I have a love-hate relationship with macarons. They are adorable, dainty, delicious, and comes in more flavours than one can imagine. BUT... they are little devils in disguise.
Slightly hotter oven? Amoeba looking, sad macarons.
Slightly over-mixed macaronage? Prepare yourself for macarons with big air-pockets.
What about under-mixed macaronage? Flat macarons with no signature feet, aka pseudo-macarons.
I even noticed that whenever I used ingredients from Whole Foods, the macarons turn out nicely, but whenever I used ingredients from Save On Foods, I got macarons that belong in the garbage.
Getting the perfect macarons can be frustrating, but the fruits of hard work are sweeter than the gifts of fortune... right?
THE PERFECT MACARON curtesy of SeriousEats.com
Macaron Shells
120 g
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Almond Meal
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200 g
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Icing Sugar
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100 g
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Egg Whites
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30 g
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Granulated Sugar
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pinch
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Table Salt
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Gel Food Colouring
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GRIND the almond meal and powder sugar together into fine powder in a food processor.
This step is very important! Do not skip! The majority of the commercially available almond meal particles are too large for macaron making and will result in lumpy, diseased looking shells! Adding the powder sugar will prevent the almond meal from turning into butter during the grinding process.
SIFT your almond-sugar mixture through a fine sieve.
Discard particles too large to pass through the sieve. This step ensures that no large almond bits will end up in your macaronage. The ideal macarons have smooth, shiny, luxurious shells.
WHIP the egg whites on low in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment until frothy.
When the egg whites become frothy, ADD a pinch of salt and granulated sugar one table spoon at a time.
The mixing bowl and whisk must be spotlessly clean! If there is any grease, the egg whites will not foam up. Adding the pinch of salt stabilizes the egg whites. It is important to start whipping the egg whites on a low speed and increase it gradually. This will help you achieve more volume. Letting the egg whites come to room temperature will also help to increase volume.
At the SOFT PEAKS stage, add gel food colouring of your choice.
At the soft peaks stage, the peaks droop when the whisk is lifted. Macarons come in many vibrant colours. I suggest using a colour that coordinates with the filling. For mango macarons, I decided on using an orange-yellow colour. It is important to use gel food colouring instead of liquid because liquid food colouring will thin out your egg whites, and you will not get the peaks you are looking for.
Stop the whipping process immediately after the STIFF PEAKS stage is reached.
At the stiff peaks stage, the peaks should hold their shape when the whisk is lifted. Stop the whipping process immediately or you will overbeat your egg whites into a dull, dry mess!
FOLD the almond-sugar into the egg whites to form the macaronage.
The folding process involves scooping the almond-sugar from the bottom of the bowl and dropping it on top of the egg whites, forming the macaronage. This is the most challenging part of the macaron making process for beginners, because the consistency of the macaronage will determine the success of the macarons! Macaronage with the proper consistency will fall off the spatula like flowing lava. To test if your macaronage has the right consistency, drop a blob of the mixture on top, and it should disappear into the rest of the macaronage within 30 to 60 seconds. Folding slightly too much will over-deflate the egg whites and macarons won't have their signature feet. Folding slightly too little will result in lumpy, holey macarons.
PIPE your macarons onto parchment paper or silicon baking mats with a round tip.
Let your macarons DRY at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Most bakers use a pipping bag with a round tip attached to obtain round macarons. Personally, I prefer using a pipping gun because it gives me more control. Using a template underneath your parchment paper or silicon baking mats helps with getting equal size macarons (download)
. The shells of the macarons form during the drying process. The macarons are dried and ready for baking when you touch the shells lightly, and it does not stick to your fingers. By the way, it is not recommended to make macarons on rainy days, because they may not dry properly.
BAKE the macarons at 290°F for 18 minutes.
Let the baked macarons COOL for 30 minutes.
Place a cookie sheet on the highest rack in the oven, and bake the macarons on the lowest rack. This will prevent your macarons from browning. Baking at the right temperature is important because if the oven temperature is too high, the macarons will rise too quickly and turn into amoeba shapes. After cooling, the macarons should be easily removable from the parchment paper or silicon baking mat. If not, the macarons are underbaked =(
Mango Swiss Meringue Buttercream Filling
130 g
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Egg Whites
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250 g
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Granulated Sugar
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340 g
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Unsalted Butter
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50 g
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Icing Sugar
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150 g
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Mangoes
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PUREE mangoes and icing sugar in a food processor.
You may use any fruit of your choice for this recipe, as long as it is not too watery. I chose mangoes because the acidity from the mangoes perfectly complements the sweet meringue. I am looking forward to making strawberry macarons in the near future!
WHIP egg whites and granulated sugar with a hand mixer in a heat proof bowl over simmering water.
Whip the mixture until it reaches 140°F, or until the sugar granules have melted. The heating process will destroy harmful bacteria that may be in the egg whites.
Transfer the egg-sugar mixture to a stand mixer and continue to WHIP until the mixture cools completely.
When the egg-sugar mixture cools, switch to a paddle attachment and ADD room temperature butter one table spoon at a time and blend until smooth.
BLEND the mango puree into the swiss meringue until smooth, and sandwich between two macaron shells.
Allow the assembled macarons to MATURE for 24 hours.
Macarons are at their best 24 hours after being assembled. During the maturation process, macaron shells and buttercream mingle to improve the overall texture and flavours.
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| Bear's Mango Macarons (⌒▽⌒) |
After all the hard work, enjoy your delicious macarons !
Love,
Lucia
