Macaroons - how difficult are they ?

jos28

I have never made macaroons and any of the recipes I found make them sound very scary. Mixing to the perfect consistency, piping them all exactly the same size, getting a foot on them.....need I say more.
I'd love to give them a go but are they worth the hassle ?

Jellybaby1

jos28 wrote: »

I have never made macaroons and any of the recipes I found make them sound very scary. Mixing to the perfect consistency, piping them all exactly the same size, getting a foot on them.....need I say more.
I'd love to give them a go but are they worth the hassle ?

Sounds like you might be watching 'Bake Off'.:) I haven't made them myself but have planned to do so. I won't be worrying about getting them all the same size when starting off. I'm just going to enjoy trying. Practice makes perfect! Whatever way they turn out I'll eat them anyway. Good luck to us both!!

jos28

Got it in 1 Jellybaby. I'm gonna to be 20 stone if I keep watching Bake Off
I found a more straightforward recipe that I am going to try. Some of the recipes involved weighing eggs whites and stuff. Life is too short for that !

Mince Pie

I've tried them a couple of times with different recipes and first time were good and other times disaster. First time I used Lorraine Pascales recipe so I'd give recommend giving that one a bash. Any recipe I've tried by her have been bang on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaroons_04669

tfak85

I tried to make them once, I'm an experienced baker and enlisted the help of my brother, who is a chef.

We attempted three flavours (a bit much for first timers, mayhaps).

We worked for five hours, flat out. Got about ten nice looking complete cookies.... I wanted to cry.

I'll definitely try them again though I'll go with just one flavour.

pwurple

I've made them a few times. I stick to one flavour (vanilla) and they weren't too bad. Easier than a meringe roulade anyway! Your piping doesn't need to be great, they are just blobs on a sheet.

I did draw out my circles with pencil on the parchment first.. That gives you a guide. Flip the paper over so pencil marks don't transfer.

The knack in the feet thing is just waiting ten to twenty mins after piping until they get slightly hard on top. Like a soft shell. Touch the top gently to test. When that happens, as they cook and rise slightly they rise from the base, as the top is sealed. If you skip this hardening step, you get cracked tops and no feet.

Best tip I got from a pastry chef aunt on these was aged egg whites. Aged egg whites are much more stable than fresh for these.

Use a very good baking parchment so they don't get stuck. If they do get stuck, mist some hot water onto hot baking tray and hold parchment over it, steam helps them release.

And DO weigh your ingredients, including the egg white. Just adjust up the other ingredients based on the egg. This volume nonsense with cups that the americans do doesn't work for baking at all.


Oh wait, one more thing. I did a batch with cocoa and they failed. Didn't rise. The cocoa powder changed my ratios I would guess. The easiest flavour to go with is something where it is a couple of drops (like vanilla), so it doesn't alter liquid or powder balance.

Oh, and they freeze quite well, so make big batches, as they are too much faffing about to be left with small qtys at the end.

jos28

Thanks a million for all the advice Pwurple. I definitely feel more confident about tackling them now. I love the idea that I can freeze them. Cheers !

Pigwidgeon

I used to be terrified of these, but now have to make them in work quite regularly so am getting good at them at this stage. (Training as a pastry chef). They take a long time, but to be honest I find a lot of the time is spent waiting around for different stages. A few of the most important things I find are:
- make sure a good skin has formed before baking them
- never let the oven go above 150C or they will discolour, if it's much lower than this they won't rise properly so they need to be watched carefully when baking
- as mentioned use good quality baking paper, or silicone mats when baking them (in work we have specific very thin mats just for making macarons)
- they freeze amazingly. Just take a few out when you're boiling the kettle and they be ready when your tea/coffee is in my experience.

There are loads of different types of recipes, the best one I have found, which works the most for me is one which uses an Italian meringue. I never flavour the shell, usually just use colouring, powder is better as you don't want to add liquid to the mix.

The recipe I use is:

- 200g ground almonds
- 200g icing sugar
- 74g egg whites
- 74g egg whites
- 200g caster sugar
- 50g water

Method:
1. mix almonds and icing sugar and blend for a few seconds to ensure it is fine.
2. Place first egg whites in a stand mixer and begin to whisk.
3. Meanwhile make a sugar syrup out of the caster sugar and water, and cook to 121C
4. Pour the syrup slowly into the mixer to make an italian meringue, allow to keep whisking on medium speed to cool it down.
5. While this is happening, add any desired food colour to the second egg whites and then mix these with the almond/icing sugar to form a paste.
6. Begin to mix the meringue in, unusually you actually want to knock a good bit of the air out of the meringue. It should be ready when it reaches a dropping consistency and is shiny.
7. Pipe onto trays and set aside to let skin form. They should feel dry to touch and not be shiny when ready to be baked.
8. Bake at 145-150 for 8-10 minutes, check after 8 mins.
9. Let them cool and fill with whatever ganache you want.

For chocolate shells, I think it's add 40g cocoa powder and 10g of extra egg whites, but I'm not 100% sure, I'll double check my recipe later on. Sorry for the long winded post but I hope it helps someone!

jos28

Thanks a million Pigwidgeon. They are on my to do list for tomorrow so here's hoping !

Madiller29

I have them down to a tee, as a pastry chef it was something I wanted to nail,

important notes would be using fresh egg whites, finely sieving you almond powder and icing sugar, boiling your sugar to exactly 121'C ( very important) and cook and 140'c for 12 mins if there is moisture in your oven it can have and effect also. good luck

loveisdivine

Madiller29 wrote: »

important notes would be using fresh egg whites,

I find this a little odd as everything I read says to use aged egg whites.

Sometimes mines come out perfect (like the time I did salted caramel ones ) and some times they are a pure disaster.

Mince Pie

loveisdivine wrote: »

I find this a little odd as everything I read says to use aged egg whites.

Sometimes mines come out perfect (like the time I did salted caramel ones ) and some times they are a pure disaster.

you won't get an answer now as it seems the poster is banned. I would just go with what the recipes recommend.

Dr_Teeth

I haven't made these, but I've used lots of other recipes from this site and they've worked well. The videos are very well done:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/frenchmacarons/MacaronsRecipe.html

jos28

I finally got round to making them and they turned out ok. They didn't rise as much as I would have liked though. I don't think they will be on my favourites list, there are other less finicky things I prefer to bake/eat. Rasberry and white chocolate muffins, for example. They are a doddle and SO delicious.

pwurple

Gah! You can't tell me about delicious raspberry and white chocolate muffins and not give the recipe!

jos28

There ya go - easy peasy. Just remember not to over mix, this is not a recipe you can use a mixer for.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/450617/raspberry-and-chocolate-muffins

Edit: I use frozen raspberries at this time of the year