ive made over 50 batches of macarons over 5 months (with all kinds of different recipes, using egg white powder, cream of tartar, running all kinds of my own experiments) and this recipe got me full shells with the french method for my first time EVER - on the first try. this is magic, and i applaud you immensely for tweaking even the most strict rules for baking these, no other recipe would ever mention not getting stiff peaks and not rapping the trays!! i can’t imagine the trial and error that went into this, but i am amazed and so thankful 💗
That is wonderful news, Meredith! Congratulations!!! 🎉🎈🎊 I went through the same thing. Took me several months and I have all kinds of funny mishaps posted on the website. I made so many bad macarons! 🤣🤣🤣
Hey ladies ! I have been trying to make it for one year and all the recipes were unsuccessful. The issue I have is my macarons are empty I don’t know what do you call that gap between the feet and the shell , fyi : I have gas oven, not electric one , please any suggestions!! Thanks in advance !!
@zinebjalal1628 The gap you are experiencing is often referred to as “hollow shells” and is a common issue when trying to learn how to make macarons. The four main reasons they happen are most often due to the over mixing of the egg whites, the egg whites collapsing due over mixing of the batter, the food coloring breaking the meringue and a poorly written recipe. Another reason is the transferring and piping stage can cause a lot of deflation, especially as you learn how to make them. The Italian and Swiss versions are less likely to have this happen as the meringue is very stable and can tolerate a lot of mixing and a variety of food colors. What I suggest is doing a little troubleshooting to find out what is going wrong. Let me suggest the following: First, do not add any food coloring until you really learn the process. This will eliminate the possibility of it being the food coloring as well. Second, mix the egg whites on a lower speed and only to a softer peak. It should flop over, not stick straight up. This will allow the whites to expand in the oven. If you have it at stiff peaks, they can only stay at the same volume or even collapse. Third, purposefully under-mix the batter. Have it to where the batter does flow off your spatula, but doesn’t sink into the batter but rather sits on top. Slightly undermixing will tell you if the hollows are coming from your meringue or macaronage versus your transferring and piping. Fourth, do not tap the tray whatsoever or pop any bubbles. Doing this with the French method can collapse the meringue when you are new as you have to kind of gauge when to tap and when not to. If you slightly over mix your batter and then tap the tray, it will completely collapse the meringue. Finally, purposefully overbake a small batch of macarons. If they are underbaked, they will collapse as they cool and form the hollow layer in the shell. Much how an underbaked angel food cake collapse. Overbaked, they will be crunchy, but they should be full if you did all of the above right. This is how you troubleshoot which step is giving you fits and I’ll be glad to help you perfect each step so you can make successful macarons. For gas, I do recommend rotating the tray 180 degrees midway through baking. And if you are baking more than one tray at a time, swap the trays as well. That will eliminate any hot or cold spots.
@@Jacksonsjob thank you so much for all this suggestions and advice . I will try to avoid this mistakes next time when I make them. I can’t wait to try it and see the result . Thanks again for your time to read and response to my comment. I appreciate you!!! Sending you love from Michigan 🤍
@zinebjalal1628 much luck to you! Let me know how it goes regardless of the outcome. I have other recipes and bakers I can recommend if you want to try different recipes that have worked out for me.
That is wonderful news, KarliGee! Congratulations on being successful making macarons! You’ve just made “the world’s most difficult cookie.” That is quite an accomplishment. Do you have a favorite flavor you want to try?
I’m from Florida and let me tell you about the struggle with macarons. I’ve tried to make macarons 4 times now and all have failed. I did 2 batches of yours today and they came out perfectly. I can finally move on to the different fillings now. Thank you so much for the great recipe!!
Oh that makes me so happy for you, Tyler Ton! 🤗👩🏼🍳😁 Congratulations on perfecting the macarons! The fillings are the fun part once you start making them in earnest. I’ll give you an easy filling that is my most requested for you to tinker around: 1/4 cup (half of one stick) softened butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar. Thin with one to two tablespoons of juice or milk. Flavor with 1/2 - 1 tsp of your favorite extract, 1/4 - 1 tsp of any type of spice, or use 1 tsp of zest. You can also add up to 3 tbs of cocoa powder for a cheap but tasty chocolate filling.
@@Jacksonsjob a possible video you could make is the different types of fillings then give a quick recipe for each. Like a crash course for buttercream, ganache and etc. I’m sure you would help a lot of people out and would get a lot of attention on that video. You deserve way more subscribers! Thank you
Tyler, that’s a great idea! Thanks. 😁 I will put this in on my little to do pile and start thinking of the most common ones and how to organize it. I just posted up a little macaron experiment video today for another viewer so maybe 🤔 doing some more macaron specialty videos that other viewers like you request could be a fun little thing to keep going. 😁 I do have a few short videos on ganache and buttercream you might like to check out in the meantime. I’ll keep you posted!
OMG you are such a life saver, i made today 6 batches of different recipes and none came out good until I saw yours, thank you very much. Im making 3 more batches tomorrow but again thank you very much for sharing this amazing recipe 🙏🙏🙏🙏
You are very welcome, Pablo! I wanted others to have success in making macarons once I learned the key to baking them myself. I’m so happy you are pleased with the results. 😊👨🏽🍳
That is fabulous news, pkimbler! Congratulations on successfully making the world’s most difficult cookie as they call it! What flavor did you make? Pretty soon you’ll be surpassing me as many of my friendly viewers have went on to become macaron masterminds with their flavor combinations!
That’s so flattering! Try some different extracts in place of the vanilla to get all kinds of new flavors. The sky is the limit! Or you can add a couple tablespoons of cocoa to the buttercream to get some chocolate filled ones!
Another success story! This is my first time trying to make macarons, and they came out perfectly thanks to your recipe. I knew they were particularly difficult to get right, so I googled common mistakes and found your videos. Thank you so much!
