Thursday 12 December 2013

Making of the French Macarons

 
French Macarons, is this one of the hardest cookies to bake? 
 
Well, I would say yes as I have failed a few times when I first made them. 
When I have finally made my first successful batch, I stuck to the same method all the time and now I can say 'I can make them!'
 
But at times I still get one or two imperfect ones out the oven.
But hey, it is one of the hardest cookies to bake after all!
 
I have created a step by step guide of how I made mines, I hope my method is made simple for you to follow. I still follow it closely as it has worked for me all the time now.
Just want to share with you what to look out for and what you must do! 
 
So here it is, my guide to the French Macarons. 
Recipe is here so good luck and have fun! 


 
Weigh out the ground almonds and icing sugar together. 
 
Pass through a sieve twice
 
Discard any big bits of ground almonds that doesn't pass through the sieve. 
 
Weigh out your egg white and whisk.
 
 
Add sugar gradually to the meringue until you reach soft peak, at this stage you can add gel colouring  if you want coloured Macarons. 
 
Whisk until you reach stiff peaks, meringue would be glossy and stiff. 
 
Add 1/2 of the ground almonds & icing sugar to the meringue and fold briefly, 
then add last 1/2 to it and fold. 
 
The mixture will appear grainy after you have added the dry ingredients to it. 
 
 
 
Fold and press the mixture against the side of the bowl to deflate some air. 
Fold about 50 times and press against the bowl 3 times alternating in between folds.  

 
The mixture should now be smooth and shiny, when you drop some back into the mixing bowl, it should flow back slowly like volcano lava. If it doesn't, fold a few more time. Be careful not to over fold at this stage. 
 
Fill a piping bag with the Macaron batter, tie the top of the piping bag and make a small snip on the tip end. You are ready to pipe.
 
I drew a template of circles on a piece of paper from my piping nozzle and lay a baking paper on top. 
Lay this on a flat baking tray.
Pipe from the centre on the circle and stop once you have filled the circle. 
 
 
Tap the tray on the work top a couple of times to let any air bubbles out in the piped macaorns.  
At this stage they should appear smooth and shiny. If there's any visible bubbles on the surface, pop them with a wooden skewer.
 
Then let it dry out for 30 minutes to an hour.
When they are ready, they should have formed a thin skin and you can just about touch it and the macaron does not stick to your finger, but be very careful not to break the skin otherwise it would crack in the oven.


 

Due to the humidity in my room, I used a desk top fan to speed up the drying process. 
This still took me over 1 1/2 hours. 
 
Bake in a preheated oven at130c for 15 minutes. 

You need the check your ovens temparature as you might need to lower to 120c if you are using gas oven, I have found different ovens have different temperature.
 
5 minutes into baking the feet on the macarons should appear. 


Once baked, take out to cool while they are still on the baking paper then remove carefully.
Match up two the same size and add filling of your choice. 

If you have succesfully made these share with me! I love to hear from you and know that my method has worked for you too.

13 comments:

  1. You are starting to inspire me to tackle my first Macarons! Thanks hun x

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    1. And once you've baked your first, there's no going back!
      Go for it! :) x

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  2. I failed 2 tyms:(..ths s post s totally inspiring me to do again..mine s gas oven so temp may varry..is thr ne tips ..

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    1. Hi, so sorry to hear that you haven't achieved it yet. You would need to know how your oven works for you. My old oven before it broke was 20c higher than my new. If the heats too low, the feet won't form. If you try my recipe and follow my method, see what results you get. Try 140c and watch it closely. But don't bake the whole batch in. Maybe bake half and you can see if you need to adjust the temperature. Hope that helps.

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  3. Hi how many macarons does this recipe yield? I wld like to try ur method too! hv not done it b4 though haha..

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    Replies
    1. It depends how big you pipe it. I got over 20 pieces in one batch.

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  4. Hi Mandy, anything can be replace with almond? My boys can't take almond. Pls adv. Tks

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    Replies
    1. It would have to be another nut like pistachio. I haven't tried it but you can find recipes using other nuts for making macarons.

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  5. tray to be on lowest or middle rack?

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    Replies
    1. Sorry for the late reply, I have a portable oven so I used the lowest rack.

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  6. Recipe is well explained!!!Can you please tell why have you drawn two concentric circles in the template???

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    Replies
    1. Hi Preeti, this is for two sizes, it just saves me having it on two pieces of paper. Usually I use the larger circles for my macarons.

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  7. Hi Mandy, I've made so many macarons using your recipe..everybody loved it because it's not very sweet. 1 thing though. When it's out of the oven, it's extremely perfect, with a crisp top n chewy interior. But when I meld it overnight, the crisp top disappear, and in it's place, is just a very crumbly macaroni when bitten into. Is this the way it is supposed to be?

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