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!

Macaron Coloring Tip

Mini Lime Macarons

My macaron coloring tip is to color your macaron batter darker than you want your macarons to end up. The color of a macaron lightens after baking so if you want bright macarons be sure to intensify the batter. I find that gel food colorings work best.

To show the difference,  here's a side by side comparison of my recent batch of Mini Lime Macarons.

And, here's my recipe for Mini Lime Macrons filled with a buttercream flavored with fresh lime zest and juice. These were my favorite of three flavors including Almond Chocolate and Strawberry that I recently made for a baby shower

Mini Lime Macarons
(makes 75 quarter-sized 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
green food coloring

Line five 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.  Towards the end of mixing, add the food coloring.

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 nickel 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.

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 8 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 to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Lime Buttercream

Filling the Mini Lime Macarons

Lime Buttercream 

Zest of two limes
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch of fine sea salt
green food coloring, optional

The lime juice, zest and sugar before cooking.

Mix together the zest, 3 tablespoons of sugar and lime juice and add it to a small saucepan. Over medium heat, heat the mixture until it comes to a boil, watching it and stirring it constantly. Simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes until it's reduced and begins to caramelize on the edges. The zest will change color to a darker green.

Remove the mixture from the stove and transfer it to small bowl to cool. Let it cool completely.

Place the whites in a clean mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar and cream of tartar.

Place bowl over a double boiler on medium heat, stir frequently until the mixture is very hot (120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit).

Move to mixer and whip whites on high for 2 to 3 minutes; turn down to medium low until cool (use the bowl as your guide).

In a separate bowl with a wooden spoon, stir butter to soften.

With mixer on medium/high speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, adding the next tablespoon just as the previous one is blended in. Once all the butter incorporated, add in the salt and cooled lime mixture and whip on high speed until fluffy. If desired add a touch of green food coloring.

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!