That is wonderful news, Claire! I am so happy for you and if you ever have any questions about macarons, feel free to reach out. Lots of people are happily baking these little confections surpassing my skill level. 😁
I'm about to throw my apron for this fickle minded cookies, until I tried your recipe. Thank you sooooooo much for your research and clear explanation, making it possible for anyone to bake macarons. God bless :)
Hello Anne! I am so happy you found this recipe before throwing in the apron. 😉 It took me over six months to figure out how to make them so I feel your pain! 😳😊😁
Hello, I’m in South America with 78-80% humidity, resting time takes 1.5 hrs. But I decided to place my tray in the bottom warming drawer of my oven for 10 min, and it worked. I added three grams of meringue powder and baked at 315 F for 17 min. I think the drying time was little too much, but overall they were ok. Your video is the best out there, thanks.
Next time, try to avoid using the warning drawer. It can make them too crunchy on the outside. But I’m glad to hear you are making progress! The hardest part with macarons and humidity is the patience on waiting for them to dry. The meringue powder was an excellent idea!
I am so incredibly happy to hear this for you! Sometimes it about finding a recipe that works for you. Perfection comes with practice. Keep going and before you know it, you’ll be making better macarons than I can! 😊 Start dreaming about all the possibilities of flavors and practice more. You’ll get even better the more you make them. 👨🏽🍳
I can’t believe it!! I got it right with this video only.. I was about to give up and first time trying this recipe , success!! Just gotta work on getting them all the Same size!!! Thank you. !
That’s fabulous, Jemika! I am thrilled to hear this for you. Congratulations on making them right your first time!!! That is seriously impressive as they are a bit more than tricky for most to learn. It took me close to six months when I started making them. For getting consistent sizes: try counting as you squeeze the piping bag. That’s what I do. I count to six. 😬😂
I wanted to say thank you so much! I was going to give up after trying the nytimes macaron recipe 2x to no avail but after I did this recipe, I got it on the first try! You are a really great macaron teacher and your pictures and videos are really helpful
You are so welcome, Audriti Mazumder! It's wonderful to hear you had success and are now enjoying macarons! I know the exact recipe you are talking about from the times. You aren't missing much. They are the really sweet variety and not that pleasant to eat except with really tart fillings. Have a lovely day!
@@audritimazumder6592 Forgive me as it's been a long time since I've made that video, but here are a few I use that aren't as sweet. I also like to use nut butters in the inside at times. In addition to the ones below, I like to use a swiss or french buttercream as it's not as cloy as american ones. Anything made with cream, eggs, fresh berries or cream cheese has to stay chilled and brought up to temperature to eat. They don't last long outside of fridge. Hope that helps. Chocolate ganache Heat 4 oz (1/2 cup) cream until a simmer. add 4oz (about 3/4 cup) of semi sweet or dark chocolate. Let melt in cream. Stir until it comes together. Let cool before piping. Optional: add up to 1 tsp of any type of ground spice. Add 1/8 at at time and taste. add 1 tsp (1gram) zest of citrus. Should stay chilled and brought to room temperature. Cream cheese filling 44g (3 tbs) cream cheese softened 14g (1 tbs) butter softened. Blend together. Blend with 15mL (1 tbs) of crushed fresh fruit (raspberry, strawberry, etc.) Add powdered sugar 9g (1 tbs) at a time to taste and piping texture. Must stay chilled and brought to room temperature to eat. Basic Fruit buttercream 28 grams softened butter (2 tbs) 56 grams powdered sugar (just over 1/3 cup) zest from half a lemon, orange or other citrus (about 1/2 tsp, 1/2 g) 15-30 mL enough juice of citrus to thin out butter cream (1-2 tbs) or add 15 mL (1 tbs) of crushed berries, add more powdered sugar as needed to keep mixture from splitting. Lemon curd ¾ cup fresh lemon juice ½ cup white sugar ½ cup butter, cubed 3 large eggs 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest Cook in a double broiler until mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, cover and chill. Mix with butter cream or pipe a small circle of buttercream and dollop curd in center.
@Jacksonsjob another question: how do you recommend going about the cookies sticking to the tray? I put the cookies directly on a silicon mat. I was thinking I should use parchment paper instead.
My hubby is ticked at you!! I’m at about 8 double batches now!! You made it so easy I’m making a double batch every week!!! I gotta stop tho.. I’m eating them all!!!!
🤣🤣🤣 Congratulations! This makes me so happy that you are baking away. Tell him I said sorry! 😆 I have an idea! Tell your husband that you’re turning it into a side business. 👨🏽🍳👩🏻🍳🧑🍳 Seriously, think about selling them if you enjoy making macarons. I’ve had many viewers contact me and tell me they have started making some extra money off macarons. One woman even opened her own bakery. I could sell them consistently if I had the ability to do so. Nowadays, I make them as gifts and teach others how to make them locally.
I already watched your troubleshooting video. I’ve spent 7 years on research, watched hundreds of videos, made hundreds of batches and today came across your videos. What a great information! Thank you so much, it’s almost 2:00 am, I’m still watching your videos and will try this tomorrow, if works - my research is done! Just need to figure out the proper temperature for this 70-80% humidity climate. I won’t get STIFF peaks and will update in two days.
It is frequently 97% humidity here and I bake macarons all the time. It just takes a little longer for them to be ready for the oven. Typically I wait at least 45 minutes for 60-70% humidity, then turn on the oven. When it’s greater than 75% humidity, I will toss a little test batch in when I think it is ready and if I see feet, I know it’s okay to bake the remaining cookies. If I don’t see feet and they crack or dome, I add another 30 minutes. On super high humid days, I would have a couple small batches to test with. Then I just wrote down the times for resting each one. For me personally, it takes 30 minutes 40%, 45 -55 minutes over 50 but under 60%, 90 minutes resting when it’s greater than 75% humidity and at least 120 minutes over 90% of you want some general guidelines.
