Macarons: Troubleshooting & Tips

[Kerry Beal]

Brian - any change in the way you are removing them from the freezer? Thereby encouraging condensation on the surface.

[Alleguede]

Hi, what filling do you put in them? That could be the origin of the issue. Because even if you under baked your shells they shouldn't get soggy. I suspect your filling to absorb a lot of humidity and release as well.

[Drafty82]

I have been baking Macarons at home pretty successfully for 6 months or so, and have recently upgraded to larger aluminium baking sheets & silpat (from traditional Steel trays & baking paper) after a class with Adriano Zumbo (I am in Australia). My 1st batch turned out perfect (chocolate shells - replaced 10% of almonds & icing sugar with cocoa powder as per his recipe)., however 90% of the next 2 standard batches turned out as pictured below. Does anyone have any ideas? I just tried another batch this morning, the 1st two trays came out perfect, and the 3rd did this again.

 

I have made the following changes since my class;

 

- 2mm thick aluminium sheet with Silpat

- grinding my own blanched almonds (in lieu of Almond Meal)

 

With the 2 completely failed trays, I developed a theory, that I had rapped the trays a little over zealously, I did take care this morning with just some gentle tapping, maybe by the third tray I wasn’t so gentle...

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Or any ideas, I just find my theory lacking substance

 

[Volition]

Is the bottom still on the Silpat? If so, I found this happens because of either or both of two things. Not baked long enough and/or and what I suspect to be the main problem. Not left to cool long enough before taking off the tray. This should help.

[Drafty82]

No, I know what you are saying, but the base isn't left on the Silpat. There is a fine powdery residue where the base used to be, like the base was massively over cooked to the point it disintegrated.

 

I think I might do a pure test batch next time, and reduce the oven temp further, as the outer shell is pretty crisp.

[pquinene]

I have been baking Macarons at home pretty successfully for 6 months or so, and have recently upgraded to larger aluminium baking sheets & silpat (from traditional Steel trays & baking paper) after a class with Adriano Zumbo (I am in Australia). My 1st batch turned out perfect (chocolate shells - replaced 10% of almonds & icing sugar with cocoa powder as per his recipe)., however 90% of the next 2 standard batches turned out as pictured below. Does anyone have any ideas? I just tried another batch this morning, the 1st two trays came out perfect, and the 3rd did this again.

 

I have made the following changes since my class;

 

- 2mm thick aluminium sheet with Silpat

- grinding my own blanched almonds (in lieu of Almond Meal)

 

With the 2 completely failed trays, I developed a theory, that I had rapped the trays a little over zealously, I did take care this morning with just some gentle tapping, maybe by the third tray I wasn’t so gentle...

 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Or any ideas, I just find my theory lacking substance

 

If all else is the same, then the new pans you used transferred heat either too quickly or too slow.  If you went from parchment paper to silpat, the silpat is thicker and the heat gets to your macs slower -- try using your new pans with parchment paper.  If heat is getting to your macs too fast, nest two exact pans together -- pipe your batter on one pan then put that pan into a second pan...then put both in your oven.

 

Since your first two trays on your last attempt came out perfect and the third did not, then your batter could be sitting out too long.....could you bake them all at once or fit as much batter onto one pan as possible? Somewhere in this thread, another member changed the brand of parchment used....and the macs come out radically misshapen.

 

The only time something like this happened -- with a handful of macs -- was during one of my experiments. I used the freshest eggs I could get at the store and separated the whites the same day I used them. I've learned that if you use an electric oven without a fan/convection feature, then old egg whites that have sat on the counter a couple of days work best.

 

Chocolate shells using cocoa powder tend to be more stable than plain shells because cocoa powder has starch, hence they tend to be less hollow. The only way I make macarons now is with aged egg whites AND tapioca starch -- via French/basic meringue! I never get hollows and they all come out perfect. I use  5 oz. fine almond flour, 8 oz. powdered sugar, 4 oz. aged whites, 1.5 oz. caster sugar, 0.5 oz. tapioca starch, and 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar.. I whip the meringue on about medium-low for 6 minutes, medium for 9 minutes...then if needed, high for 30 to 60 seconds.

