French Macarons Tutorial

Delightfully French: Macarons

With the tedious and detailed process in making french macarons, it should be held legendary. Of course that's how a novice baker would feel, such as myself, after making over 20 batches in just a span of only 4 months. It baffles me how one recipe could yield two different results.

French Macarons are bite-sized almond mound cookies that sandwich a buttercream, ganache or jam. It is entirely different from the more common pastry-coconut macaroons. Notice the number of O's. It originated in France thus the term French Macarons. Although now becoming more popular in the US, its not quite a staple on bakeries yet. Mostly, you will find this confection on specialty European bakeries and high-end cafe in the city.

My journey towards the perfect macaron has taught me one important lesson: the biggest secret to making these temperamental cookies is to do it right every step of the way. No shortcuts, no substitutions.

I've tried many different recipes of french macarons and this one worked consistently for me after making several adjustments. The Math teacher part of me became handy after scatter plotting all my attempts in the past and finally finding a middle "recipe".

French Macarons Recipe

3/4 cup Almond Flour
1 cup Confectioners' Sugar (I buy instead of blanching to save me time)
2 large egg white (aged for 1-2 days in the counter, room-temperature)
Pinch of Cream of Tartar
1/4 superfine sugar (regular white sugar on a food processor)
Filling (buttercream, ganache, jam etc.)

Things you will need:

Parchment Paper, pastry bag, coppler and icing tip, 2 cookie sheets, scissors, cooling rack, oven thermometer and loads of time. If you do not have at least 2.5 hours to make 25 sandwiches, then I suggest you postpone baking them. I usually make 2 batches and it takes me approximately 4 hours.

Separate 2 egg whites 1.5-2 days before you bake these goodies. Place it on a bowl covered with a saran wrap tightly and leave in the counter. The egg whites must be at a room temperature as it holds air better. Otherwise, your macarons will flatten.

• Prepare 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat. I prefer silicone mat because its flat and even unlike the parchment paper. But for this illustration, I only had the parchment paper available. Flatten the parchment paper by placing a sheet over it.

• Pulse together confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor or blender. Pulse white sugar separately. You can buy baker's sugar for this purpose as well but since I have a surplus of regular white sugar at home, I simply pulse it to a finer grain. 
• Sift the confectioners sugar and almond twice. I find it somewhat grainy when sifting only once or not sifting at all. Note: Discard the crumble or chunk of almond flour, do not add to the mixture.

• Its time time whisk the egg whites. This process is crucial to the success of your meringue. Personally, I prefer the use of a hand mixer. I've done different batches using both the stand and hand mixer, I've had better results with the latter. Start whisking at a slow speed as you are breaking the protein down. When it becomes bubbly, add a pinch of tartar and increase the speed to high. When soft peaks start to form, decrease speed to medium and add the white sugar one tablespoon at at time.
• Increase the speed to high until stiff peaks form. With a hand mixer, from the time I added the white sugar, it took 4-6 minutes to get a stiff form. It should be able to hold a form so when you invert the bowl, the meringue will not drip.

 The meringue should look glossy.

This is another crucial part of the process. If its too airy, during macronage it will deflate and you will have a flat cookie. If it is under mixed, the meringue will not hold its shape and will also flatten. So if your cookies are flat, then its most likely over or under mixed.

If you want to add color, add it at this time. Do not use oil-based food coloring. I usually just add 2-3 drops especially if the food coloring is water-based.

• Sift the flour mix to the meringue 1/3 cup at a time. Remember sifting the flour mixture helps your cookie from being grainy.

• Macronage: With the use of a spatula, fold until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Add another 1/3 cup and repeat the process. This process is called the "MACRONAGE" and to me is the MOST crucial part. Most of my failures in the past has its roots in this process. The goal is to get a magma-like flow. Fold it between 50-65 times and this is another excellent use for my scatter plotting.My magic number is 60. If it looks like this, fold just a little more. It should still look somewhat glossy and not too runny.

                       It may take a few try for you to figure out what works best with the equipment and ingredients you have. Over folding it can result into a runny meringue which will flatten. At this point, you should already know that one of the biggest clue as to whether or not your cookie is perfect is whether or not its flat. Other issues like cracking can be caused by the temperature and the cookie sheet. I've made those mistakes too!

Unfortunately, for this batch, I stopped at 55 foldings. My cookie did not hold the  mount as well, it was a little spread out. It was just as delicious but I did not get the perfect macaron mound. The next batch I made, I did 60 foldings and they turned out perfect.

• Transfer the meringue to a prepared pastry bag seated inside a tall drinking glass. I use a coppler and Wilton pipe 12. 

• I found a printable template for macarons sizes on the internet. You can make 1.5 to 3 inches cookies sizes. I prefer to make the 1.5-inch mounds, they are perfect for 1-2 bites. Depends on the filling, it can be sweet so a smaller size is better. 

•   Place the template underneath the parchment paper. I find it difficult to consistently make mounds of similar sizes without the template though I see others do perfectly without it. Angle your tip between 85-90 degrees and pipe it to the sheet. 

• Some mounds may have a pipe tracing on top. To create an even and smooth macaron top, simply dip your finger with water and press slightly on the uneven spot on the mound. 

•  This recipe will make you 44-50 small cookies (1.5 inches) or 22-25 sandwiches. Tap the bottom of the pan several times to allow the air to rise up. If it bubbles, use a toothpick to let the air out. Let stand at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. I've had the longer wait time on my successful attempts.
• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Make note that ovens may have inaccurate meter. I calibrated mine by using a thermometer. 

• Feel the top of the cookies, it should be dry and the shell somewhat hard. 
• At 325 degrees, bake one sheet at a time in the middle rack for 6-7 minutes then turn the sheet around and bake for another 3-5 minutes. Allow to cool in the baking sheet for 2-4 minutes and transfer to the cooling rack. It should not stick to the parchment paper. If it does, allow to cool for a few more minutes.
• Cookies must be completely cool before filling. Sandwich 2 cookies with buttercream, ganache or jam preferably the ones that are not too sweet. 

• Serve immediately. French Macarons are excellent pairings for black tea blends, cappuccino and dark coffee.

Viola! They look gorgeous! Don't let the process discourage you. They are absolutely delicious and worth every minute you spend in labor.

Ooh la la, bon appetit!

Troubleshooting:

• Storage: store macarons on airtight container. I prefer to keep it outside in room temperature if eaten within 2-3 days. But for longer storing, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. It only takes 30 minutes to thaw it out. 
• How it should look like?: Perfect macarons have the "feet" and the mounds are even and smooth. If grainy it could be because its not mixed well or improper sifting or incorrect macronage.  It it cracks, it could be because of inaccurate oven temperature or the type of cookie sheet. 
• Once piped into the cookie sheet, the mounds will not rise or expand unlike most cookies. Whatever the size of your mound is upon piping is the size of your cookie after baking. 
• Macronage: This is how it turned out with only 55 foldings in the macronage process. 

 The "feet" expanded and the mounds did not stay on the center.

Macronage in 60 foldings on the picture above: less grainy, smooth mounds and the "feet" perfect. 

Filling: Vanilla Buttercream and Dark (100% cocoa) Ganache

I will post excellent flavor and filling ideas much much later. Honestly, baking these heavenly bites takes up all of my energy. This is one heck of a laborious passion!