@Jacksonsjob hi I'm so glad someone understands humidity.. I have 60-65% humidity and bake macaron but no feet.. don't know what I'm doing wrong.. have you ever tried oven drying or even a no rest method.. I've seen in some videos but don't know if they actually work 🤔. It's just that sometimes having macaron drying in your kitchen can take up space only if there was a way around the drying process.. would be great if you could do a video experimenting with oven drying or no resting. Xxx
Hi Afy, I have tried both methods and I honestly can’t recommend either. The no rest method uses a different recipe that had way too much sugar for my liking. It ended up changing both the texture and taste of the macaron. Some may like it but they are already a very sweet cookie. This was just too much sweetness. If you don’t mind sugary foods, it is worth trying. You could balance it out some with a filling like dark chocolate or lemon. The oven drying method works, but it can create a lot of hollows as it often dries out the interior as well as the outside of the macaron. You do get feet, but they aren’t as pretty because the meringue isn’t strong enough to create that umph needed for pretty feet. What I have done when making a batch is to use the oven and placed the macaron sheets on the rack while it was turned off and left the oven door ajar. That way they are out of the way. Using parchment over top of a silicone mat or alone will speed up the drying in a humid climate. Silicone mats alone can take forever for the meringue to dry. I don’t use the silicone mats when I make macarons above 60% humidity. They take way too long and I don’t want to sit around waiting.
@Jacksonsjob thank you so much for your reply can't wait it try again I actually wanted to give up on macarons last week but will your recipe and method step by step.. I have made country attempts but mostly failed can't be consistent with the humidity.. thank you once again for your time and detailed videos. You have put so much into them 😊
If you have any hiccups, please let me know. I’m here as long as you need to master this cookie! It took me months to learn how to make them. Don’t give up, you’ll get there. What I personally like to do when it’s really humid out is to make a small little “test” batch with some of the batter. Instead of piping all onto one tray, I will get a smaller tray with parchment and only pipe 4-6 and the remaining on the large tray. When I think the macarons are ready, I will only bake the little tray first and see what happens. That way, it will tell me if I need to wait a little longer (which often happens) instead of ruining a whole tray. It typically takes them around 90 minutes on humid days using parchment. Longer with silicone mats. I turn on the oven after they feel dry. Not before. That way I’m not tempted to try to bake them too early.
YOU ARE AMAZING!! I've tried so many different recipes, about 10 different times and have never had the success until now! Your instructions were perfect, thank you so. Much!
I am so happy to have helped. There are a lot of bad macaron recipes out there, sadly. Enjoy learning to make all kinds of flavors and color combinations now! ☺️
What a tremendously kind compliment! Thank you very much. If you need any help, please let me know and we will troubleshoot. Macarons are tricky to learn and can take a while to master making them. Just remind yourself it is called “the worlds most difficult cookie” and enjoy the learning process. It’s pretty tasty along the way! 😉
@@Jacksonsjob hi! Thank you for replying! Actually I made them today. And they turned out quite good! They had feet! They were a bit too small in diameter and because of that ended up a bit thick so need to work on my piping....but they weren't hollow , weren't cracked and tasted really nice! I added some powdered instant coffee and used a dulce de leche/butter cream center. Absolutely happy with the results. Thank you so much you are great at explaining. These were my first macarons and they were good 🙂
I call that a big success! You are a natural. 😁 You’ll get better with knowing how to pipe and exactly when to stop folding the more you make them. It’s all about developing your own technique at this point. The combinations of flavors you picked sound really good! Congratulations on your first batch of macarons! Let me know if you ever need any help or just want to share your new favorite flavor.
Thank you so much for such a well explanation in how to make macarons, I am going to try it as I been doing a different batch every day for a week without success, all different recipes and different way of making, Swiss, Italian and French meringue, but your recipe have more sense, I am doing it today and let you know how it’s going…thank you for your video.
Hello again, thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I tried it today and got the best batch of macarons I have ever made :-) I am really happy about it! Will fill them with homemade raspberry ganache :-) Many greetings from Germany!!
Yes the raspberry ganache is great! I warmed up fresh raspberries, used a sieve to get out the grains and then mixed it with cream and white chocolate. I added pink colour to the shells and now I have pretty pink macarons :-) I am really happy about this!
Ahh, I just asked you about the ganache on Facebook. Now it really sounds wonderful! Your macarons were also perfection! Thank you for sharing them with me. They are just a pretty shade, too! 🤗
I made these macarons today, and they were a success! I have tried 5 other recipes to no avail. I decided to give this a try because the steps and ratios of almond flour to powdered sugar were different from all the others. On my first batch, it failed because I did not measure out the powdered sugar correctly and I severely undermixed the batter. On my second try, they came out perfect! Although, I did have slightly hollow shells (but that can be fixed with a bit of tweaking). I was overjoyed to see my macarons have volume and tall feet. FYI, I used cold egg whites which worked great, and a dark colored baking pan with the oven temp at 280F. Anyway, I love this recipe and everyone should try this! Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. I would love to see more recipes of different flavored macarons on this channel too!
That is fabulous news! I’m so glad you are happy. The full shells come with a little practice learning your oven and getting the folding techniques. The good news is you get to eat all the delicious mistakes. 😂 I’ll work on some more macaron flavors in the future for sure! I’ll put it on my to do list. ☺️
@@Jacksonsjob Yep, I definitely ate all the failed cookies! A couple days ago, I made strawberry flavored macarons and gave them to my friends. They all thought it was from a bakery until I told them that I had made the macarons! Today, I made lemon macarons with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd filling! They came out great too. I can’t thank you enough for this amazing recipe.