 

 

 

 

Hope this helps!

Edited April 15, 2014 by pquinene (log)

[Drafty82]

If all else is the same, then the new pans you used transferred heat either too quickly or too slow.

 

Hope this helps!

 

I have done some experimenting, and I am now confident the problem is the Heat is too slow to the Base of the Shells. It is just going to take some more trial and error to find that butter zone between not enough and too much.

 

It is incredibly frustrating, because the one in the picture I posted above is so aesthetically pleasing until I remove it from the Silpat, and the ones I have since managed to cook thoroughly, have all the typical too much heat symptoms (protruding uneven feet & hollows).

 

I did try pre-heating a tray, and sliding the silpat across, but had 54 volcanoes in a matter of minutes. This is something I might continue to experiment with, but with a reduced pre-heat time (maybe 2 minutes instead of 10).

[Drafty82]

Ok, I have worked out the problem, to get enough heat into the tray, it is warping/buckling. I guess the 1st awesome batch was because the sheets were new and never used.

 

Time to find some proper 2/3 sized sheets (and knock an inch off both of the short sides of my silpats).

 

I did a batch last night on my old trays with baking paper and they came out awesome (should have listened to my wife a few batches ago - probably wouldn't have come to this realisation though).

[Axelth]

Two questions about macarons.

 

1. what is the best way to store macarons?

 

2. How can i imprint logo or a text on a macaron?

 

[Lisa Shock]

1) plain, unfilled, in a dry container with desiccant packets then fill to order

 

2)  Chocolate and a stencil, however, it will be very delicate handwork as they break very easily....

 

You could print using one of the sugar icing printers and attach a printed sheet with a dot of chocolate.

[Matthew Kirshner]

So recently I have been dealing with an issue with my macarons.  The formula I have been using years has not be producing the shells I like.  Nothing has dramatically change with ingredients except when I was at my last employment and they were an organic bakery, so the sugar was very corase.  with that I changed the meringue to a swiss.  the place I am at now I am back to regular sugar but the resting time is taking longer than usualy to dry out, when it does and comes out of the oven it does not create feet it stays how it was piped.  I know with the weather changing is it possible I should add more egg white powder to the meringue? I am use to classic French meringue. 

 

Any thoughts?

[Volition]

I suspect your batter is drier then previously used. Do you use digital scales to measure out your ingredients. If yes, are they accurate? How did you measure ingredients previously? The answer to these questions will help. If you were using egg whites and measuring by no of eggs. The egg supplier might have changed and maybe not enough white in the mix as previously. Any thoughts?

[Volition]

Two questions about macarons.

1. what is the best way to store macarons?

2. How can i imprint logo or a text on a macaron?

Some bakeries do a different coloured dot or dots in their shells to identify that it is their macarons. You need to make a second colour shell batter and pipe a small dot into the main macaron she'll. if the goal is to have an identifiable macaron as from your bakery. In Melbourne their is a guy who has a red dot on all of his macarons.

[Matthew Kirshner]

I suspect your batter is drier then previously used. Do you use digital scales to measure out your ingredients. If yes, are they accurate? How did you measure ingredients previously? The answer to these questions will help. If you were using egg whites and measuring by no of eggs. The egg supplier might have changed and maybe not enough white in the mix as previously. Any thoughts?

