Macaron Meringue Tip

A meringue for lemon macarons. I can tell it's done because it holds a soft peak.

I am always happy and willing to help readers troubleshoot why their macarons aren't turning out. I find that helping others is also beneficial to me since there are so many variables to consider when baking macarons and there's always more to learn.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, "Why are my macarons hollow?" There are three reasons I can think of — The shells could have rested for too long before baking, the oven temperature could have been too high or you could have overbeaten the meringue. It's usually the latter. 

You want to beat the meringue just until it holds a soft peak. Remember not to overbeat the egg whites and not to beat them too quickly.

You want to whip the egg whites slowly starting on medium-low speed, gradually adding the granulated sugar in three or four parts, and then increasing the speed to medium and then medium-high.

Getting the meringue to soft peaks should take a good seven or so minutes but it's so worth the time. If egg whites are beaten too quickly, the protein structure won't be strong, resulting in hollows.

If you want to color the meringue, add gel coloring towards the end of mixing and finish whipping to soft peaks. 

A Macaron Assortment Tip And The Recipe For Raspberry Dark Chocolate Macarons

Raspberry Dark Chocolate, Salted Caramel and Lemon Macarons look great together and make a nice assortment for an event. Why? — Because the flavors aren't too similar and the colors compliment each other.

When I'm asked to make an assortment of macarons for an event, my motto is always "small selection but wide variety."

Too many flavors to choose from overwhelms guests because they can't try everything and they have difficulty deciding what to pick. Too many flavors is also hard on the host who needs to know and describe the choices. You don't want to have to keep note cards on what you are serving.

My preference is to limit macaron assortments to five flavors, but I think three is really ideal.

That said, I then aim for a "wide variety," meaning I want to choose three or five flavors that are completely different from one another, so there is something for everyone. For instance, I would never make raspberry, strawberry and cherry together or coconut, hazelnut and almond. These are way to similar flavor and color wise too. Contrasting colors make for a much better presentation.

When choosing what to make, I consider these categories: Berry, Citrus, Chocolate, Nut, Caramel, Coffee and Exotic, the latter is flavors like lavender, rose, green tea and  rosemary olive oil. It's also fun to also mix these categories up like Espresso Hazelnut Macarons or Raspberry Dark Chocolate Macarons, which I made for a recent event.

In addition to the Raspberry Dark Chocolate Macarons,  I made Lemon and Salted Caramel. The flavors are different and the colors are contrasting and look vibrant together.

I've already posted the recipes for Lemon and Salted Caramel Macarons, but the Raspberry Dark Chocolate ones are a completely new creation. I've made chocolate shells filled with raspberry buttercream before but these are raspberry colored shells filled with both a dollop of dark Belgian chocolate and a raspberry buttercream.

Here's the recipe:

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
Fuschia gel coloring
Red gel coloring

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts. Add the coloring as desired. I added about 1 part fuschia to 2 parts red. Remember that the color lightens during baking so tint them a bit darker than you want them to turn out.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Piped macarons.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable.  Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife or spatula to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Melted Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Buttercream.

The macarons sorted into pairs and ready for filling. This is a single batch!

Raspberry Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Crofter's Raspberry Spread or another high-quality low-sugar raspberry preserve
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Just 3 drops of Raspberry Flavor (I used LorAnn brand)

Whip the butter until it is light and smooth. Add the jam, sea salt and raspberry flavor.

Whip this together until the filling is light and creamy. When you first start whipping the ingredients together, it will look like a curdled mess, but don't panic. The filling will eventually come together and be beautiful. Just whip it and whip it good!


Dark Chocolate Filling:
(note: make this only when your macarons are sorted, flipped over and ready for filling. Once you melt the chocolate there's no time to waste, you've got to be ready to go.)

1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips 

Place 1 cup of the dark chocolate chips (I used Belgian dark chocolate) in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir. Keep microwaving for 10 to 20 second sessions and stirring until the chocolate is melted. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of chips and stir until they are completely melted. Let the chocolate cool for an extra minute or two before transferring to a piping bag.

To Assemble:
Sort your macarons into pairs and flip both over. Starting with the chocolate, pipe a dollop on the back of one macaron from each of the pairs. Don't go too close to the edge or it will spill over. Let the chocolate firm and cool for at least 15 minutes before proceeding.

Add a dollop of Raspberry Buttercream on top of the chocolate and sandwich the pairs carefully together. 

Adding the dollop of dark chocolate.

After you add the buttercream, the macarons are ready to be gently sandwiched together.

All done!

Happy National Macaron Day!

Today is National Macaron Day and bakeries across the country are celebrating by handing out macarons for a donation to a worthy cause.

Here in Portland, Oregon, a dozen bakeries are participating to raise funds for Meals on Wheels.