Strawberry and lemon are two of my favorite flavors. I once made some with apple filling and cinnamon in the shell they were really popular. What’s great about them is how many different flavors you can come up with to make it a completely different experience! I bet yours were better than a bakery. 😁
Wow this is the best video om macarons. I tried alot of recipe, and this info is so on top of everything i already tried. And it makes sense. Thank you.
I just found you and you are amazing. I am in Utah and have tried many many times to get full macs and I have not been successful, I don't know what the issue is. I have videos I can send you of my process and see if you can help me. I get hollow shells, soft tops which then makes them not full and sometimes they are over baked and brown on the bottom, I would appreciate any help you can provide. I use the recipe from SweetMacs Shop if that will help you know what my recipe is
Hello Nichol! I am glad to help! Send me a message privately and we will go from there. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of this link jacksonsjob.com/about/ and fill out “Questions? Contact Us Directly” it will send an email to me and then I can contact you directly and we can communicate and you can send videos. I once put my email address up on UA-cam in comments and got slammed with spammers so I created that form. 😁 You can also look up my Facebook or Instagram page and contact me there. I will share some information below in the meantime. I am familiar with the recipe you are talking about. I cannot comment on how the recipe was invented, but some have had success with the recipe. Others have failed. I think it comes down to finding the technique that works best for you. That could be her recipe, mine or someone else’s. However a lot of failed attempts come down to the person that is writing the recipe failing to understand and communicate the process behind making macrons effectively to the individual. That’s the challenge of writing recipes. Every individual is different and may need a little guidance. The recipe of the original macaron is actually based on two ratios. If they are off in the slightest, you can have issues like you are experiencing. The ratio is as follows: for every gram of egg whites, you will need 1/2 the amount of granulated sugar by weight. So for 30 grams of egg whites, you would need 15 grams of granulated sugar. To find out how much almond flour you need, you divide the amount of egg whites by 1.2 to get the total amount in grams. So 30/1.2 = 25 grams. For every gram of almond flour, you need twice the amount of powdered sugar. So for 25 grams of almond flour, you will need 50 grams of powdered sugar. If you deviate from this ratio, weird things start happening to our little macaron shell. I hope this helps somewhat.
Thank you so much for your amazing recipe and video I had success 1st time . I made a coffee ones. I will be making them more often. Thank you again 💓 Rashida from South Africa
Hello Rashida, I am so happy to hear they worked out for you with the first try! Coffee flavored macarons sound fabulous. Enjoy all the possible flavor combinations now that you’ve learn how to make macarons successfully! 😁 I have heard South Africa is such a beautiful part of the world. Hopefully you are having good weather over there compared to us today. It’s been a brutal stormy day.
🥳🥳🥳 I just read your other comment about failing prior. I am so happy for you! Congratulations. It’s a huge deal accomplishing the world’s most difficult cookie! 🤗🤗🤗
Thanks for sharing this recipe!! Only thing is, Im getting a bunch of holes on the interior. Some are even hollow on the bottom 😂 do you have an idea of whats causing this?
Are the holes uniform or sporadic? If they are big bubbles, but also full in other areas, turn down your mixer to a lower speed. It will take longer to beat, but it will eliminate any bubbles.
Thinking of you today and making your famous French macrons. They are drying before the bake right now and I'm confident they will turn out perfectly as the other times before following your instruction. I hope your days are going good and all the critters are fine. Thanks so much! (hugs)xxo
Hello, Karen! It is always a pleasure to hear from you. The critters are doing well. How is Winston? I started a new treatment for the chronic migraines and they said it could take months to take effect, but I'm hopeful! I am so happy to know you are happily baking away in my absence. I really hope to get back to making more posts and videos soon. If you visit my website, don't be mad. I experimented with ads as it's now costing me nearly 300 dollars a year and it was a hot mess! They absolutely wrecked my website. :( I took them off, but they said it could take a few days to take affect.
@@Jacksonsjob I do hope the new treatments work! I'm always researching health concerns. Some sources say where there is pain, there is also inflammation. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, how would one reduce or eliminate the inflammation? Determine the cause I guess. Good luck with the website. I know you have dedicated so much time to it, and it's a wonderful resource. Winston is fat and sassy, (just like me, haha) we both are career foodies.
You won’t like this answer, but sugar is a huge source of inflammation. 😳😭🤦🏻♀️ It is why I started baking as a way to control my sugar intake and still be able to enjoy sweets on occasion. Only helps if you don’t eat more than one serving like I did last night working on a new recipe. 🫣🫠 Put me on the list of fluffy people. I’ve gained around 30 pounds since losing Jackson. You’ll see it if I ever get back to making videos. 😭😳🤣🤦🏻♀️
@@Jacksonsjob yes I know...sugar is not our friend. :( Summer is around the corner. We'll shed those pounds with all that outdoor activity, right? Today we are going on a long walk for starters. 🚶♀🚶♂🐕🍞🍦🧁☕
Hi! What altitude are you at? I would love to know so I can anticipate any tweaks I wil likely have to make to your recipe. I am interested in trying it out!
Hi! We live in a valley surrounded by Appalachian mountains so it’s pretty low altitude where we are currently. About 633 feet (193 meters) or so. I hope that helps!
Hi thank you ....will definitely try making them following the steps you showed, can you plz guide as to which mode to use in my OTG with or without fan(top bottom rod on).
Hello snehaverlekar9716, I would recommend the bottom rod on and not the top. The top often leads to over browning in my experience. Let me know if you need any more help!
Hi I have modes in my 42litres OTG like... 1.Bottom rod function 2. Top and Bottom rod with fan function 3. Top and Bottom rod with out fan function. So while baking macarons i should use only the Bottom rod on function and bake at 150C for 20minutes plz guide. Thanks
Since you have the fan option with both rods, that would be ideal. Drop the temp to 145C if it’s an option for you and start checking them at 18 minutes. .
