 cup (250 grams) heavy cream 4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Procedure
1. Place the chocolate in a bowl that's large enough to hold the ingredients and keep it close at hand. Bring the cream to a full boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. While the cream is coming to the boil, work the butter with a rubber spatula until it is very soft and creamy. Keep the butter aside for the moment. 1. While the cream is at the boil, remove the pan from the heat and, working with the rubber spatula, gently stir the cream into the chocolate. Start stirring in the center of the mixture and work your way out in widening concentric circles. Continue to stir—without creating bubbles—until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Leave the bowl on the counter for a minute or two to cool the mixture down a little before adding the butter. 3. Add the butter to the mixture in two additions, mixing with the spatula from the center of the mixture out in widening concentric circles. When the butter is fully incorporated, the ganache should be smooth and glossy. depending on what you're making with the ganache, you can use it now, leave it on the counter to set to a spreadable or pipeable consistency (a process that could take over an hour, depending on your room's temperature) or chill it in the refrigerator, stirring now and then. (If the ganache chills too much and becomes too firm, you can give it a very quick zap in the microwave to bring it back to the desired consistency, or just let it stand at room temperature.)
Finished macarons filled with passion fruit-flavored white chocolate ganache. More Macaron Recipes
A La Cuisine (Matcha-chestnut, caramel-fleur de sel, and toasted sesame macarons ) Chubby Hubby (Caramel fleur de sel macarons) David Lebovitz (Chocolate macarons with chocolate or prune filling) Foodbeam (Pierre Hermeés rose macarons) Kitchen Musings (Basic macaron batter) La Cuisine de Mercotte - A variety of recipes in French that, even though I can't read, I have a sense work out well. La Tartine Gourmand (Cardamom, wattles seeds macarons with orange filling, and matcha tea and chocolate macarons) Ladurée (Chocolate macarons) Tartlette (Espresso toffee macarons) Times Online (Lemon macarons. Also read Lucas Hollweg's associated article, Man vs Macaron) The Traveler's Lunchbox (Salted caramel and blood orange curd macarons) Yochana's Cake Delight (Pierre Hermé's chocolate macaron recipe)
A Few Tips Sift your ingredients, multiple times if necessary. You want your ground nuts to be powdery. No lumps! Almond and icing sugar mixture may be pulsed in a food processor to make finer. Use old egg whites. No really, leave them out for three days at room temperature if you don't mind waiting for that long. Using fresh egg whites is more likely to result in macarons that are too fragile and flat. Read Veronica's Test Kitchen for more info. Cooked Italian meringue may be used instead of the uncooked French one. Read Foodbeam's recipe to learn how to make it. The final macaron batter should have the consistency of magma. What's the consistency of magma? Not too liquidy, nor too stiff. If you form a peak, it should slowly and completely sink back into the batter. If the cookies form peaks on their tops after piping, flatten them with a wet fingertip. Although many recipes call for it, letting the batter sit after piping may not be necessary. David Lebovitz didn't think this was an important step. Prevent your macarons from burning by using a double layered baking sheet (stack two sheets on top of each other) and by propping the oven door open with a wooden spoon for the entire baking period or halfway through the baking period (depending on how large the macarons are or what recipe you're using). To make it easier to remove the macarons from the parchment paper after baking, pour a little bit of water underneath the paper. After a while the steam will have loosened the macarons. Let the macarons rest for a day before you eat them. They're supposed to taste better with a bit of rest. This might be the hardest rule to follow. 20 Comments Favorite This!
