Category: Cookies, Dessert, Valentine's Day
Yields:
15 Servings
Difficulty: Difficult
Prep Time: 1 Hr
Cook Time:
20 Mins
Total Time:
1 Hr 20 Mins
French macarons are delicious. Making them however is a whole new world of hell. There are so many tiny little things that can go wrong that are virtually impossible to correct. Sometimes you may not even notice anything going wrong until you pull them out of the oven. Then all you are left with is a whole lot of wasted time and bad macarons.
I have researched and found a lot of tips in order to perfect the perfect macaron so hopefully you don’t make the same mistakes I have made.
- Make sure the egg whites are room temperature before you start the meringue.
- Follow the recipe exactly. There is absolutely no wiggle room to play around with quantities or ingredients. If you do so there will be issues.
- Measure every ingredient a few times to be extra sure there is the right amount.
- Make sure the oven is the exact temperature. The one thing you do not want is a brown macaron. It is always nice to check with a handy oven thermometer.
- Over mixing and under mixing. When mixing in the almond and icing mixture it is important to make sure it is mixed just enough. If you under mix it them macaroons will be cracked and lumpy. Overmix and the macaroons will be flat with no feet. The perfect spot is when you can pick up a spoon of the mixture and drag it into a perfect figure eight position. If it breaks, then it is not mixed enough. Do not go crazy and beat the mixture to death. If that happens the meringue will collapse, and the mixture will become very runny.
- To achieve a smooth top make sure you sift and blitz the icing sugar and almond meal in a processor. The mixture must be fine, any lumps will show on the top of the cookie.
- Let the cookies sit on a tray for at least 30 minutes before you put them in the oven. After the 30 minutes are up gently press on the top of a cookie, you should feel a thin film on top and it won’t be sticky.
- Use food gel not liquid food colouring.
- If you want to add sprinkles test them out first by making one cookie. I learnt this the hard way. I had made a perfect batch of macarons and I ruined half of them by placing a heart sprinkle on top. The sprinkles melted and I was left with macarons that had giant holes in them.
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
- Extra
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 150 degrees celsius.
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Start by sifting the icing sugar, making sure there are not any lumps. In a bowl combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour. Sift it two times, throwing away any large lumps. A fine mixture will help to create a smooth top.
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In a dry and grease free bowl beat the egg whites until foamy.
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Add the salt and cream of tartar. Add in the sugar a spoonful at a time.
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Beat until they form stiff peaks.
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Add in the food colouring. I used a lovely pink for mine.
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Fold the almond mixture into the meringue. Be careful not to over or under mix.
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You want to be able to take a spoon of the mixture and swirl it into a figure eight pattern without breaking.
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This may take a few attempts to perfect.
- Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. It is easier to put the piping bag into a glass to help it stand up.
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Line two trays with baking paper and pipe a round macaroon. Keep piping more and make sure there is a gap in between them so they can spread.
- After that is done tap the tray hard in your bench a few times. You will notice there will be a few air bubbles. Get a skewer and swirl it around to break and fill in the bubbles. Sprinkle some little heart sprinkles on the top.
- Let them sit out for 30 minutes at least. You can not skip this part. They need to dry out a little bit and become tacky to the touch. It should not stick to your fingers.
- Bake for 12 to 18 minutes depending on the size. Touch the top of the macarons. If you have made them successfully, they will have developed feet. When you touch the top, they should not move around on the feet and they should sound hollow.
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Let them cool and pipe any filling you want onto them. I just used a simple vanilla buttercream. Fit a piping bag with the star piping tip and pipe the buttercream onto the macarons. Sandwich two cookies together and serve. Keep them in the fridge if you don't want to eat them straight away. Enjoy!
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Serve and enjoy.