The brand I use is called “cook time” and I got them off Amazon. I want to say they average around 5$ each. I’ve had good luck with them. They go on sale with coupons or discounts often, so don’t pay full price. I just checked and they are currently on sale. Whatever you do, don’t get the Amazon basics ones. They are hit or miss. Some work well, others suck and everything sticks to them. Not quality control. Worst thing is the smell like strong chemicals as they heat up in the oven and the smell often permeates the food. Now if you have any pets, silicone mats love to grab onto any fur floating around as well as lint from towels, especially paper towels. So keep that in mind and just look at the mat for any stray pieces of lint or fur so it doesn’t bake into your macarons. 😳🙈🤷♀️
They have the nickname “the world’s most difficult cookie.” The fact you had some come out right should make you so proud of yourself! Keep trying. You will get there! It comes down to practicing and a little luck. Try making them without any food coloring. Sometimes that can cause issues, especially when you first start out. I’m hear if you have any questions!
😊 She’s the highlight of our day! Just a joyful little pup. 😁 I saw your other comment but it’s not showing up. The mat is called cook time on Amazon. I’ve bought a few over the years and they have been pretty consistent. Whatever you do, don’t purchase the Amazon ones. They are hit or miss in performance and have a peculiar off gas type smell as they heat up in the oven.
I will definitely try it!❤ Question: Can I use food coloring for the filling? Thank you in advance for your response and help! Thank you as well for the easy to understand recipe ❤
Thank you very much for sharing your valuable recipe! I'm just wondering if we could substitute the almond flour with all purpose flour or anything else ?
I have used ground up toasted coconut flakes, rice and peanut flour with pretty good results. I practiced with regular all purpose flour to get the macaronage process figured out, but it tastes nothing like a macaron and is more like angel food cake but denser. The top part of the shell becomes translucent and often separates from the bottom as it cools. I have used up to half all purpose and half almond with a pretty good result, but the shells are more fragile and the texture is a bit different. I can do a video soon on what happens if you use all purpose flour if you like.
Hey this recipe looks very simple nd convenient but just a small query ...as i have watcged many recipes they do tap thier tray 2 remove the aur bubbles nd u havent done it...did u skip it deliberately? As its not beeded in ur recipe?
Hello! I found with this recipe and most French meringue macarons, it can lead to failures when you otherwise would have had a great shell. Let me explain. French meringue is not as stable as Swiss and Italian meringue macarons. The air pockets in cooked meringue is strengthen and secured by the dissolved sugar as it is more like “glue” and forms a strong bond before baking as it was partially heated. Because of this, it can take more force as it’s harder to break that bond formed to collapse air. In French meringue, think of the sugar more as an adhesive that is temporary like tape. Until the sugar melts in the oven, that bond is more vulnerable to force. The French meringue needs secured permanently by the heat of the oven. Until the heat of the oven is introduced, the French meringue is more vulnerable to collapsing. If you pipe the batter at the just right stage and then give the tray a tap on the workbench, it can collapse too much air in the macaron and lead to hollow shells or wide holes and misshapen edges. If the batter is under mixed and you have them with peaks, then you can gently tap the tray to take out some of the air as they are at a more stable state. But even then, you are at risk ruining the final product due to the nature of the French meringue being vulnerable. It would be much better to take a toothpick or skewer and gently pop any large air pockets instead and to use the tool to gently swirl out any peaks if they bother you. Hope that explains why I don’t teach people to tap the trays after piping.
Hi there! If I want to add flavoring to my macaron shells, how much extract would you recommend, and at what point in the process should it be added to the batter? I've made your recipe before and it worked PERFECTLY on the first try!!! Now, I want to up my game with the flavor combos ☺
That’s wonderful you had so much success! Many of the extracts today have oil in them, so you wouldn’t want to add them until you are folding in the almond flour and powdered sugar. If you add them with the egg whites before whipping them, you will not get the volume needed or perhaps they wouldn’t whip up at all depending on how much oil was present in the flavor. You would want to drizzle the extract throughout the whole bowl and not just pour in in one spot. Some extracts you will only need 1/4 tsp (1.25mL) and others 1 tsp (5mL) to get good flavor. Unfortunately, this varies brand to brand, but I have found store brands often need more and the more concentrated ones only need a small amount. You can make chocolate ones by adding 1-2 tbs cocoa powder (5-10g) and removing 10 grams of powdered sugar. You can also add up to 1 tsp (2g) of a variety of spices as well. But what most people do when wanting to up their macaron flavors is to add it to the filling itself and then dye the shells a corresponding color. For instance, add strawberry extract to the buttercream and then dye the shells pink. This is the easiest way as you don’t have to worry about breaking the meringue.
Thanks for another great video! My wife and I have been struggling with Italian macarons, with limited success. French macarons are so much easier (though we haven't tried them), that we're going to try them now. Do you have any experience with Italian macarons? If you enjoy messing with several containers, heating sugar syrup, etc., they're fun. Which type do you think are better. Listening to your accent, this old Appalachian boy thinks he recognizes a northern W. Va. pattern. (Which ain' bad!)
😂🤣😅 You are pretty close on the location! Like within a few hours. It isn’t as strong as it was prior to my going through speech and physical therapy to learn to talk, move and eat solid foods again. I bet you’d have the location down to an exact street address if you heard the full twang. I come from a Tristate area and I’ve grown up in all of them so I picked up a bit of accent from each location. It’s amazing how hard the Appalachian accent is on your vocal chords when you’re learning how to talk again. 🤔😳 I’m not a fan of Italian meringue in general since the arm had to go through rehab with the old voice. I kept getting molten sugar all over the place including my skin. 😳 I personally prefer the French meringue method. With a little bit of practice, French meringue are the easiest to master. They also are the ones I get the mot compliments on as the others can be a bit too cloy. My second favorite method is the one with Swiss meringue. It’s much more easy than the Italian style and in my opinion easier. If you want to try out the Swiss version let me know. I will be glad to suggest some channels on UA-cam for you that use that method.
