Macarons are an amazing little cookie that’s insanely complicated to make! I’ve had a vague idea about what they were when I was younger but got them confused with macaroons. Why would people make cookies with almost identical names!?!?
Later in life I finally figured out which cookie was which and had the opportunity to try them. I was hooked! Crisp outer shell; light and airy cookie; and delicious fillings. And with so much variety!
I never really attempted make them until I saw an episode of Top Chef Canada where one of the cheftestants (I hate that word!) made it for one of the elimination challenges. It looked so simple that I had to try it!
I did a lot of research on making the perfect macaron. The first thing I learned was there were 2 methods to making the meringue: French and Italian. I wanted to focus on the French method since macarons are classically French. Also, I was a little nervous about making a super hot sugar solution on the stove top for the meringue. The next thing I learned was exactly how precise all the measurements needed to be. Every recipe I saw online required a digital scale to get down to the exact gram! The first few attempts I did it by volume measurement. That didn’t work out well so I broke down and bought a digital scale.
I learned that a very exact procedure is required to make the cookie portion. Beating the egg whites for exactly 2 minutes at different speeds until the right texture, what food dyes are required to colour the meringue, folding the components together exactly 35 to 45 times, resting the piped meringue mixture to form a crust, and rotating the cookies half way through the baking process for even heating. Skip any of these and the cookies won’t form properly.
Finally, I learned how finicky these treats were due to weather and temperature! If it was too humid they won’t form the crust. If the eggs whites are too cool they won’t get enough volume. If the oven is too hot the cookies will crack. Lots of little details.
Anyway, I decided that I would follow the Martha Stewart recipe for meringues. It’s on the Cookie app that I’ve already made several delightful baked goods from. Also, Martha wouldn’t lead me astray! So, let’s get to the ingredients.
Ingredients:
For normal macarons
- 100g ground blanched almonds or almond meal/flour
- 180g confectioner (powdered or icing) sugar
- 100g egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 35 grams superfine or castor sugar
- Gel colour
For chocolate macarons
- 100g ground blanched almonds or almond meal/flour
- 170g confectioner (powdered or icing) sugar
- 15g cocoa powder
- 100g egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 35 grams superfine or castor sugar
So, the first thing I did was to weigh out all the ingredients. Then I dumped the almond flour and powdered/icing sugar into a food processor (i.e. the ninja). The superfine sugar I put into a measuring cup. The egg whites I dumped into the kitchen aid bowl. I separated the eggs while they were cold and let them warm to room temperature.
Next, I processed the sugar and almond flour until everything was very fine.
The almond flour and sugar are going to be suspended in the egg whites so the fine mixture is needed. Most commercially available almond flour still has larger almond particles in it. If these larger particles were mixed with the meringue it could prevent it from rising properly and the cookies would have a gritty texture.
Now for the meringue… The fun fun meringue. I’ve posted about meringues before but these are much trickier. Normal meringues don’t have to suspend another solid within them. They are simply egg whites and sugar with some food coloring. The meringue for the macarons must be able to suspend an almond and sugar mixture. So, to accomplish this there are several tricks that can be used. First off, all the utensils must be dirt and oil free. This can inhibit the emulsification of the egg whites. The egg whites must also be room temperature. The colder the egg whites the less volume is generated when beating. The recipe also calls for aging the egg whites. Aging egg whites causes them to dehydrate and form a stiffer meringue. I personally don’t like this because leaving egg whites around for 1-2 days makes me a little nervous. So, I read that of you microwave the whites for 10 seconds to simulate the aging process. I personally don’t age them since I don’t want to tempt food poisoning. So, I put the egg whites into the mixing bowl of the stand mixer and start beating with a ballon whisk attachment at a low speed (number 2 on the stand mixer). I beat it until a light froth forms. This takes about 30-45 seconds. Then I add the cream of tartar. The cream of tartar helps stabilize the emulsification of the eggs.
I increase the mixer to medium speed (number 4 on the stand mixer) and beat until I start getting lots of foam. This usually takes 2-3 minutes. At this point a slowly start to add the sugar. Superfine sugar is required for the meringue because it will dissolve more easily in the egg whites.