 

I use my digital scale.  it is very accurate, I keep it calibrated normally.  the egg supplier does change job to job, but I rely on the measurement on the scale.  Today the shells came out great, because it was less humid in the kitchen, I am just wondering if I should use more egg white powder in the meringue for those humid days, or would that be an overkill 

[pquinene]

So recently I have been dealing with an issue with my macarons.  The formula I have been using years has not be producing the shells I like.  Nothing has dramatically change with ingredients except when I was at my last employment and they were an organic bakery, so the sugar was very corase.  with that I changed the meringue to a swiss.  the place I am at now I am back to regular sugar but the resting time is taking longer than usualy to dry out, when it does and comes out of the oven it does not create feet it stays how it was piped.  I know with the weather changing is it possible I should add more egg white powder to the meringue? I am use to classic French meringue. 

 

Any thoughts?

Try adding tapioca starch. I know, it's a bit different......but I also dry my whites and rest the piped macarons before putting in an electric oven (not a professional/convection oven).

 

Here is my basic recipe so you can see the ratio of whites to powdered sugar to almond flour to tapioca starch to caster sugar. I've used egg white powder before without much success. Using enough tapioca starch, drying the whites, and mixing properly, I've never had a failed batch. I do a lot of extra steps because I don't have a convection oven.

 

Set 1

6.0 to 6.3 ounces egg whites*

You will ultimately use only 4 ounces of three-day old whites (4 oz. = 113.40 g / 6.0 oz. = 170.10 g / 6.3 oz = 178.60 g).

*If aging the eggs for five days, you’ll need 6.8 ounces, or 192.78 grams, of whites to start with.

Set 2

5 ounces almond flour/meal (141.75 grams)

8 ounces powdered sugar (226.80 grams)

Set 3

1.5 ounces caster sugar (42.52 grams)

0.5 ounces tapioca starch (14.18 grams)

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Hope this helps!

[Matthew Kirshner]

Try adding tapioca starch. I know, it's a bit different......but I also dry my whites and rest the piped macarons before putting in an electric oven (not a professional/convection oven).

 

Here is my basic recipe so you can see the ratio of whites to powdered sugar to almond flour to tapioca starch to caster sugar. I've used egg white powder before without much success. Using enough tapioca starch, drying the whites, and mixing properly, I've never had a failed batch. I do a lot of extra steps because I don't have a convection oven.

 

Set 1

6.0 to 6.3 ounces egg whites*

You will ultimately use only 4 ounces of three-day old whites (4 oz. = 113.40 g / 6.0 oz. = 170.10 g / 6.3 oz = 178.60 g).

*If aging the eggs for five days, you’ll need 6.8 ounces, or 192.78 grams, of whites to start with.

Set 2

5 ounces almond flour/meal (141.75 grams)

8 ounces powdered sugar (226.80 grams)

Set 3

1.5 ounces caster sugar (42.52 grams)

0.5 ounces tapioca starch (14.18 grams)

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you for the formula, I am working out of a professional kitchen when I do make them.  I try not to make them at home because I always had a fear they will not rise without a convection fan.  If I were to make them at home I will definitely try your formula, would a baking stone help with the baking process? 

 

Thanks!!

[pquinene]

Thank you for the formula, I am working out of a professional kitchen when I do make them.  I try not to make them at home because I always had a fear they will not rise without a convection fan.  If I were to make them at home I will definitely try your formula, would a baking stone help with the baking process? 

 

Thanks!!

Yes, I double the baking pans (nest an empty pan under the pan of piped macs) and put them on a baking stone. Above, I actually just meant to say try adding tapioca starch to your egg whites....so I used slightly more than 0.1 oz of tapioca starch per 1.0 oz of aged egg whites.

[Volition]

Well you are doing the right things. My understanding of humidity in the process is limited. I do know that humidity plays a massive part in baking and ovens. MC shows this well with wet bulb temperatures. There are bound to be some real eggheads (excuse the pun) on the physics occurring in baking and how that relates to your shells and humidity.

I have an idea. To establish a method to ascertain firstly if humidity is the culprit. Keep your batter exactly the same. And record the humidity every time you bake. You could get a cheap hydrometer( I think that's what they're called) from an electric shop. Like a Tandy or Dick Smith in Australia. They normally are a thermometer as well. Might be interesting to record the temperature as well.