What about air bubbles? My first 2 batches turned out great but my 3rd batch, had lots of air bubbles on top of the cookie. I was in a rush so I think that definitely had something to do with it, haha.
Hello Jordyn, if they were micro bubbles all over and didn’t look like macarons but more like a vanilla wafer with bubbles, then guaranteed you either didn’t add in the granulated sugar to the egg whites or not enough. If the shell was smooth and looked like a macaron but just had pinholes, the egg whites were mixed at too vigorous of a speed. Both of these have happened to me when I’m in a rush. 🤣
That is correct. When it comes to macarons made with the French meringue, they are much more delicate and the tapping of the tray can deflate the batter. Now, if you under-mixed the batter and it simply won’t go down and is standing up like say a Hershey kiss, then you can give it a couple whacks. This may lead to less full macarons and wonky shaped shells, so I’ve often just baked them as is and next time folded a little more.
Ally Kim, it is possible, but not advisable as you can deflate the batter too much and will end up with flat and hollow shells. Instead, immediately after the almond flour and sugar is combined, divide the batter into two, add the coloring and then continue to macaronage. Another alternative is to divide the meringue, almond flour, and powder into two, then mix the food coloring into the meringue before starting the macaronage (folding) stage. Hope this helps!
I'm struggling with hollow shells and I've tried one recipe about 5 times and always get the hollow shells. I'll try whipping the eggs to only soft peaks for a start. I also noticed that when you sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together, you can just tap on the side of the sifter and everything goes through. I have several sifters with different sized holes but none of them let the almond flour through with just tapping the side. I have to run a whisk around the inside of the sifter to get the flour through. I'm not sure if that makes any difference but it is annoying that I get stuck thinking about it. Is your almond flour more finely ground than mine or are the holes in your sifter larger than mine or both? What is the make and model of that sifter? Thank you for the video. I'm also glad to see that your recipe is smaller than the others I've seen. I was afraid that going smaller had some evil effect but now I know that's ok.
One strainer I have has very fine mesh and it’s nearly impossible to get the flour through. If you push it through with a whisk or spoon, it makes the almond flour oily and makes it hard to mix the ingredients without deflating too much and leads to hollow shells. The brand I have issues with is made by cuisinart. It makes great light cakes, but terrible macarons as it’s too fine of a sifter. The other brand is a generic one that I picked up at a grocery store (Kroger’s) years ago. The openings are roughly the size of window screening, about 2mm wide, about 1/16” If you have access to a blender, you can pulse the almond flour and powdered sugar together to break up clumps and then use as is or try sifting with the sifter you currently own. Let me know if you need more help!
I examined the 24 hr results of my attempt using "sagging peaks" meringue. There was still a gap in all 30 but in almost all of them the gap was noticeably thinner. There was more evidence of progress in that as I broke them open, many of them FELT like they were full and I tore macaron flesh at the top and the bottom of the cookie with the gap in between. I never had any at the top before. One thing I did that I remembered not to do right after I did it was tapping the pan before drying them. Next attempt I'll try to remember not to tap and that might help. I also bought an electronic temperature probe and found that when my oven was set for 300 F, the temperature ranged from 265 F to 301 F in a very repeatable pattern with an empty oven. I had set an offset in the oven temperature control to calibrate a higher temperature so I removed that offset and the new range for 300 F is 285 F to 321 F. I intend to NOT use the offset and I'll set the oven to 300 F as in the test with the 285 F to 321 F range unless you think I should set the oven to another temperature. I did see your temperature test results and it seems like that range is ok. I can't do anything about the size of the range but do you think I should move the range down below 285 F to 321 F or above it or should I put the macarons in the oven at the low end or the high end or middle of the cycle? I think I'll just pulse the sugar and almond flour a few times and let that go until I can find a wider mesh sieve or colander. Thank you for that advice. @@Jacksonsjob
I would shoot for the middle end of the cycle. It will give you the most consistent results. The tapping of the tray definitely could have impacted the shells to become hollow for sure, but the ranging of the temperature could have done it as well and you’ll need to do some experimenting to determine what is happening. I recommended first trying a batch of not tapping the tray and bake to see if hollows disappear. If not, then I would suggest you purposely overbake the macarons by a good 5 minutes and see if they create full shells. They will likely be crunchy, so don’t waste food coloring or have expectations of soft middles. But this will tell you a lot about your technique, oven and how to move forward. When macarons are slightly underbaked, slight hollows can form as the macaron cools, much like angel food cake can collapse in the middle when slightly underbaked. The weight of the meringue itself compresses and can lead to the air created during mixing to deflate as the batter didn’t have enough time to fully set in the oven. The other possible issue could have been that you deflated some of the air in the batter during transfer to the bag or while squeezing the batter onto the trays. If you overbake the macarons and they are still hollow, this would be the next place to investigate. I would suggest purposely under mixing the batter next and see if you have nice full shells. If not, then we keep troubleshooting together until we find the answer. Good call on using a blender and not worrying about a sifter. Do quick pulses, about 10-15. Don’t go too far or you will get sweetened almond butter. Keep me posted! Talk to you soon.
I have found the middle to lower third rack positions best for my oven. When I use convection, it cycles with both rods, but when I don’t, the oven only heats on the bottom. Using the top rod can lead to over-browning and washing out the food dye if you are using it. So some find it better to only heat with the bottom. Hope that helps!