Tags: baking, French, macarons 20 Comments:
Your devotion to macaron is substantial. Yom, macarons. Christina at 5:18PM on 10/24/07 I used to make chocolate Macarons using a recipe from one of Patricia Wells' cookbooks. They always came out fantastic..this was long before this new Macaron hysteria..I wonder if recipes have changed since then. izzy's mama at 11:46PM on 10/24/07 If you are feeling uncertain in your pastry bag skills try this: Take a sheet of parchment paper use a small round item to draw circles on it (macaron size). Get a huge container of cool whip or the supermarket brand doesn't matter since you will not be eating it and fill your pastry bag with it and pipe. Non dairy whipped toppings are cheap and you can usually get a good practice in with 1 container. I use a standard 1/2 sheet pan with parchment for my macarons. I have used french and italian meringue. Temperature of the egg whites depends on the humidity where you are. When I lived in the south the humidity was an egg white issue. I sometimes use pasterized egg whites right out of the carton (right out of the refrigerator) for insurance use a pinch of cream of tartar. I will not leave eggs out on the counter. It is just not something I would do. If you are that worried about it try dried egg whites (called Just Whites, 100% Natural Dried Egg Whites) or meringue powder. The water trick works. When you take the sheet pan out make it level with the counter and slide the parchment off the sheet and then using a spritzer spray with water and slide it back on. Do this quickly and only spray the surface on one side and drag the parchment across that spot to coat the whole pan. I use almond paste and other nut pastes as much as I use ground nuts. Everyone has their favorite recipe. For fillings I like citrus curds, raspberry (seedless) jam, blackberry jam, vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream. I tend to like to make these for Easter. They look so pretty and pastel on a nice white cake stand. Come on Robyn you can do it. JerzeeTomato at 1:35AM on 10/25/07 Robin, you can totally do this. Seriously, as much research as you have done, I did about half this and had a really good run on my first try. DO IT! foodiegirl71 at 3:43PM on 10/25/07 OK so I've done all of this with my macarons, but it NEVER works!!! I've also tried leaving the macs out 1 - 2 hours before baking, and I've also tried not leaving them out (and to be honest, it does'nt make a difference).
I feel that what I'm getting wrong is the "magma" part. I don't know what the heck magma is, even after having read gazillion of descriptions on "not too thick, not too liquidy". I just CANT DO MACARONS aaahhh. What's wrong with me? I can do plenty of other stuff, but not macarons!! :-( Robyn, the macaron god has selected you as one of his lucky few chosen ones. From Marianna- angry at macarons. MariannaF at 3:38AM on 11/06/07 Thanks for this recipe, my macarons came out great! I think the weighing of the egg whites was the crucial bit for me. Nicisme at 5:53AM on 03/05/08 I just translate one post about macarons and I hope next week post the recipes . Perhaps you can understand my way of cooking them http://www.mercotte.fr/2008/03/15/desperatly-seeking-macarons/ mercotte at 11:38AM on 03/20/08 I was searching for something to bring to the family Easter lunch. The meal is pretty routine with mom, mom in law and sister in law doing the cooking, I'm left to bring something different and exciting each time, I think this may be it, or maybe an apple galette.... rockymountainmarta at 2:38PM on 03/20/08 hello madame mercotte, I've been browsing through your website and I'm absolutely impressed with your talents! I can't seem to open the link that you gave us here though.. I'd really love to try baking these wonderful macarons.. i just finished two small boxes of them that my husband bought for me from his business trip to Japan! I'm desperately looking for some more but I cant find them here in my country :( pixienix at 4:41AM on 03/24/08
hello Pixienix ! I'm sorry here is the right link !! Hope you are going to cook good macarons !! http://www.mercotte.fr/2008/03/20/desperatly-seeking-macarons/ mercotte at 9:38AM on 03/24/08 oh you are the best! thank you so much. I've just been ageing my egg whites the past two days. I'm so nervous with this very first attempt.. I will read through your tips and guidelines and try it possibly tomorrow (cross fingers!). merci madame, you are SO VERY GENEROUS..and talented. Bless you. pixienix at 5:15AM on 03/26/08 First off, I can't THANK YOU enough for all your detailed research on this delectable treat (although I have to say, I don't think I've ever had one, so no taste comparison).
It took me a few days, but with the egg whites out for more than 3 (!!!), I made these macarons per instructions--almost. My husband explained to me that magma (this is the stuff that's underneath the earth and is extremely hot--so no real flow there) is not the best description, it really should be "flow like lava" (which mine didn't; too much grounded almond and icing sugar). I would think that the batter should "ooze". As well, not sure if I piped correctly--are they suppose to be the size of a poker chip? In the end, I was able to make them (with feet/poofiness on the bottom)!! Pictures to come soon (I hope). Also, waiting a day later to consume them also yielded a sweeter taste (perhaps too sweet?). Again, thank you for all your help--I hope to perfect them by Christmas! :P avantassell at 11:52AM on 04/04/08 @avantassell: I'm glad to hear you made the macarons! And with feet/poofyness..that's awesome! You're right, I think lava would've been a better description than...hot, liquidy magma, haha. ;_; It oozes a bit...would probably be more helpful if I made a video of someone making the batter. (rubs chin) As for the size, poker chip sounds good to me. (I'm trying to envision a poker chip, haha.) I mean, the size is flexible...1.5-2 inches in diameter, maybe? My macarons tasted better on the second day, although they were also sweeter than I would've liked. Ahh, so hard to get the right ratio of ingredients down... roboppy at 12:03PM on 04/04/08 Hello Pixienix again !! A new post in english for macarons !!! http://www.mercotte.fr/wpcontent/uploads/files/pdf/synthese%20des%20macarons%20en%20anglais.pdf mercotte at 11:36AM on 04/08/08 Gosh, I really should try and make macarons! ChristinaINP at 2:13PM on 04/14/08 Thank you for this new article, Mercotte. I've tried your methods previously and was quite surprised at the relative success made! I made lemon macarons. I didn't produce any 'feet' in the first batch, so I increased the temperature from 140 to 160C, then voila! feet! i sang and danced in front of the oven. However, I had a problem with the insides of the macaron shell; some of them were a bit 'wet'/mushy, and kind of hollow. To be honest I also forgot to follow one step, that is to separate the egg whites into two parts.. so i ended up beating all of it at one go. do you think this is a major mistake?
