Macarons – The delicate French invention.

[Wendy DeBord]

I agree with Patrick....it really can't be the mixer only the mixers operator (sorry). But sheesh I don't think I've ever made that small of a batch.........and I sure do know that some items are a royal pain to make too small. They can be just too small to handle properly.

So I pulled out my Herme' book and I'll post what I did, that worked/works for me.

560 g almonds

960 g confectioners sugar

Ground together until it's a powder.

Whip together:

400 g beaten egg whites

1 g powdered egg white

Herme instructs you to use 2/3 of "old" egg white and 1/3 fresh. I actually used all fresh and didn't leave my whites out to dry at any point. At the time I was making these I didn't know of that technique.

That formula as written gave me the air pocket previously mentioned and it was just slightly too wet (probably because I had all fresh whites). So I played around a little and wound up adjusting the recipe a bit.

This is what I use/used that worked for me: (sorry, I switched from grams to oz when I was experimenting)

10.20 oz egg whites

.75 oz. powder egg white (not meringue powder)

to the same amount of almonds and confectioners sugar listed above (560 g almond & 960 g xxxsugar)

You can feel how the raw batter is just a little bit thicker/denser...........not likely to weep or deflate...........or as I described above "less wet". He instructs you to let them stand for 20 minutes before baking them ("so that light crust forms on the surface") if your using a convection oven. Bake off at 140C with open draught, but I didn't/don't have that option on my oven. For a standard oven he dirrects you to bake off at 475F for 2 minutes (to "seal") then turn your oven down to 375F and finish baking.

[Mel]

Wendy, thanks to your recipe, the consistency finally came out correctly. Chewey cookie!!! However, they were rather flat with a tiny foot and the tops cracked. So now comes my questions.

Do you add the powdered whites immediately to the fresh whites or gradually?

Do you use your fresh whites immediately or allow them to sit for a bit?

When using a standard oven, do you allow the cookies a rest or pop them into the oven immediately?

Hmmm....using the word immediately quite a bit....

Could I half the recipe successfully?

Can you freeze these cookies?

I tried to make a smaller cookie but they spread quite a bit which means my batter was too wet still.

Any fabulous advice for me?

Once again, thank you so much for the recipe!!!!!

[Wendy DeBord]

Ohhhhhhhhh well, it's all about tiny adjustments. I haven't made these in years since my current jobs aren't into them. But if I recall correctly:

I used fresh whites as in right after I cracked them.

I think I added the dried whites all in the beginning.

I've never baked them in a standard oven...............only convection. But the concept of resting would carry over to any oven method.

Yes, they freeze very well. That's my prefered method for removing them from the parchement paper or silpats.

Just speculating............I thinking either your oven wasn't hot enough (so you got less rise, less foot) or your meringue was slightly deflated (or slightly under whipped) before you baked them.

You could half that recipe........but keep in mind how you need to modify or really know what your doing (method wise) so you don't over or under whip your whites, etc...

That's Herme's recipe..........I humbly bow to him.

[Macarons&Mozart]

Hello all!

This is my first posting here on eGullet. I am very pleased to find such an extraordinary group! I hope to learn a lot here. Just a little it about me: I'm 20 years old, and live in the Los Angeles area. I enjoy all types of food and cooking, be it French classics, like the elusive Macaron, or fusion cuisine, which I am still new to. My girlfriend is a better baker than I am, but I am still trying! I seem to be a bit more confident when cooking savory dishes.

I also enjoy traveling (going to Vegas next week- great restaurants there!!), classical music (kinda obvious by my username ), and gardening, where I love to grow as much of my produce as I can. Its summer, and the garden is glorious!

I have tried to make French macarons a few times before, and got mixed results. The very first time I tried, I had pretty decent ones...no cracks, glossy, but a bit flat. My next trial came out horribly- flat, cracked, and dull. On my third, and most recent try, they were about 25% good, and 75% ugly. After reading this thread, I picked up alot of tips and a new recipe to try.

I will try my hand at macarons again, either today if I have time, or tomorrow. I will be sure to post my results!

