Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

DEMO: Macarons


nicolekaplan

Recommended Posts

This is the method of macarons making that i learned at Herme a few years back. It is the ultimate no fail method to making beautiful macs every time.

First you start with your dry ingrdients. Make sure to sift atleast once.

gallery_12723_2251_274528.jpg

Next start an italian meringue, bring your sugar syrup to soft ball, and slowly add to your soft peak whites. Whip until lukewarm.

gallery_12723_2251_48861.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_265742.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_99801.jpg

Then slowly fold the dry ingredients into your meringue in about 3 batches. You do not need to be super careful in fact you want to keep mixing until the batter takes on a kind of shine.

gallery_12723_2251_162163.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_265080.jpg

Next with a large round tip pipe your macarons on to a silpat and let air dry for 10-20 minutes until a crust forms on top of them

gallery_12723_2251_140208.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_124152.jpg

Then bake at 275 degrees until they puff up and when you grab the tops and giggle them a bit they are almost set but still offer a little movement. Let cool and then flip them over and brush the undersides with the syrup of your choice. Fill, stick together and enjoy.

gallery_12723_2251_9248.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_140699.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_354588.jpg

gallery_12723_2251_104005.jpg

  • Like 1
nkaplan@delposto.com
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent demo! Thanks for taking the time. I haven't tried them with an Italian meringue yet but I'm excited to try. Is the recipe in recipegullet yet?

Edited by CanadianBakin' (log)

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonderful demo! Thank you so much for taking the time to share the pictures and steps. Now I really want to try my hand at macarons!

Kathy

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. - Harriet Van Horne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, nicolekaplan! I tried macarons using Italian meringue once, and wasn't convinced that the extra steps were worth it. But yours look so good I'll have to give it at least one more try.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Recipe

2 kilo teint per teint (1/2 and 1/2 almond flour ground with 10x)

1K sugar (for syrup)

750 g whites

you can substitute partial other nut flours, add some cocoa by eye, food coloring etc

Nicole,

how much water do you use to make the sugar syrup? We make our macarons at work with beaten egg whites rather than meringue and they are REALLY unreliable, so I'd like to give these ones a try.

If only I'd worn looser pants....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Recipe

2 kilo teint per teint (1/2 and 1/2 almond flour ground with 10x)

1K sugar (for syrup)

750 g whites

you can substitute partial other nut flours, add some cocoa by eye, food coloring etc

Nicole,

how much water do you use to make the sugar syrup? We make our macarons at work with beaten egg whites rather than meringue and they are REALLY unreliable, so I'd like to give these ones a try.

I think you only need enough to get the sugar wet. No matter how much water you start with, by the time you get to soft-ball stage, the solution will be ~85% sugar. If you add too much water, it will just take longer to get to the right temp.

I'm going to try a 1/8 batch tomorrow, which unless I've managed to botch the math is:

250g powder sugar

250g almond flour

250g sugar

187g egg whites

Any tips on whether the cocoa should replace almond, or sugar, or just be added to the recipe without changing any ingredient quantity?

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then bake at 275 degrees until they puff up and when you grab the tops and giggle them a bit they are almost set but still offer a little movement.  Let cool and then flip them over and brush the undersides with the syrup of your choice.  Fill, stick together and enjoy.

Do you really only bake these at 275?! One of the recipes I tried at 320 gave me such a dry product I can't imagine how crispy these would be after baking for probably a half hour at such a low temp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the sugar/water thing is only enough to wet and keep it from crystallizing, like a caramel.

the cocoa powder, we add extra, by eye it doesn't take much.

as for the temp, 275 in a convection and they cook about 7-9 minutes usually. i guess if you are making really large macs you might take it up as high as 325. the dryness really comes from letting them bake until the insides are really set instead of removing them when they still have a bit of wiggle. and of course brushing them with some syrup not only flavors but moistureizes them.

and as for the hairy hands they were robs. it's good to hear from you, everyone is well and surviving the holiday season.

  • Like 1
nkaplan@delposto.com
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not familiar with some of the english vocabulary, so what temperature is the one we achieve with the soft-ball stage? 235-240 F right? like 118-120 C

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not familiar with some of  the english vocabulary, so what temperature is the one we achieve with the soft-ball stage? 235-240 F right? like 118-120 C

Yes.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a question regarding the sweetness, with so much added sugar into the meringue, plus brushing on the simple syrup. I know macaroons will tend to be sweet, but is this very sweet?

What sorts of filling have you used in macaroons. I tend to do fillings that woul balance out the sweetness of the macaroons.

-nhumi

Link to comment
Share on other sites

for the square mac, i have seen templates used and freehand piping of the square shape. with the italian meringue you will find that the batter is a little bit on the stiff side and it is easy to pipe into shapes. we have made the macarangle as well as the mactagon. just always keep in mind there is a bit of spreading and flattening out before baking.

as for the sweetness of the syrup, that is up to you and what you use. for example for the chocolate macs we use a simple syrup infused with cocoa nibs so it adds a chocolatey flavor and not much extra sweetness. if you used a rose syrup you would probably not make it a 1:1 ratio.

as for fillings the sky is the limit, any kind of ganache, jam, caramel, buttercream, ice cream for macaron glace............

nkaplan@delposto.com
Link to comment
Share on other sites

for the square mac,  i have seen templates used and freehand piping of the square shape.  with the italian meringue you will find that the batter is a little bit on the stiff side and it is easy to pipe into shapes.  we have made the macarangle as well as the mactagon.  just always keep in mind there is a bit of spreading and flattening out before baking.

as for the sweetness of the syrup, that is up to you and what you use.  for example for the chocolate macs we use a simple syrup infused with cocoa nibs so it adds a chocolatey flavor and not much extra sweetness.  if you used a rose syrup you would probably not make it a 1:1 ratio.

as for fillings the sky is the limit, any kind of ganache, jam, caramel, buttercream, ice cream for macaron glace............

I piped heart shaped ones for last Valentine's Day......what a pain.

Thanks for the demo Nicole.

If only I'd worn looser pants....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...