The annual celebration is always on March 20, the first day of Spring, and was first organized in New York City in 2010 by chef Francois Payard, owner of FP Patisserie, Francois Payard Bakery and Payard Patisserie & Bistro.

Macarons are growing to be so popular that I would encourage National Macaron Day to also be a time for home bakers to consider making the sweet treats themselves. They are so satifying to create and not difficult once you learn the technique and the flavor/color combinations are limited only by your imagination.

To help get you started here are a few tips:

TIP 1: MEASURE CAREFULLY. Use a scale to precisely measure out all of your ingredients. Have all the ingredients ready before you start making the macarons.

TIP 2: SIFT. After measuring, sift together your ground almonds and the powdered sugar.

TIP 3: HAVE YOUR PANS AND YOUR PIPING BAGS READY. Before starting, also have four sheetpans ready that are lined with good quality parchment paper.  Also have your piping bags ready. When you are ready to fill the bags, use a glass to help steady them and put a rubber band or twist tie on the back of the bags. You don't want your precious macaron batter escaping out the back while you pipe.

 TIP 4: START SMALL. When you start making macarons you'll have better results if you start out small. When you clip your piping bag, don't make the hole too large because the batter will be hard to control. Just clip a bit off the piping bag and take your time to pipe 1.5- inch rounds.

And finally, here is some flavor inspiration courtesy of my sweet niece Maya who loves macarons so much that whenever I make them I like to pass on a few packages for her to share with her friends at school. Two years ago, when she was in the sixth grade, she made me this adorable and useful list that I am definitely keeping forever.

Tie Dyed Macarons

I've been wanting to attempt tie dyed macarons for some time now having seen them continually grow in popularity among bakers and finally took some time this past week to give them a go.

Just research "tie dyed macarons" on the internet and you'll find lots of examples, some cute and some not so much.  I think the best looking ones use just two colors, keeping the design clean and not convoluted. I wanted to create a tie dye effect without making macarons that looked like they belonged at a Grateful Dead merch booth. Sorry, Deadheads.

To create the effect, I just drew three lines of gel coloring up and down the inside of a piping bag before adding the macaron batter. I did learn that a little gel coloring goes a long way and next time I'm going to even use less. I do like how these look though and am anxious to keep experimenting.

Here's how I made them:

I had my supplies (a piping bag, gel coloring and a small paint brush) out and ready to go before I started making the macaron batter.

When the batter was done, I painted three lines of gel coloring on the inside of the bag.

This doesn't look like a lot of coloring but a little goes a long way and next time I'm going to use even less. I reloaded my brush before each stroke and I now know that a single load of coloring on the brush for all three stripes will do.

Once the batter was in the bag, my coloring overload became obvious and I believe it altered the texture of the macaron, making the outside too crispy.

The piped macarons.

The macarons after baking.

I filled these with peppermint buttercream and dark chocolate. Those recipes can be found here.

The macarons after filling.

Whip It Good!

A smooth and creamy blackberry buttercream is the perfect filling for these pretty purple macarons.

To quote the catchy 1980's song by New Wave band Devo, the secret to a light and creamy buttercream is to "whip it and whip it good."

Whipping a buttercream "good" is so worth the time it takes and it does take time, so using a stand mixer is ideal.

When I make simple fruit flavored buttercreams by just whipping low-sugar preserves and a pinch of sea salt into unsalted room temperature butter, it takes a good 7 to 10 minutes of whipping for the buttercream to fully come together.

As proof of the time it takes, here are the stages of my recent batch of blackberry buttercream:

After one minute of whipping,  the buttercream looks like a mess, but don't fret.

After three minutes, it's starting to come together, so don't give up.

After six minutes,  it's looking okay, but this buttercream can get even better with even more whipping.

After nine minutes, it's done. I can tell because the color has lightened and it's smooth and creamy with the preserves fully incorporated into the butter.

Filling macaron shells with the blackberry buttercream. It was definitely worth taking the time to whip it good!

Here's the blackberry buttercream recipe:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup low-sugar blackberry preserves
pinch fine sea salt

Whip the ingredients together until they are smooth and creamy. This takes a good seven to ten minutes.

Macaron Piping Tips

A tray of just-piped Lemon Mini Macarons.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll be filling trays fast and efficiently.

Don't get pulled into buying special kits, piping guides or indented silicon mats for making macarons. There are many "macaron cheats" on the market today but forget it, you don't any of those to make macarons and in the end, believe me, you don't want them.

To pipe macarons, all you need is your batter, disposable piping bags and four parchment lined sheetpans. It just takes a little practice and soon you'll be able to make beautiful macarons in any size you desire. Plus, piping macarons the old-fashioned way means there are no mats to wash and store!