One question: Should I keep the door open a crack with a wooden spoon? I remember reading that somewhere (i think the alacuisine site). Have people here tried this before?

Thanks a lot!

Robert Kim

[Patrick S]

One question: Should I keep the door open a crack with a wooden spoon?  I remember reading that somewhere (i think the alacuisine site).  Have people here tried this before? 

Thanks a lot!

Robert Kim

←

Welcome, Robert!

The first couple of times I made macaroons, I did this. Herme's recipe for chocolate macaroons called for this procedure. Subsequently, though, I just decided to reduce the temp a little (I think 320 is what I settled on -- can't remember at the moment), cracking the door open a few times during baking, and to be honest I think they turned out the same. I assume that spoon-in-the-door is to vent steam, but others would know better than me.

Edited June 29, 2005 by Patrick S (log)

[ellencho]

After drooling over all of your macaron pics I finally made my own using Pierre Hermes' recipe. I used almond meal from Trader Joe's and used my coffee grinder to make a finer powder. I also used egg whites that I had allowed to sit out for 3 days to evaporate a bit. Unfortunately, they evaporated down to 50 grams, and 100 was needed for the recipe so I added a white and a half extra before I whipped them up. I was also a dummy and forgot to dust them with cocoa powder before baking them :(

I did end up with feet and you might be able to see them, but I was impatient and used a spatula to remove them from the parchment instead of peeling them off and so I damaged a fair amount of my cookies. Boo for me. Also, they didn't end up smooth and flat-topped like everyone elses's. They taste good though, so I guess I can't complain about that.

I'd appreciate any suggestions/criticisms so that when I attempt a new batch they'll hopefully turn out better.

Edited July 4, 2005 by ellencho (log)

[iii_bake]

Hi everyone,

With all the postings about macarons, i feel like i am not alone!

I have been working on macarons for quite sometime, even joined a macaron class. The class's approach was with Italian Meringue.

However, lots of pastry chefs i talked to they use French Meringue.

I have been to France and visited almost all macaron shops, unfortunately not PH's. I would say i like Paul's, the small not fancy shop.

Since I have tried the macaron from Laduree, Fuchon, Paul, Le notre etc. and since I have faced problems and found some corrections, I would like to make briefs here incase they might help any of you:

1. The crust of the macaron is not thin, if yours came out thin...you have not dried them long enough. ( Mine took 5 - 7 hours, 3 hours...still wrinkle and crack).

2. If you dried them long enough, At any temperature of the oven ..be it very high and then reduce or starting at 160C is fine, the feet will defintely show.

3. The almond is to be ground into powder. I used slivered almond and ground in Coffee grinder. If yours have teeny tiny dots of almond on the crust, yours almonds were not fine enough. The curst should be smooth with a texture of baked meringue.

4. Do not bake them until the crust is crisp to your desire, it will be dry up a little bit more when you leave it overnight.

I hope this helps.

For ellencho's:

Mine once came out like yours. You can improve this by checking the consistency of the batter. It seems like the batter did not smooth out by itself after piping. And the crust looks quite thin, try leaving them dry longer. Good luck!

[Macarons&Mozart]

I plan to make a batch of macarons very soon, but would like to ask the macaron gurus here for a bit of help.

First, as I was browsing this thread (lots of great tips!!), I noticed 2 types of recipes: one using equal parts almond flour and powdered sugar (tant-pour-tant) and another using a greater proportion of powdered sugar to almonds. I am not sure which version to use, since members have reported great results with both recipes.

The second thing is drying. How long have you dried your macarons before baking them? I have read from various sources anywhere between 30 minutes to 5-7 hours (from the post above). I guess that depends alot on the humidity here...

Thirdly (sorry for all the questions!), how much should I work the batter? The last time I made a batch, I dont think i worked the batter enough, as it was still a bit to thick (it didnt spread at all on the baking sheet). Would more stirring have made the batter looser, and "flow like magma"?

Thanks alot!

Robert

[Patrick S]

I have been experimenting with macaroons again. I'm trying to determine what ratio of dried whites to water makes the best replacement for day-old whites. My assumption is that the difference between whites left out for a day and those straight from the fridge is the relative water content, and that you can get the same thing using powdered whites and water.