Also, I'm very interested in learning more stable fillings (unless of course if theyre all meant to melt in no time!). pixienix at 4:30AM on 04/19/08 gorgeous. Can't wait to try this myself! madebymelis at 12:58PM on 04/27/08 My second attempt - I made lime and rose macarons. The batter seemed a bit dry.. but they turned out beautiful. I immediately froze them and havent tried them out yet after leaving them for three days now.. the ones I did try soon after the baking were.. crunchy and not chewy inside! *grumble grumble* :-/ pixienix at 1:47AM on 05/02/08 Ok.... I have way too many egg whites left!! I am going to try this!!! Hopefully it'll turn out!! Got some question, how do I do different flavor Macarons? I was searching around.... and would I be correct to say that you subsititue the granulated sugar for what ever flavor you want? ie cocoa powder. As for the filling, is there a special name for it when I goggle for different flavors? Or would you by chance have those recipies too? htead_ht at 2:54AM on 05/15/08 Hi i've tried making macarons a couple times and ive encountered multiple problems. My first batch was just a regular almond macaron. my batter felt a little thick to me, since when i made a peak, it sank but didn't sink completely back into the batter. I also piped very small dots that time. I rotated the pan halfway during the baking but i didn't leave the door ajar with a wooden spoon. many of the macarons had tumors but non burned and some had offset feet. My second time was a maraschino cherry flavored macaron where i mmixed in a couple tsps of the liquid from a maraschino cherry jar and some red food coloring with some extra almond to balance it out. The mixture still seemed a little thick to me. I piped larger discs than the first batch. During baking, many tumors formed and after, some had airpockets that opened popped open after i took them out of the oven. One pan also had burnt bottoms. So how would i increase the perfection rate of these cookies? (ie having smooth surfaces, no burns, no tumors, etc) Also, how would you get rid of the air pockets while piping? sorry for this gargantuan post i just really want to try and make perfect macarons. :]
Posted by Robyn Lee, October 24, 2007 at 4:45 PM
My friend Lisa making passionfruit macarons at Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven. I'm ashamed to admit that while I have eaten many macarons, I've never made them on my own. Thankfully, plenty of other people much more skilled in the culinary arts than I am have bravely attempted to make macarons in their home kitchens and have shared their results on that massive virtual brain called the Internet. I'm going to list the most promising recipes I found while aggressively sifting through the web and, from those, pool together a list of tips and tricks for optimum macaron creation. All that info follows after the jump. Clement's recipe at A La Cuisine was the most often cited recipe I found while searching through blogs. It also differed from almost every other recipe I found due to giving measurements in volume rather than weight. I would assume that weight is the more accurate way to go, but many have successfully reproduced his recipe. To the best of my ability, I converted his measurements from volume to weight and compared them to other recipes I found below to give you a basic macaron cookie recipe. Basic Macaron Cookie Steps adapted from A La Cuisine. Ingredients adapted from A La Cuisine, Chubby Hubby, Veronica's Test Kitchen, Ladurée and Yochana's Pierre Hermé recipe.
The number of cookies the recipe makes depends on how large you form your cookies. Most recipes failed to give an estimate. If I had to make an educated guess I'd say you could make 30-50 macaron sandwiches with this recipe.
