Pour la version française c'est ICI -CLIC-

Not a day goes that I don’t receive a multitude of questions about making macarons !

Above all, don’t panic, if you follow the instructions attentively, it really does work

One needs only to look at some blogs and many others e mailers who have successfully mastered the steps as well as many anonymous readers to whom I have given advice over the net or on the phone, step by step sometime hours at a time and who have consequently sent me the most delectable pictures!

The overall credit must go to our  -Super Julie- with whom we have perfected, after much experimentation, the  basic recipes derived from the master recipe taught at l‘École du grand chocolat, a few personal touches and for the rest I am just a good student !

Advice for how to master the confection of macarons

Protoptype model to respond to the many requests from desperate readers!!!

It is not too difficult to make beautiful macarons, but it does require exactness, organisation, good equipment, first rate quality ingredients and time. First of all, do not decide at the last minute that you are going to make macarons for tonight – a surefire recipe for disaster!

Demo in my kitchen

Day 2: Weigh 2 x 60grams of egg whites that have been separated from the yolks 5 or 6 days before and kept chilled in a sealed container in the refrigerator. [you can also use pasterized egg whites]  Bring egg whites to room temperature. [You could also use 2 x 40 grams at which point you would follow the rule of 3 for the weighing of the other ingredients]
Day 1 : Weigh 150gram of fine quality almond powder, toast it for 10 minutes in 150° oven, then allow to coll. Weigh 150 grams of fine powdered sugar [I buy it with a trace of starch from a professional]. Sift the toasted almonds powder and sugar together, cover with plastic film and set aside. You could bypass the sifting step by rapidly mixing in a food processor or electric mixer such as Magimix.
Prepare one or more ganaches of different flavours. Let cool if you are making whipped ganache which is lighter – this involves using 2.5 x initial quantity of heavy cream – keep chilled 24 hours or at least one night in the fridge.

Day 0 morning: Prepare 35 grams of sugar to be added when beating the egg whites [ not mandatory, but 2 grams of dehydrated egg whites could be added], prepare a few drops of lemon juice and a small pinch of salt. It works equally well without the lemon juice and salt, but it is more psychologically reassuring. Prepare aside a small cooking pot in which you have measured 150 grams of powdered sugar and a container of 50 grams of water which will be used to make the sugar syrup.
Prepare 3 perforated baking cookie sheets covered with either parchment paper or siliconed paper [avoid using waxed paper which does stick] this enables perfectly smooth, baked and not hollow macaron shells. Two baking sheets will suffice for 2 x 40 grams of egg whites.

Prepare a pastry bag with a 10mm tip, pointed upwards ready for use. Have at hand food coloring, a small sifter containing cacao, black sesame, ground pistachios, powdered cardamom or crushed gavotte biscuits and last but not the least the all indispensable and accurate candy thermometer for the syrup temperature.

More details and photos looking at "Bons plans"

Day 0 afternoon: Preheat convection oven to145° along with 3 plain baking sheets on 3 baking racks which will heat at the same time [if you have the room in your oven]. You may only be able to bake a sheet or two at a time.

And now let’s get to work!

 

Gently beat the 60 grams of egg whites with a pinch of salt and 2 drops of lemon juice until they begin to foam. Meanwhile make the sugar syrup, add the reserved 50 grams of water to the small pot containing 150 grams of sugar, stir a bit before heating on medium set gas flame or induction burner, placing the candy thermometer in the syrup. Do not stir! It will ring once the syrup has reached 110°C provided you have programmed it correctly. Take a glance at your egg whites which should still be beating calmly away – increase the speed slightly. They should become firm and shiny. Once the syrup has reached its temperature, decrease the speed of your electric mixing bowl or processor and slowly pour in the boiling syrup around the sides of the mixer bowl [Do not pour directly on the egg whites]. This is an Italian meringue.

There’s no need to rush! Once the syrup has been fully poured in, it must sit to cool for about 10 minutes. The time could vary slightly depending on the quantity of the mixture. You may slightly increase the mixer speed during this time.

While you are waiting for the meringue mixture to cool, mix the remaining non beaten 60 grams of egg whites with the sifted powders folding  together with a rubber spatula or better yet a « corne » a plastic half moon shaped disk, add the food colouring.

Once the Italian meringue has cooled to approximately 40°C, stop the electric mixing bowl or processor.

You can use a small amount of the egg white clinging to whisks to “glue” the four corners of the siliconed or parchment paper to your dimpled baking sheet to avoid sliding during the piping of the macaron shells onto the baking sheet.

Add the Italian meringue to the mixture of non beaten egg whites, powders and food colouring and work it together using a bottom to top motion, starting from the middle of the bowl for approximately 2 to 3 minutes to obtain a smooth and shiny mixture, this is called  "macaronner" or macaroning. This mixture should be pliable, almost liquid but not too much, you should be able to form a ribbon. If you don’t macaron” enough, a small peak will appear on the top of the macaron shell when piped onto the baking sheet. Fill the pastry pouch with the mixture and pipe small and regular dollops in alternating rows. I obtain exactly one hundred little piles using 2x 60 grams of egg whites, resulting in 50 finished macarons.

You may tap the baking sheets on the side of the table to smooth out the piles if you deem necessary. Finally sift upon them your selected powders or crushed nuts and seeds and immediately and without waiting put the 3 filled siliconed paper covered perforated cookie sheets onto the hot baking sheets at the same time in the oven for more or less 13 minutes [you must trust your oven, it is very important]. This is my method, I do not air dry my mixture but it’s up to you. Air drying the mixture produces better results for some bakers, The macarons tend not to crackle for example.

Once you have removed the baking sheets from the oven, place on racks and let cool. The macarons should easily be detached, no need to moisten the parchment paper.

They should have a beautiful collar, be smooth and baked to perfection.

Now beat the various ganaches as you would whipped cream if this is your selected garnish, Place in pastry pouches, slightly indent inside of the macaron shell, using your thumb, after removing from baking sheets to avoid the over lapping of the ganache. You may garnish and assemble you macarons shells once they have cooled.

Howsoever: I have an extremely reliable and accurate oven. Obviously all ovens vary, you must therefore do test runs! No need to open or block the oven door slightly ajar when using a convection oven.

Preservation: You can easily freeze macarons. I prefer freezing only the shells, then garnishing them one to two days prior to tasting them so the flavours blend together harmoniously. They can also be frozen already assembled and ready to eat. In which case you need to add a small amount of neutral honey to the ganache to keep it moist and creamy. After defrosting about 30 minutes, allowing them to reach room temperature, they are ready to be enjoyed!

Be brave,  by using this method many a determined and applied baker has successfully mastered the making of macarons as well, or almost as well as I do!

I await your attempts, pictures, successes and future possible questions.

Mishap analysis

-        The Italian meringue mixture is not firm : macarons are hollow underneath

-        Too many air bubbles formed during the macaronning procedure – risk of cracks.

-        Clumsiness during the piping onto the baking sheets : uneven edges or “collar”

-        Misreading of oven reliability : to be tested at various temperatures and varying baking times

Obviously the convection oven is best for baking macarons, however many bakers have mastered macarons using a traditional gas or electric oven or even a mini oven, so don’t give up!

Conclusion:

 

The knowledge of one’s oven is all important in order to obtain a beautiful macaron, with even edges, uniform baking and to know how many baking sheets can be baked at a time. Do not give up, persevere and carry on ….