So, the ratio on my can of Just Whites is 2T powder to 6T water to give 3 large whites. I tried reducing the water to 5T, and the resulting batter was just a slight bit too thin, giving a fairly flat cookie. So tonight I tried again, reducing the water to 3T. This time, the batter was very thick, too thick, about like cookie dough. So, I added a little more water to the batter, about 1.5T, and worked it in. This gave a batter that is juuuust about perfect. The batter spreads out, but it is just thick enough that the top of the macaroons retain a teensy spike on top from piping them. I'm getting ready to bake them, so we'll see how they turn out. I'm thinking that the golden ratio is somewhere between 4.5-5T water to 2T powder. Anyways, a little more tweaking, and I think I'll have a precise recipe that gives the right consistency.

Another tip, if you want a domical macaroon, you want to pipe a cone or volcanoe shape. Start with your tip maybe 1/4" from the paper, then lift it a bit as you pipe. If your batter if the right consistency, gravity will cause it to settle into a dome. If you pipe with your tip too close to the paper, you will never get a dome.

[CanadianBakin']

I have had some success with the chocolate macaron recipe on here that has brown sugar but I tried it again yesterday with terrible results. No foot at all, bubbly looking tops, etc. I think maybe my oven was too hot among other things.

Anyways, I have found what I think is a fool-proof recipe!! Sweet Miniatures by Flo Braker has a wonderful Chocolate Macaroon recipe! I made them today with fresh eggwhites since she doesn't mention otherwise. They smoothed out nice, a couple points but I probably needed a larger tip. Beautiful feet. I'm sorry I don't have a digital camera to show you. Her ingredients are as follows:

16 oz icing sugar

9 oz ground almonds

50 grams cocoa (not sure why it's in metric)

1 cup eggwhites (about 240 grams)

1 oz icing sugar

1 tsp honey

I only made a half recipe but it worked great. The big difference to the other recipes is her method of baking. You put your oven rack in the top third of your oven. Double pan your parchment lined cookie sheet. Preheat to 475F. When you put the macaroons in you drop the temp to 425F and set the timer for 8 minutes. Drop the temperature by 25 degrees every 2 minutes till you get to 350F. It works a charm! Between each sheet you need to get it back up to 475F so there is a but of waiting but well worth it. Can you tell I'm excited?! If you try this please let me know how they turned out.

[ellencho]

This is my latest attempt at macaron. I made a couple of changes to Herme's recipe from his Chocolate Desserts book. First, I don't pipe the cookies out, I actually use a small cookie scoop, and then use a wet finger to smooth out the tops. Then I allow the macarons to dry out for five hours before baking them.

For the most part, I'm happy with my results and I've formulated a ganache that works pretty well as a filling (half milk, half dark chocolate).

[Bernaise]

I must say those chocolate beauties look delectable!

I myself decided to try my hand at the tender French almond macarons. I reviewed the recipes and suggestions upthread and vaguely remembered a guest on Martha Stewart who suggested leaving the macarons out overnight before baking. I cobbled something together which I thought I would share.

Oh, I was a bit squeamish about raw egg white on the counter overnight so I settled for 6 hours!

I wanted something reminiscent of Provence here is what I devised:

6 oz of almond paste

1 packed cup of ground almonds (blanched)

1 large egg white

peel of two lemons finely rasped

1 heaped tbsp of fragrant lavender flowers (dried and pungent)

healthy pinch of sea salt

1 tsp of almond extract

I threw it all in the CuisineArt until it came together and rolled small balls, rolled them in icing sugar and then pinched to form irregular pyramid shapes.

I left them out for 6 hours and baked them for 15 minutes at 350.

They were neither too sweet nor too dry and not to blow my own horn too loudly - a phenomenal HIT!

Next time I will roll them and cut them into diamond shapes - just for a change!

[albiston]

I have been experimenting with macaroons again. I'm trying to determine what ratio of dried whites to water makes the best replacement for day-old whites. My assumption is that the difference between whites left out for a day and those straight from the fridge is the relative water content, and that you can get the same thing using powdered whites and water.