Ingredients
225 grams icing sugar 125 grams ground almonds 110 grams egg whites (about 4), aged overnight at room temperature 30 grams granulated sugar Pinch of salt
Procedure
1. On three pieces of parchment, use a pencil to draw 1-inch (2.5 cm) circles about 2 inches apart. Flip each sheet over and place each sheet on a baking sheet. [Note: You only have to draw circles on the parchment paper if you want absolutely even-sized macarons. If you're skilled with piping and don't mind eyeballing the amount of batter per cookie, skip this step.] 2. Push almond flour through a tamis or sieve, and sift icing sugar. Mix the almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and set aside. If the mixture is not dry, spread on a baking sheet, and heat in oven at the lowest setting until dry. 3. In a large clean, dry bowl whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks—the whites should be firm and shiny. 4. With a flexible spatula, gently fold in icing sugar mixture into egg whites until completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and 'flow like magma.' When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing. 4. Fit a piping bag with a 3/8-inch (1 cm) round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets, in the previously drawn circles. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles. Let dry at room temperature for 1 or 2 hours to allow skins to form. 5. Bake, in a 160C/325F oven for 10 to 11 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar, and rotate the baking sheet after 5 minutes for even baking. 6. Remove macarons from oven and transfer parchment to a cooling rack. When cool, slide a metal offset spatula or pairing knife underneath the macaron to remove from parchment. 7. Pair macarons of similar size, and pipe about 1/2 tsp of the filling onto one of the macarons. Sandwich macarons, and refrigerate to allow flavors to blend together. Bring back to room temperature before serving. Bittersweet Chocolate Cream Ganache Adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme by Dorie Greenspan. - makes about 2 cups (550 grams) -
Ingredients
8 ounces (230 grams) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, finely chopped 1 cup (250 grams) heavy cream 4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Procedure
1. Place the chocolate in a bowl that's large enough to hold the ingredients and keep it close at hand. Bring the cream to a full boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. While the cream is coming to the boil, work the butter with a rubber spatula until it is very soft and creamy. Keep the butter aside for the moment. 1. While the cream is at the boil, remove the pan from the heat and, working with the rubber spatula, gently stir the cream into the chocolate. Start stirring in the center of the mixture and work your way out in widening concentric circles. Continue to stir—without creating bubbles—until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Leave the bowl on the counter for a minute or two to cool the mixture down a little before adding the butter. 3. Add the butter to the mixture in two additions, mixing with the spatula from the center of the mixture out in widening concentric circles. When the butter is fully incorporated, the ganache should be smooth and glossy. depending on what you're making with the ganache, you can use it now, leave it on the counter to set to a spreadable or pipeable consistency (a process that could take over an hour, depending on your room's temperature) or chill it in the refrigerator, stirring now and then. (If the ganache chills too much and becomes too firm, you can give it a very quick zap in the microwave to bring it back to the desired consistency, or just let it stand at room temperature.)
Finished macarons filled with passion fruit-flavored white chocolate ganache. More Macaron Recipes
A La Cuisine (Matcha-chestnut, caramel-fleur de sel, and toasted sesame macarons ) Chubby Hubby (Caramel fleur de sel macarons) David Lebovitz (Chocolate macarons with chocolate or prune filling) Foodbeam (Pierre Hermeés rose macarons) Kitchen Musings (Basic macaron batter) La Cuisine de Mercotte - A variety of recipes in French that, even though I can't read, I have a sense work out well. La Tartine Gourmand (Cardamom, wattles seeds macarons with orange filling, and matcha tea and chocolate macarons) Ladurée (Chocolate macarons) Tartlette (Espresso toffee macarons) Times Online (Lemon macarons. Also read Lucas Hollweg's associated article, Man vs Macaron) The Traveler's Lunchbox (Salted caramel and blood orange curd macarons) Yochana's Cake Delight (Pierre Hermé's chocolate macaron recipe)
A Few Tips Sift your ingredients, multiple times if necessary. You want your ground nuts to be powdery. No lumps! Almond and icing sugar mixture may be pulsed in a food processor to make finer. Use old egg whites. No really, leave them out for three days at room temperature if you don't mind waiting for that long. Using fresh egg whites is more likely to result in macarons that are too fragile and flat. Read Veronica's Test Kitchen for more info. Cooked Italian meringue may be used instead of the uncooked French one. Read Foodbeam's recipe to learn how to make it. The final macaron batter should have the consistency of magma. What's the consistency of magma? Not too liquidy, nor too stiff. If you form a peak, it should slowly and completely sink back into the batter. If the cookies form peaks on their tops after piping, flatten them with a wet fingertip. Although many recipes call for it, letting the batter sit after piping may not be necessary. David Lebovitz didn't think this was an important step. Prevent your macarons from burning by using a double layered baking sheet (stack two sheets on top of each other) and by propping the oven door open with a wooden spoon for the entire baking period or halfway through the baking period (depending on how large the macarons are or what recipe you're using). To make it easier to remove the macarons from the parchment paper after baking, pour a little bit of water underneath the paper. After a while the steam will have loosened the macarons. Let the macarons rest for a day before you eat them. They're supposed to taste better with a bit of rest. This might be the hardest rule to follow. 20 Comments Favorite This!