After the sugar is added I increase the stand mixer to medium high (number 6 on the stand mixer) and beat until soft peaks formed.
At this point I added the food colouring. Now, this step is not necessary. You can continue to beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. I just like to colour my macaroons. Also, do not use liquid food colouring. They will add moisture to the mixed and potentially prevent the meringue from forming. I used gel colours which is colouring inside a solution of corn syrup. Add as much as required until the meringue takes on the desired colour.
Now, continue beating the eggs until the meringue just forms stiff peaks. Do not over beat the eggs as it will cause the meringue to break. The meringue should form a point that doesn’t flop over when pulling the whisk straight up from the mixture.
Now, add the dry mixture to the meringue.
I used a flour sifter to add the dry ingredients. This is needed because the ground almond still had larger chunks in it. That’s not pleasant in a macaron. Also, the powdered sugar gets a bit clumpy. Sifting the sugar helps to break it apart so there isn’t a huge blob in the mix.
Now, time to fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. Basically, I ran the spatula around the side and bottom of the bowl then pushed it through the middle of the mixture. This kept the sides of the bowl clean and mixed anything at the bottom of the bowl into the meringues. I always end up folding 40-50 times. Basically I get it to the consistency of molten lava. It can fall in ribbons when picked up and reincorporates into the main body of the mixture after a couple of seconds.
After everything was incorporated, I filled a piping bag with the mixture. I stood the piping bag inside a yogurt container to steady it while filling. Then I piped 1 inch disks onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Piping perfect disks is requires a little bit of skill. Skill that I lack! I usually make approximate blobs and hope that 2 of them match. I’ve seen videos of people laying a stencil underneath the parchment paper to follow but I’m too lazy.
Now I let the cookies form a crust for 30-60 minutes before baking them in the oven. The crust is necessary to form the ‘foot’ on the cookie. As the cookie bakes, the expanding air has only one path to go out and that is through the bottom. This makes for the bubbling effect.
Anyway, to bake the cookies! The oven needs to be preheated at 350F. The cookies need to be placed in the top 3rd of the oven for 12-14 minutes, rotating the tray half way through. I tend to go about 14 minutes since my oven temperature is pretty uneven. This also forces me to only bake one tray at a time. My oven will burn a second sheet of macarons. A good way to test if they’ve finished baking is to see if the cookie just released from the parchment. Also if you touch the top of the cookie and give it a wiggle the tops should not move separately from the bottom. If they’re still very sticky or wiggly then bake for another minute or 2. Unless it’s the chocolate macarons. They have some serious issues when baking. I just bake them until the they stop wiggling.
After they finish baking, set the cookies on a cooling rack and allow to sit until completely cooled.
These are perfect! Unfortunate, the second tray did not com out as well…
The cracking in the top of the cookies can be caused by a lot of different issues:
- The batter was too wet with from too much mixing or just moisture in the air.
- The shell didn’t form on the cookie properly.
- The oven was too hot.
They also didn’t form any feet. This can because by:
- Wet batter form over mixing.
- Improper she’ll formation.
- Knocking out all the air from the meringue from Over mixing the batter.
- Bad luck.
Anyway, once the cookie has cooled completely it’s time to assemble them! I usually sort all the cookies by size and pair them up. This ensures that there won’t be a trapezoidal cookie. Next I put a small amount of filling on the flat side of the cookie. I don’t put a huge glob and and I spread it to the edges. This prevents over filling and messy macarons. I’ve used a variety of fillings before such as lemon curd, chocolate ganache, vanilla butter cream, and dolce de leche. Now sandwich the cookies and press they together gently.
So, that was a pretty one I made. I’ve made some hideous ones as well.
These were the cracked ones in chocolate. I didn’t let a crust form properly.
The batter was too stiff and I didn’t blend the almond in properly. Again, issues with the chocolate ones.
So, that’s how I make macarons. I think that they taste better after being stored in the fridge for a day. It allows the flavours to mingle. But eating them after assembly is good too! Everyone that has had them have said they’re amazing. And every time I make them I work out more issues. After all this time (it’s been almost 8 months since my first attempt) I think I’ve finally learned how to make a proper macaron!