Keep a log of the temp, humidity and the outcome of you shells. You should start to see a correlation hopefully. If your hunch is correct. You might have a few dud shells in the process as you can' taller your recipe to work it out at first. Once you work out what ranges effect what. You can start to try and play with the mix to adapt to the temp/humidity. There should definitely be some resources out there.

Easy for me to talk as you'll be doing the work if you could be bothered. Other options are a more resilient batter. E.g. Tapioca suggestion, or a humidity controlled oven. But from what you describe the dry batter is before it enters the oven.

So if it is dry and not spreading out for the foot. That means you are getting evaporation somewhere or losing moisture at some point in the process. Could the almond be more absorbent. Very interesting. For your hypothesis of humidity to be the problem it means that it has to be low humidity that causes the problem I suspect. To allow for more evaporation. Or higher temperatures in your environment.

Ah well enough rambling, none of this solves your problem. Just gives you more work and more reasons why it happened. Sorry about that.

Personally my macaron shells are pretty consistent, unless I stuff up.

300 g almond meal

300 g pure icing (confectioners') sugar

110 g egg whites, at room temperature

300 g caster (superfine) sugar

75 g water

Food colouring

2 g powdered egg white

110 g egg whites, extra, at room temperature

From adriano zumbo

See how that goes.

[Matthew Kirshner]

Hi everyone,

 

 I noticed some picture in the past about adding different color effects to the shell, I was wondering how it is done.  I thought it might be extra macaron batter, colored differently and adding to the base shell before setting, but I could be wrong.  Can someone add some input to this matter.  I would like to jazz up the shells a little.

 

Thanks!!

[JeanneCake]

My assistant was playing around one day when I was doing swirled buttercream for the top of cupcakes and she took two colors of macaron batter; put each color in a separate bag, then put the two into a larger bag with the tip (it was a little messy because the batter is runny and you have to cut the bags before you put it into the larger one) and she made swirled macs that looked very yin/yang.  We use the Herme recipe, and it doubles well, you just divide the batter after you do some initial mixing; add the color and continue the macaronage til it's ready. 

[Sarah Tan]

Hi all. I am relatively new at macaron making. I have managed to churn out a couple of successful batches with both Italian meringue and French meringue.

However, I found lately that my French meringue macarons are very

chewy and their outer caps can become very wet, which to me seems very unappealing as it won't be as crisp ad it should be. What am I doing wrong?

I figured that I may have overmixed the batter or under baked them. I tried getting it slightly less mixed than I am used to and baked with a low temp baked for a longer time as not to Brown them, but they still end up with the same problem.

This so far only happens with the French meringue recipes. Could it have anything to do with the weather? I live in a high humidity area where it is common to experience 99% humidity. I do make up for it by drying the shells in an air conditioned room prior to baking.

Any help is appreciated and highly needed as my macarons are otherwise perfect so this issue is driving me crazy.

Thanks in advance!

[JeanneCake]

Sarah, how are you storing them after baking?  When the humidity is high here in New England, I try not to make macaron or at least do it first thing in the morning before the air gets really bad and put the shells away in an airtight container and into the freezer for storage, even if I am going to fill them later on or the next day (my walk in cooler is also somewhat humid).  Even an hour or two out on the speed rack on a very humid day makes for some stickiness/softness after baking.  I'm using the italian meringue method from Herme's book.

[Sarah Tan]

I let them cool & sit out on the baking sheet while I do other stuff for around 30 mins - 1 hour, then once I fill them, store them in an airtight container and pop them into the fridge. The Fillings I used were chocolate ganache & Mango Jam (Just in case you thought the filling mattered).

 

I am thinking if it could be because I switched icing sugar brands, and if so, how would the corn starch content affect this? Would the starch help develop a more solid shell or is it the other way around? The Corn Starch content isn't indicated on the packaging of my icing sugar. The brand I previously used had 2% corn starch and 98% Sugar.