@@Jacksonsjob thank you mam... I'll definitely try this method ...you're very kind ,sweet & inspiring person to teach beginners like me...will follow u for more upcoming recipes...THANK YOU ❤️
Thank you for your information, for sure i will try and let you know...i try for 5 bag of almond flour but still not success ...i love your video..thank you ..😍
Good luck! I practiced with wheat flour in place of the almond flour for a long time to learn the macaronage to save money. It took me so many months to figure it out. If you need further help, just message me. There’s also a troubleshooting video on here that talks about some of the most common mistakes.
Haha! Hopefully you will learn how to make them faster by watching all the things that went wrong for me. 😁 Enjoy learning to bake macarons and I’m here if you want to ask questions, complain or brag on your success! 🤗
Whereas I don’t personally recommend cream of tartar because of the cost in purchasing it, there is no reason not to utilize it if you have some on hand. If you wanted to create more stability and see if it would help, it certainly wouldn’t hurt trying it out. Generally, you would use 1/4 teaspoon for every egg white or 30 grams of egg whites. So for this recipe; I recommend 1/2 tsp which is just under 1/2 gram. Hope that is helpful!
also could you let me know if ground almonds are the same as almond flour? i have almond flour but not sure if I'd have to use the same ratio or change the amount if you know what i mean
Hi There bakers, I am trying to make white macrons for my sons wedding in two weeks, not much practice time, I know 🤪… I have a fan oven (in uk) and baking at 150C but they always turn out slightly golden, I have tried adding a white paste food colouring, and used a tray to shield the tops but still no luck… I am going to try this ingredient ratio and see how I get on….. wish me luck 🍀x Catherine
Good luck! 🍀 You can try to reduce the temperature even lower to try and get those whites really nice. I’ve dropped the temperature to around 120C (250f) and added 8-12 minutes on the baking time to get whiter shells in the past. My oven is also a fan oven. Hope that helps you!
I think my oven is too hot for 300F because my cookies had feet turned outward and I noticed that the color showed slightly overheated. Do you think I can bake at a lower temperature? I placed my tray on the middle rack. So I’ll try again.
Absolutely, you can drop the temperature to 275. You will have to add 3-5 minutes baking time. Also, turning the tray 1/2 turn midway through baking will help with over-browning from hotspots.
Convection is always going to give the best results. For conventional and gas, you may want to rotate the tray halfway through baking to prevent hot spots.
Oh no! It sounds like it needed to rest a little longer. I usually have to make the macarons and wait until they are dry and then turn on my oven. This usually takes 90 minutes just to turn on the oven due to the high humidity in our area. Every oven is a little bit different so you may need to adjust the baking time just slightly if they are sticking to the parchment. They should peel away nicely when fully baked. Don’t give up. These are called “the worlds most difficult cookie” for a reason. It took me months to learn how to make them.
You may want to give the oven drying method a try! Dry macarons in a preheated oven using Fan Mode @ 90 degrees for 3-4 mins. Increase temperature to 120 degrees still on Fan Mode to bake for 15 mins. I worked for a doctor that came from Panaji. I think it’s a bit northeast from your area. Beautiful coastline if so!
I start and drop the process of macaron baking, because something is always wrong. I will try your recipe though…A piece of advice for your subscribers: do not trust your oven thermometer, buy additional one and you will see that your oven shows wrong temp. I have a gas stove, and when it says it is 300 F (it is but on the top rack close to the heating element) in reality I have constant 300 F in the middle rack when my oven shows 320 F). Just find a sweet spot. Moreover when you take out the ready batch and get in the new one your oven’s temp drops down tremendously and when you think it is 300F in reality it is 255 or 260F so add additional couple of min to your baking time. Double-check the temp with additional thermometer ( it is cheap 5-7$). Also, do not use home-made powdered sugar, use commercial ground one, usually a bit of corn starch is added into it, so it will help your macarons to dry faster. What silicon mat do you use? Brand name maybe? What almond flour do you use? Brand name, please?
The brand is Cook Time silicone mats. I got them on sale many years ago and they are really consistent compared to other brands I've tried. You sometimes have to add a minute or two when baking on silicone mats as opposed to just parchment. And silicone doesn't let the macarons dry out well in humid conditions. I prefer parchment, to be honest. The next best thing is parchment on top of the silicone. I've used many brands of Almond flour. My favorites are Blue Diamond and Bob's Red Mill and homemade (in that order.) My least favorite is the Walmart brand. The almonds are too large for about 25-35% of the bag so you have to sift out the finer parts and then carefully grind the larger bits with powdered sugar to get a smooth shell. It works, but it just causes a lot more work initially. Fine if you aren't making hundreds! You didn't ask, but I really like Americolor, Wilton and of all things Hobby Lobby gel food coloring. For powdered sugar, I like all of them, but some of the generics can give you a more drier shell in the end because of the cornstarch consistency. My favorite is a small chain of stores in our area's brand. Domino is my second choice. You just have to see which one works for you best. I totally agree with the use of a thermometer! I have my oven calibrated and separate oven thermometer hanging out in various places on the oven rack. All of the recipes have been created with tested temperatures. You also want to keep your oven clean and tidy as it can vary your temperature a lot when baked on messes are allowed to bake on overtime.