←

I've been following tha discussionon day-old whites for a while and it is a fascinating theme. About five years ago I had the chance to spend some time in a research lab in Cambridge, UK where the structure of ovalbumin, the main protein of egg whites had been studied some years before. Until now I had almost forgotten those research articles, but reading this post brought them back and I might have a scientific explanation for the day-old whites phenomenon. While water content might definitely play a role, I believe that day-old whites wip better for a different reason. I'll try to keep the scientific talk to a minimum but if I get too technical just hit me with a stick .

It is known that the egg white protein ovalbumin changes the way it is folded, i.e. its structure, with time, becoming what is known as S-ovalbumin, a thermostable form. This form is what makes whites runnier and makes the whites whip worse. The older the eggs, the more S-ovalbumin you have. It is also known that this transformation is helped by high pHs, i.e. conditions where acidity is low. On the other hand this transformation can be reverted by mild increases in acidity, as for example by exposing the egg whites to an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. My suspicion is that by leaving the egg whites to "age" outside the fridge we're in a sense replicating this and using the carbon dioxide present in the air to increase the egg whites acidity.

Yet if this is true a mild acidification, i.e. adding a little lemon juice to the whites and letting them sit for a couple of hours should have a similar effect. Anyone up to some scientific macroon experiment?

[Patrick S]

So the point of exposing egg whites may be the reconversion of s-ovalbumin to the more-stable-foaming ovalbumin by carbonic acid formed when CO2 from the air is allowed to dissolve into the whites? I wonder if this has anything to do with why cream of tartar, which of course is a salt of tartaric acid, makes a more stable egg foam? I also wonder what fraction of the ovalbumin in dried whites is converted to s-ovalbumin?

[RuthWells]

The big difference to the other recipes is her method of baking. You put your oven rack in the top third of your oven. Double pan your parchment lined cookie sheet. Preheat to 475F. When you put the macaroons in you drop the temp to 425F and set the timer for 8 minutes. Drop the temperature by 25 degrees every 2 minutes till you get to 350F. It works a charm! Between each sheet you need to get it back up to 475F so there is a but of waiting but well worth it. Can you tell I'm excited?! If you try this please let me know how they turned out.

←

I made macarons with one of the pastry chefs at Miel Patisserie a few weeks ago (I had a training day there, which I have to get around to posting about!!) and was intrigued by their method -- baked at 325* with no variations in temp. The trays end up sitting/drying for 10-15 minutes while all the batter is piped, but they don't *deliberately* allow for drying time. They use mostly fresh egg whites, a pinch of dried egg whites, 10x sugar, almond flour, flavorings, etc. They also double pan, and they bake on Silpats. Rather than steaming the baked cookies off the pan with the water-under-the-parchment trick, they turn them all belly-up when cool and then spritz them lightly with water before filling and sandwiching them. I was given a cache of the freshly-baked, filled chocolate macarons to take home with the strong admonition that they were to "cure" for 24 hrs. in the freezer prior to consumption. In the interests of science, I ate one before curing and many, many after curing and I must concur -- the curing is an essential step.

Gotta find the time to see if I can replicate these macarons at home. They were my idea of perfect -- smooth, slightly rounded tops, small feet, perfectly chewy texture.

[albiston]

So the point of exposing egg whites may be the reconversion of s-ovalbumin to the more-stable-foaming ovalbumin by carbonic acid formed when CO2 from the air is allowed to dissolve into the whites?

To be sure about that, someone would have to test it in a lab (Prof. McGee?). I would say it is a likely possibility rather than a certain fact.

I wonder if this has anything to do with why cream of tartar, which of course is a salt of tartaric acid, makes a more stable egg foam? I also wonder what fraction of the ovalbumin in dried whites is converted to s-ovalbumin?

←

I thought about tartaric acid too, though from what I remember (still looking for the original papers in my basement boxes) the transformation does take a little time. Just adidng cream of tartar and whipping straight away would not be explaineable with an s-ovalbumin to ovalbumin reversion.

[ellencho]

So the point of exposing egg whites may be the reconversion of s-ovalbumin to the more-stable-foaming ovalbumin by carbonic acid formed when CO2 from the air is allowed to dissolve into the whites?