Tags: baking, French, macarons 20 Comments:
Your devotion to macaron is substantial. Yom, macarons. Christina at 5:18PM on 10/24/07 I used to make chocolate Macarons using a recipe from one of Patricia Wells' cookbooks. They always came out fantastic..this was long before this new Macaron hysteria..I wonder if recipes have changed since then. izzy's mama at 11:46PM on 10/24/07 If you are feeling uncertain in your pastry bag skills try this: Take a sheet of parchment paper use a small round item to draw circles on it (macaron size). Get a huge container of cool whip or the supermarket brand doesn't matter since you will not be eating it and fill your pastry bag with it and pipe. Non dairy whipped toppings are cheap and you can usually get a good practice in with 1 container. I use a standard 1/2 sheet pan with parchment for my macarons. I have used french and italian meringue. Temperature of the egg whites depends on the humidity where you are. When I lived in the south the humidity was an egg white issue. I sometimes use pasterized egg whites right out of the carton (right out of the refrigerator) for insurance use a pinch of cream of tartar. I will not leave eggs out on the counter. It is just not something I would do. If you are that worried about it try dried egg whites (called Just Whites, 100% Natural Dried Egg Whites) or meringue powder. The water trick works. When you take the sheet pan out make it level with the counter and slide the parchment off the sheet and then using a spritzer spray with water and slide it back on. Do this quickly and only spray the surface on one side and drag the parchment across that spot to coat the whole pan. I use almond paste and other nut pastes as much as I use ground nuts. Everyone has their favorite recipe. For fillings I like citrus curds, raspberry (seedless) jam, blackberry jam, vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream. I tend to like to make these for Easter. They look so pretty and pastel on a nice white cake stand. Come on Robyn you can do it. JerzeeTomato at 1:35AM on 10/25/07 Robin, you can totally do this. Seriously, as much research as you have done, I did about half this and had a really good run on my first try. DO IT! foodiegirl71 at 3:43PM on 10/25/07 OK so I've done all of this with my macarons, but it NEVER works!!! I've also tried leaving the macs out 1 - 2 hours before baking, and I've also tried not leaving them out (and to be honest, it does'nt make a difference).
I feel that what I'm getting wrong is the "magma" part. I don't know what the heck magma is, even after having read gazillion of descriptions on "not too thick, not too liquidy". I just CANT DO MACARONS aaahhh. What's wrong with me? I can do plenty of other stuff, but not macarons!! :-( Robyn, the macaron god has selected you as one of his lucky few chosen ones. From Marianna- angry at macarons. MariannaF at 3:38AM on 11/06/07 Thanks for this recipe, my macarons came out great! I think the weighing of the egg whites was the crucial bit for me. Nicisme at 5:53AM on 03/05/08 I just translate one post about macarons and I hope next week post the recipes . Perhaps you can understand my way of cooking them http://www.mercotte.fr/2008/03/15/desperatly-seeking-macarons/ mercotte at 11:38AM on 03/20/08 I was searching for something to bring to the family Easter lunch. The meal is pretty routine with mom, mom in law and sister in law doing the cooking, I'm left to bring something different and exciting each time, I think this may be it, or maybe an apple galette.... rockymountainmarta at 2:38PM on 03/20/08 hello madame mercotte, I've been browsing through your website and I'm absolutely impressed with your talents! I can't seem to open the link that you gave us here though.. I'd really love to try baking these wonderful macarons.. i just finished two small boxes of them that my husband bought for me from his business trip to Japan! I'm desperately looking for some more but I cant find them here in my country :( pixienix at 4:41AM on 03/24/08
hello Pixienix ! I'm sorry here is the right link !! Hope you are going to cook good macarons !! http://www.mercotte.fr/2008/03/20/desperatly-seeking-macarons/ mercotte at 9:38AM on 03/24/08 oh you are the best! thank you so much. I've just been ageing my egg whites the past two days. I'm so nervous with this very first attempt.. I will read through your tips and guidelines and try it possibly tomorrow (cross fingers!). merci madame, you are SO VERY GENEROUS..and talented. Bless you. pixienix at 5:15AM on 03/26/08 First off, I can't THANK YOU enough for all your detailed research on this delectable treat (although I have to say, I don't think I've ever had one, so no taste comparison).
