Basic macaron recipe:
60g almond powder
110g confectioner’s sugar
50g egg white
3g dry egg white
15g granule sugar
2. Place egg white in a large bowl and break up the thick parts with whisk
3. Add dry egg white and beat with whisk (dry egg white absorbs moisture from egg white and makes meringue firm)
4. Add the granule sugar in two portions and beat into soft peaked meringue
5. Add half of the sifted sugar and almond powder into bowl, fold with spatula gently. If adding food dye, add with the first addition of dry ingredients.
6. Add the other half and fold (this is called macoronage). Stop mixing when batter becomes shiny. Do not over-mix.
7. Immediately fill pastry bag fitted with 11mm round tip and pipe onto baking sheet lined with silpat into rounds.
8. Leave macarons out to dry for about 30minutes, until it doesn’t stick to your finger when touched. Preheat oven to 350C.
9. When surface of macarons are sufficiently dry, place inside the oven to bake. After about five minutes, the “ruffled skirt” should develop around the bottom edge of each macaron. Rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees, and bake for another five to 7 minutes.
10. Check to see if macarons are done by grabbing the top of one macaron and try to shake it. It’s done if the top barely slides against the “ruffled skirt”. If it’s not done, extend baking time by two minutes intervals and checking after each extension.
11. Move silpat to a cooling rack. After macarons have cooled to touch, remove them from silpat and place upside down on rack. Place inside fridge to cool.
12. Sandwich with desired filling when macarons are cooled, and store in a tightly sealed container at room temperature.
Macarons taste the best the next day, after they’ve had a chance to dry out further.
Notes:
1. The first step to successful macarons is the consistency of the meringue. If using stand-mixer, watch carefully and not let the meringue get too stiff, or it will become hard to incorporate the dry ingredients, which will lead to over-mixing.
2. It takes practice to know when to stop “macoronage”. If batter is over-mixed, macarons will have a very smooth and shiny surface but will not rise in the oven. If not mixed enough, surface will crack while baking. Within the acceptable range, you can adjust the degree of macaronage to achieve the right balance between smooth surface and airy texture.
3. If you have a good convection oven with circulating hot air, you may be able to reduce oven temperature to 150C/300F, as long as macarons are baked in about 12 minutes. If macarons don’t rise within the first five minutes, increase oven temperature.
4. If you have to take the macarons out of the oven before they are completely baked because they have started to brown, you may dry them out by leaving them in the fridge uncovered, bottom side up.
5. If on the other hand, you’ve over-baked them and the bottom is too dry, leave in the freezer so they soak up moisture (make sure there’s no smell in your freezer).
Final word of caution:
This recipe is developed to suit my big old GE gas oven, with the room humidity between 55-65% and room temperature around 22C. It will almost certainly need adjustment to suit your oven and climate. If it doesn’t work the first time, don’t give up!