A mat from Williams Sonoma that retails for $19.95 and an indented red silicon mat that retails at World Market for $7.99. You need four lined sheet pans for one recipe of macarons. Do you really want to buy four of these and have wash and store them them after each use? I don’t. Parchment paper works just fine and gives you the freedom to pipe the macarons any size you like.

This is just part of a single recipe of Cherry Mini Macarons that I recently made, sorted into pairs and ready for filling. I got 80 completed macarons!

Completed Blackberry and Cherry Mini Macarons

Here are a few helpful piping tips to get you started:

Tip #1: Start Small

Begin by making small quarter-sized macarons. Smaller macarons are easier to pipe and you'll get approximatley 80 out of one batch so you'll get a lot of piping practice when you make them. Take your time and just go for it.

Tip #2: Give The Tip A Straight Clip

When you cut the tip of your disposable pastry bag, clip straight across.  A diagonally cut makes wacky shaped macarons.

Tip #3: Take Your Time

Cut your pastry bag just about 1/3 of an inch from the bottom, creating a small hole for the batter to flow through. The batter won't come out fast but you'll have more control of the batter and can take your time to concentrate and pipe the best even-sized macarons that you can.

Tip #4: Tie The Bag

Don't forget to tie the top of your pastry bag with a rubber band or clip. This keeps the batter from spilling out the top of the bag as you pipe which trust me, is very frustrating.

Tip #5: Be Ready To Go

Before you even begin piping, have four sheetpans lined with parchment paper and be ready to go. Once you start piping, you want to stick with it until the end without having to set your bag down to get another pan ready.

Tip #6: Cut Yourself Some Slack

Practice makes perfect so don't expect to be a pro the first time you pipe macarons. Give yourself time to practice and improve and remember that a misshapen macaron tastes just as good as a perfectly round one.

Salted Caramel Macarons

The filling for these Salted Caramel Macarons is just about the easiest thing ever. You whip room temperature unsalted butter, some store-bought salted caramel sauce and sea salt together until it's light and creamy and that's all there is to it.

It is absolutely delicious and would also make an exellent filling or frosting for a chocolate cake. Now that I think of it,  pumpkin cake would also be really good .... I definitely have some more baking to do.

In the meantime, here's the recipe:

Salted Caramel Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well.

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch. 

Piped macarons resting before baking.

A side by side comparison of baked and unbaked macarons.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Baked macarons sorted into pairs.

Filling the macarons.

Leave them on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Salted Caramel Buttercream.

Store the macarons in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

Salted Caramel Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup salted caramel sauce
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Whip the butter until it is smooth and light. Add the caramel sauce and salt and whip again until light and creamy.

Adding the caramel sauce and sea salt to the butter.

After some whipping it will look like this.

Macaron Advice

The grand window display at Bon Macaron in Victoria, B.C.

This tower of macarons was also on display in a second window of the small macaron only shop at 1012 Broad Street.

The shop carried 24 flavors of sweet macarons and 12 flavors of sweet and savory macarons. Eleanor and I had a hard time settling on three to try. In the end we chose White Truffle and Sea Salt, Cantaloup and Sour Plum. The Cantaloup was our favorite.

My daughter Eleanor and I unexpectedly came across a macaron shop on our recent trip to Victoria, B.C. and in addition to tasting some delicious macarons, I was able to glean some valuable information from the chef.

Eleanor and I were just walking one evening when I saw the macaron window displays of a small shop called Bon Macaron and shrieked with delight. The shop was closed for the day but we went back the next day for a taste and I got a chance to speak briefly with the chef.

I asked him what was the base of the filling of the delicious White Truffle and Sea Salt Macaron I had just tasted.  He said cream cheese so I asked if his experience was similar to mine that cream cheese filled macarons don't last as long. He agreed that cream cheese filled macarons don't last as long as buttercream filled ones because of the cheese's higher moisture content.

He said cream cheese filled macrons are best eaten one to two days after they're made and buttercream filled ones last three to four days.

What I have found can also cause a macaron to not last as long is the addition of fresh fruit to a filling. I think the taste of fresh fruit is preferable to preserves because it's less sweet but it also contains moisture that can cause the macaron shells to soften and gradually dissolve. When this happens, the taste is still great but the texture isn't. I've tried to combat this problem by cooking fresh fruit first to eliminate moisture but it doesn't always work. Strawberries are especially troublesome and I might just have to resort to using a low-sugar preserve.
 
Knowing how different fillings affect how long a macaron will last is very important when it comes to deciding what flavor to make. Because there are so many variations possible, there are so many variables that can affect the outcomes. This unpredictability is part of what makes macaron making exciting but it can also make it stressful, especially when you're making them for an event.

It felt good having my experiences confirmed by a macaron professional. If I ever get back to Victoria, I want to go back to Bon Macaron — There are still 33 flavors I haven't tasted like Mimosa, Pineapple & Basil and Siracha. I'm definitely going back!