 

Any Ideas?

[pquinene]

I let them cool & sit out on the baking sheet while I do other stuff for around 30 mins - 1 hour, then once I fill them, store them in an airtight container and pop them into the fridge. The Fillings I used were chocolate ganache & Mango Jam (Just in case you thought the filling mattered).

 

I am thinking if it could be because I switched icing sugar brands, and if so, how would the corn starch content affect this? Would the starch help develop a more solid shell or is it the other way around? The Corn Starch content isn't indicated on the packaging of my icing sugar. The brand I previously used had 2% corn starch and 98% Sugar.

 

Any Ideas?

Sarah, the sticky shells sounds like it could be similar to a glass of ice water sitting on the counter in a warm room. Or, it could be your new brand of powdered sugar. To find out for sure, try a batch with your old brand right now and see what happens. I have always used the name-brand powdered sugar -- Dominos 10x -- and it has a bit of cornstarch. Perhaps your new brand doesn't have any cornstarch or enough cornstarch. Starch does help dry out the batter. I do know that when I first take the empty or filled shells out of my freezer, they are a tad sticky until they come to room temperature. Once at room temp, that bit of moisture on the surface dries out.

 

I had lots of problems when I first started making macarons with French meringue. After countless trials in my electric oven, I finalized a recipe that has worked perfectly and have never had a bad batch. I actually found that adding tapioca starch -- yes, tapioca starch -- with the caster sugar and cream of tartar to make the meringue, I've had perfect shells using French meringue. I use 0.5 oz. of tapioca starch to 1.5 oz. caster sugar to 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to 4 oz. of aged egg whites to 8 oz. powdered sugar to 5 oz. finely ground almond flour. The ratio of each ingredient is specific to all the steps I took in making a very reliable recipe. Instead of rewriting my procedures, here's a link.

 

Since your macarons are somewhat soft after cooling, flip them over so the bottom sides are up and bake in a 180-degree-Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes. This should make them very crispy and dry without darkening them. Once you fill and age your macarons in the freezer or fridge, the cookies will absorb moisture from the filling and soften up to chewy/creamy deliciousness. Hope this helps!

[Sarah Tan]

Sarah, the sticky shells sounds like it could be similar to a glass of ice water sitting on the counter in a warm room. Or, it could be your new brand of powdered sugar. To find out for sure, try a batch with your old brand right now and see what happens. I have always used the name-brand powdered sugar -- Dominos 10x -- and it has a bit of cornstarch. Perhaps your new brand doesn't have any cornstarch or enough cornstarch. Starch does help dry out the batter. I do know that when I first take the empty or filled shells out of my freezer, they are a tad sticky until they come to room temperature. Once at room temp, that bit of moisture on the surface dries out.

 

I had lots of problems when I first started making macarons with French meringue. After countless trials in my electric oven, I finalized a recipe that has worked perfectly and have never had a bad batch. I actually found that adding tapioca starch -- yes, tapioca starch -- with the caster sugar and cream of tartar to make the meringue, I've had perfect shells using French meringue. I use 0.5 oz. of tapioca starch to 1.5 oz. caster sugar to 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to 4 oz. of aged egg whites to 8 oz. powdered sugar to 5 oz. finely ground almond flour. The ratio of each ingredient is specific to all the steps I took in making a very reliable recipe. Instead of rewriting my procedures, here's a link.

 

Since your macarons are somewhat soft after cooling, flip them over so the bottom sides are up and bake in a 180-degree-Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes. This should make them very crispy and dry without darkening them. Once you fill and age your macarons in the freezer or fridge, the cookies will absorb moisture from the filling and soften up to chewy/creamy deliciousness. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the tips Paula!! I have to try out your recipe. It's a really good and clear video. Fingers crossed. Hope it works for me!