It took me a few days, but with the egg whites out for more than 3 (!!!), I made these macarons per instructions--almost. My husband explained to me that magma (this is the stuff that's underneath the earth and is extremely hot--so no real flow there) is not the best description, it really should be "flow like lava" (which mine didn't; too much grounded almond and icing sugar). I would think that the batter should "ooze". As well, not sure if I piped correctly--are they suppose to be the size of a poker chip? In the end, I was able to make them (with feet/poofiness on the bottom)!! Pictures to come soon (I hope). Also, waiting a day later to consume them also yielded a sweeter taste (perhaps too sweet?). Again, thank you for all your help--I hope to perfect them by Christmas! :P avantassell at 11:52AM on 04/04/08 @avantassell: I'm glad to hear you made the macarons! And with feet/poofyness..that's awesome! You're right, I think lava would've been a better description than...hot, liquidy magma, haha. ;_; It oozes a bit...would probably be more helpful if I made a video of someone making the batter. (rubs chin) As for the size, poker chip sounds good to me. (I'm trying to envision a poker chip, haha.) I mean, the size is flexible...1.5-2 inches in diameter, maybe? My macarons tasted better on the second day, although they were also sweeter than I would've liked. Ahh, so hard to get the right ratio of ingredients down... roboppy at 12:03PM on 04/04/08 Hello Pixienix again !! A new post in english for macarons !!! http://www.mercotte.fr/wpcontent/uploads/files/pdf/synthese%20des%20macarons%20en%20anglais.pdf mercotte at 11:36AM on 04/08/08 Gosh, I really should try and make macarons! ChristinaINP at 2:13PM on 04/14/08 Thank you for this new article, Mercotte. I've tried your methods previously and was quite surprised at the relative success made! I made lemon macarons. I didn't produce any 'feet' in the first batch, so I increased the temperature from 140 to 160C, then voila! feet! i sang and danced in front of the oven. However, I had a problem with the insides of the macaron shell; some of them were a bit 'wet'/mushy, and kind of hollow. To be honest I also forgot to follow one step, that is to separate the egg whites into two parts.. so i ended up beating all of it at one go. do you think this is a major mistake?
Also, I'm very interested in learning more stable fillings (unless of course if theyre all meant to melt in no time!). pixienix at 4:30AM on 04/19/08 gorgeous. Can't wait to try this myself! madebymelis at 12:58PM on 04/27/08 My second attempt - I made lime and rose macarons. The batter seemed a bit dry.. but they turned out beautiful. I immediately froze them and havent tried them out yet after leaving them for three days now.. the ones I did try soon after the baking were.. crunchy and not chewy inside! *grumble grumble* :-/ pixienix at 1:47AM on 05/02/08 Ok.... I have way too many egg whites left!! I am going to try this!!! Hopefully it'll turn out!! Got some question, how do I do different flavor Macarons? I was searching around.... and would I be correct to say that you subsititue the granulated sugar for what ever flavor you want? ie cocoa powder. As for the filling, is there a special name for it when I goggle for different flavors? Or would you by chance have those recipies too? htead_ht at 2:54AM on 05/15/08 Hi i've tried making macarons a couple times and ive encountered multiple problems. My first batch was just a regular almond macaron. my batter felt a little thick to me, since when i made a peak, it sank but didn't sink completely back into the batter. I also piped very small dots that time. I rotated the pan halfway during the baking but i didn't leave the door ajar with a wooden spoon. many of the macarons had tumors but non burned and some had offset feet. My second time was a maraschino cherry flavored macaron where i mmixed in a couple tsps of the liquid from a maraschino cherry jar and some red food coloring with some extra almond to balance it out. The mixture still seemed a little thick to me. I piped larger discs than the first batch. During baking, many tumors formed and after, some had airpockets that opened popped open after i took them out of the oven. One pan also had burnt bottoms. So how would i increase the perfection rate of these cookies? (ie having smooth surfaces, no burns, no tumors, etc) Also, how would you get rid of the air pockets while piping? sorry for this gargantuan post i just really want to try and make perfect macarons. :]