To be sure about that, someone would have to test it in a lab (Prof. McGee?). I would say it is a likely possibility rather than a certain fact.

Ok, since it is quite late at night I'm not sure if I have the mental capacity to really think any of this through, but I actually tested something similar - fresh vs previously frozen egg whites for use in my macarons.

I made two batches of macarons last week. One with fresh egg whites that had been "aged" Sunday through Thursday. The other batch was made with previously frozen egg whites that had been also left out Sunday through Thursday.

I noticed two sets of differences. Firstly, the whites coming from fresh eggs when whipped, resulted in a sort of lumpy consistency even though I definitely had not over whipped them. The whites coming from the previously frozen eggs whipped up much more evenly and were consistent in texture through and through. However, both batters were similar in texture once the egg whites were mixed in.

The second set of differences I noticed were that those macarons coming from the fresh egg whites rose more evenly and had a "dome-ier" appearance than that of the macarons made from the previously frozen whites, which I suppose makes sense, if the fresh egg whites that I "aged" contained more of the heat-stable protein.

[iii_bake]

PLEASE HELP!! I have been following this string for a year. While my macarons taste lovely....they are on the delicate side. They seem to be part chewy & part air so they crush easily (& a bit messily) when bitten. I've left the egg whites out for 24 hours & have even tried 2/3 left overnight & 1/3 fresh, I continue to experience air pockets in my cookies (I do tap down on the pan to rid them of any air bubbles but it isn't helping). Externally, they look good: frilly feet, nice dome that is a thin shell when you bite into it. I just can't seem to figure out why they are so delicate vs firm & chewy. Perhaps I'm overbeating my eggs and incorporating too much air but I've experienced a lack of rising when I tried to underbeat a bit... Could my problem be that I’m using a 6 qt mixer on 150g of eggs so too much air is inevitable? When I measure eggs that are to be left out, should I measure 150g of fresh eggs & use what is left or should I leave out extra egg white and measure 150g from that? Any advice would be truly appreciated as I’m close to tears on this one. Thank you so much for your help & time!!!!! I truly appreciate it!

On a side note, do folks keep their cookies refrigerated due to the buttercream? Mine seem to melt if I keep them out for more than an hour or so. Am I doing something incorrectly or do most bakeries use a non-dairy base for their buttercream fillings?

Once again, thanks for the help!

←

Dear Mel,

I hope this does not come as a too late a rescue. I have been wokring on my macaron colours which never came out right. I used the the fan assisted oven and no matter how low i adjusted the temperature to, the top was brown. If i would like it to be pure off white ( for vanilla ), the bottom is not done so it stuck.

Here comes the part i think might be helpful to you: I decided to omit the fan and put a foil on the top shelf to cover the heat from the top. The colour came out perfect, the bottom as well. The feet were lovely but the macarons were hollow! The macaron raised beautifully and the air pocket was large.

I made a few more batches to check on the folding and other factors, and I just found out that, with the same batch but different baking elements..I can eliminate the air pocket by making sure that the heat is well regulated. I took out the foil on top, let it expose to heat promptly and the air pocket was all gone. I tried a few more time and it worked quite well.

I also considered that high feet come with large pocket ( so do not be thrilled with the perfect high feet..like i was).

( I alos kept one macaron from Fauchon ( spelling) from my rtip to Paris, it is now quite dried...just to check on the skin and the feet...to see how mine is doing!)

Hope this helps!

Edited October 13, 2005 by iii_bake (log)

[Mel]

iii_bake : as these are an ongoing obsession for me there is no such thing as too late So did you let the cookies be exposed directly to the heat for a bit & then add the foil to cover for color for the rest of the time? Or did the foil just get negged completely? What temperature are you using? Is there a ratio of ingrediants you swear by? Thank you!!!!

[iii_bake]

iii_bake : as these are an ongoing obsession for me there is no such thing as too late  So did you let the cookies be exposed directly to the heat for a bit & then add the foil to cover for color for the rest of the time? Or did the foil just get negged completely? What temperature are you using? Is there a ratio of ingrediants you swear by? Thank you!!!!

