Macarons
Ingredients
- 50g aged egg whites
- 65g almond flour
- 65g powdered sugar
- 45g extra-fine sugar
- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
Technique lessons (across 5 attempts)
- Bowl matters: Glass bowl works much better than metal for beating egg whites - the sloping sides help.
- Piping: Watch videos and use a printed template under the parchment. Smooth, consistent circles are achievable with practice.
- Tapping: Tap the baking sheet firmly after piping to pop nipples and bubbles on top.
- Macaronage: Follow the folding guides carefully - undermixing causes hollow tops, overmixing causes flat cookies with no feet.
- Sifting: Sift at the very end and shake up the dry ingredients in the sifter.
- Skin: Let them rest 30 min until a skin develops before baking - 320°F for 12-14 min.
- Store brand waxed paper: Awful for piping bags - use real piping bags.
- Aged egg whites: Slightly easier to work with but makes little difference once you’re used to it.
Fillings
- Raspberry-white chocolate filling: amazing. Simmer longer with a pinch of salt to concentrate the raspberry flavor. Chill thoroughly before piping - runny filling is a disaster.
- Dark chocolate ganache: good for balancing the sweetness.
- Lemon buttercream (American): too sweet.
- Coffee: can be gritty - try grinding finer.
References