Macaron Mania: Discovering the Secret

After baking 4 batches of macarons in the span of 24 hours, I now know the ultimate macaron-baking secret! Okay, maybe I’m being a little too dramatic, but I do have some tips on how to make your homemade macarons bake well.

My parents and I had plans to visit family friends and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try making these little French delights again (see the first time around here). Although they still aren’t 100% perfect, they’re about 85% so and they looked/tasted how I personally like them – I call that a win! 

Anyway, after baking 3 batches (matcha, chocolate and earl grey) in an afternoon/evening and one more (earl grey) the next morning, I am happy to report that I have made measurable (visible) progress! I can now make whole batches of macarons that are uniform (except for the fact that I didn’t use circle patterns, so they were slightly different sizes), glossy on the top, with feet!

[I still need to work on said feet, however, since many were slightly separating – methinks this has to do with the oven temperature. I’ll try lowering the heat next time.]

I used this recipe again, but I also found various tips on Google and YouTube. Indulge with Mimi has a slightly different recipe I hope to try later. Also, you should take the time to read the incredibly detailed troubleshooting guide from Food Nouveau. 

Make sure to visit those websites and get a feel for the recipes!

Tips for Success:

1. Your meringue is not as fragile as you think: I get scared of mixing batters too much for fear they might deflate the cookie/cake/whatever-i’m-making completely. Unfortunately, this fear made batches 1 + 2 of my macarons too solid. When you’re doing your macaronage (the process of mixing the meringue + almond flour/sugar mixture), don’t be too careful with your folding motion. In fact, it’s okay to kind of squash down and spread out the mixture a couple times. You want to let some of the air out, anyway.
   • When you take a bit of the batter with your spatula and let it run off, it should slowly ribbon down. If it’s still kind of solid and makes its way off the spatula in globby “chunks,” you’ve still got to put some arm muscle into your batter. However, be careful that it’s not too runny. Just keep checking every few stirs to see when your batter’s the right consistency! It helps to watch several YouTube videos to get a good feel for it. For me, the batter’s just right when I start getting legitimately concerned that I’ve over folded.
2. Slam those baking trays! Eliminate air bubbles! Make sure to slam your baking trays (don’t go too overboard though lol) on a flat surface (counter, for example) several times before you let them “rest.” I’ve read different opinions about whether you need to let the macarons rest or not before baking. This time around, I let them rest for about 20 minutes each and encountered very good results.
3. Oven Temperature: As I mentioned above, I still need more practice with this. The recipe I was using suggested 350 F degrees. I realized after my macarons were done that this might have been too high: my macaron feet were separating slightly and I had some air. Next time, I’m going to try something like 315 or 325 and bake for a few more minutes instead.
4. Don’t Burn Your Ganache: Okay, so this isn’t really a tip, but rather a don’t-do-what-I-did. When making your ganache, make sure that you don’t burn your chocolate in the microwave. It just doesn’t taste good. 🙁 [Happily, I only burned a small bit of the extra melted chocolate I was adding to my runny ganache.]
5. Whipped White Chocolate Ganache is Delicious: Again, not a real tip, but important information. I don’t actually like white chocolate, but I wanted something to fill my matcha macarons with and thought it would be a good pairing. I followed this recipe and found that using a hand mixer to fluff up the white chocolate ganache makes a lovely filling! It basically tastes like a rich whipped cream.

Happy baking!