←

I use Louisa 's cordon Blue version posted in this thread.

And for the baking temperature, with my oven the 160 C did not work for me...they browned quite fast; so i adapted PH's version ( from his Chocolate dessert book) by heated the oven to 180 C then reduce to 160, baked without foil until the feet rose ..for a bit while..then placed the foil on the top shelf.

When i made my experiment, i baked a small tray of 6 -8 pieces at a time and made notes.

evidently, if the top is well heated the batter will rise and there is no air pocket.

Now you have to check how your oven works. You might try the fan but watch out for the colour.

By the way, i do understand the " obsession" you referred to. What i do is try to figure out the scientific effects. Hope, again, this helps.

Before ending, I have to thank all of you who have participated and contributed to this thread. It did ease off my obsession and gave me clues of how i should work with my macarons!

[Patrick S]

I tried another chocolate macaroon recipe. This one is from David Lebovitz. Interestingly, these did not need to rest at all to form feet. They can go into the oven right after piping. A couple of observations:

Baking for the specified time and temp (15-18@375F) makes the cookies too dry and crispy. 11-12 minutes was better, but still a little too crisp. I'll want to try some more variation on time and temp to see what happens.

As others have reported with various recipes, these macaroons developed large voids. I like this recipe well enough, it pipes well and looks pretty good, but I must say that texture and flavor-wise, PH's recipe is still my favorite at this point.

[takomabaker]

Question: (and I've been following this topic sporadically so I apologize if this has already been covered)

Are almond flour and ground almonds interchangable? I sometimes get ground almonds at Trader Joe's but I have been unable to find any for months. But when I was in Whole Foods last night I got a bag of almond flour. I've looked through my pastry books and some recipes call for almond flour, and some for "homemade" almond flour made primarily with ground almonds. What I was wondering is if the almond flour I purchased is essentially the same thing as the "homemade" almond flour.

Thanks!!

[RuthWells]

A recent baking experience of mine can speak to the issue of Italian meringue and feet -- though I wasn't making macarons. I was making RLB's Swiss/Italian mocha meringue cookies from her Christmas cookie book. The recipe is basically an Italian meringue with some cooled melted chocolate added -- you pipe out the cookies and let them dry for 1-2 hours, and then bake at 350* to start and then lower the heat to 200* to finish. The first batch I made were overcooked, so I made another batch starting the heat at 325* (and cooking for slightly less time), and then lowering to 200*. What fascinates me is that the first batch were pretty much standard (if overcooked) meringues, but the second batch not only held their shapes better and didn't overcook, THEY DEVELOPED FEET!! Beautiful, perfect feet. I'm going to have to post a pic when I get a chance.

[Patrick S]

The first two times I made macarons, the only difference was the sitting out part, and the ones that sat out had feet. When I made Lebovitz's version, I piped a few and put them in the oven immediately, and sure enough they sprouted feet.

I don't know what's causing the cracking, but here's a few things I did that you may try.

1. Warm the whites with a double-boiler or a pan of very warm water. I didnt let my whites sit out for any length of time.

2. Beat the meringue to very stiff peaks.

3. Make sure the whites and almonds are throroughly incorporated.

4. I used insulated baking sheets, which probably slows the rate at which the bottom of the macarons heat up. Maybe that's a factor.

[filipe]

Dear PatrickS

1. Warm the whites with a double-boiler or a pan of very warm water. I didnt let my whites sit out for any length of time.

A: I did warm the whites...

2. Beat the meringue to very stiff peaks.

A: My meringue had very stiff peaks

3. Make sure the whites and almonds are throroughly incorporated.

A: I thought they were throroughly incorporated, but it did it by hand, not using the mixer, as if it was a mousse. Is that the correct way to do it or should I use the mixer/blender ?

4. I used insulated baking sheets, which probably slows the rate at which the bottom of the macarons heat up. Maybe that's a factor.

A: No insulated baking sheets at all...just ordinary paper, anti-adherent

As I've said, I myslef might be the problem. I guess that I've first noticed it when piping, because they never loose the peak after piped and I was expecting them to look glossy and peak-free....