Hi Maria, I purchased them off Amazon years ago. The brand is Cook Time. I just checked and they still have them. Type in cook time macaron mat and a lot of varieties will pop up. Most work really well. I do not recommend the amazon basics ones, however. Macarons and other baked goods tend to stick to some of the mats and not others. They aren't consistent with their product. Also in case you don't use silicone mats, lint, dust, hair, and pet fur clings to them, so watch out before you pipe out your macarons if you have pets or a dusty home. 😄
Hi dear, may i ask you wheat flour you mention is all purpose flour?? I did try your recipe, thank you very much , my macarons came out full , feet are very pretty , but for my first batch , the macarons tops are pretty smooth , but the second batch and third batch all full ( so happy about this!!) Not hollow..but the top are not that smooth...but my humidity is 60 percent!! So it might affect my macarons too...so what you think i should try to avoid that?? I appreciate your video and thank you again for your help😍
I used all purpose flour to practice. Smooth tops can be achieved two ways: sift the flour with a finer strainer or a few more times with the strainer you have, or give the batter another fold or two. I suspect since the first one came out fine you just needed to fold it a wee bit more. That is when it comes down to just practicing and getting an eye for it. This comes with time. You’ll see it turning glossy but not runny, that’s when you know it will be a nice smooth top. But hey! Your macarons turned out full!!! That is absolutely amazing and perfect! 🎉🥳👏🏻
Oh no, the dread hollows! When this happens, the batter has been over-mixed or deflated during transfer to the piping bag or during the piping stage. Next time, stop folding the batter earlier. Have the batter still rest on the top some without leveling off. See if that improves your shells. If not, let me know and we can continue to troubleshoot.
Hello, I made macarons with your recipec but unfortunately they came out hellow. I noticed way much less almond meal then other recipes, is there any reason for that?
Oh no! Practice makes better when it comes to making macarons, I’m afraid. Some perfect them it the first try, others takes months to develop the skill. Did you tap the tap the tray? If so, this can cause hollows in addition to over beating the meringue or over mixing at the macaronage stage. So can measuring your ingredients with cups as opposed to using grams. Try several different recipes and see which one suits you best. My recipe is based on the French version from hundreds of years ago. They use less almond flour and less sugar overall. The more sugar used in the recipe, the more almond flour is needed to absorb the moisture it naturally creates as they bake. My recipe is a small batch and if you compare it to other French versions in equal quantities, it’s usually spot on. The French macaron is based on a specific ratio of almonds to powdered sugar and egg whites to granulated. I use that ratio and that’s why the almond flour is less than say the Swiss or Italian versions. Swiss versions can often use a 1:1 ratio but they often come out sickly sweet. The Italian method also uses a lot of sugar so they up there almond flour as well. Hope that helps!
I always make them with the french method, but due to my bad oven, they are always hollow. I was hoping that your recipe would give me full shells. I hate the italian method, I made them once or twice, didn’t like it. Swiss method is okay, but not worth the effort to me. I am from Belgium, we don’t use cups, we only use metric measurements.
From Belgium? Greetings! My husband spent time in Ghent around 2005 and loved it. He wish he could have spent more time in your beautiful country. Could you please explain what is wrong with your oven? That could definitely make a difference. This is what I would try first. Make another batch. Purposely undermix your batter. Fully incorporate your almond and sugar mixture, but don’t go until it ribbons off sinks back into the mix. Rather, let it sit on the top and rest and leave a bit of peaks or ridges. Then pipe them just like that and do not tap the tray. Let them rest for 60-90 minutes before turning on your oven. Tell me if you still get hollow shells trying this technique. If you do, then I can guide you on the next steps. If you don’t and get nice full shells, then it’s a matter of mixing the batter one fold more at a time and then seeing what happens with each batch. Eventually, you’ll get perfection and a feel for the macaronage. What could be happening is when you transfer the batter into the piping bag or are squeezing the batter, you could be deflating it a wee too much which isn’t uncommon when you are learning the process. The first step is to find out if it is the meringue or macaronage that needs tweaking. Come back and share the results and we will continue to troubleshoot until you have perfect macarons. I can also direct you to other recipes that people have had success with if this one isn’t working out. We will troubleshoot together until you get them just right. I promise to guide you through this!
Hey there! I’ve been making macarons for a few months after not baking for years just cuz I had a craving for them. I also have a problem with hollow shells. Every single batch I bake has them. I use the carton egg whites to avoid having leftover yolks. I just wanted to ask if using the carton egg whites affects the macarons badly or maybe if they are the reason I have hollow shells, and how I can fix that?
Egg carton whites are notorious for causing hollow shells in macarons. They don’t make good meringue in general as many egg whites are pasteurized which can weaken the egg proteins. I have read over the years that Costco egg whites have been successful for many, but I don’t have access to test them out.
Alright, so I bought the Kirkland brand egg whites. Unfortunately, I wasn’t even able to make the batter because the eggs refused to whip up! 😅 I did make macarons with my normal carton egg whites (Bob Evans brand) and I used your recipe. They taste absolutely delicious! But sadly …. Hollow shells 😢 Any advice?
I have used both regular and convection. It’s best to use convection but only if your oven is good at holding a steady 300F (150C) throughout the baking process. Some convections run really hot so you’d want to drop it down to 140C (250F) and bake longer by 5-10 minutes.
The drying time is dependent on the humidity. Under 50%, I can get them ready for the oven within 30-45 minutes. One days that it is over 90% humidity, it takes 1-2 hours, especially if you use silicone mats as they trap moisture. What I like to do is a little test tray when it’s humid with just a few macarons to see if they are dry enough. Do be aware of food safety when handling raw ingredients and gauge your time wisely.
I just realized I never answered your question: for French meringue, I don’t like to bang the tray unless I undermixed the batter and it doesn’t settle on its own within a minute. French meringue is more delicate than the Swiss and Italian versions and you can deflate the batter if you bang on it too much.
@@Jacksonsjob thank you for this recipe! I tried it out today and I got the prettiest macaron shells with no hollows. I have tried several recipes but got hollows. I will be making this recipe from now on!
That is wonderful news? Isn’t this the easiest and best macaron recipe? It only took me six months of terrible macarons to come up with the secret to no hollows. 😬👩🏼🍳😆 I’m so happy for you! Enjoy your macarons. What flavor will you try next?
I always use a lower speed. Usually the first dial, but sometimes I go up a notch. The higher the speed, the bigger the air bubbles created in the meringue. This leads to air pockets and gaps in the macaron.
Mine were not drying, I let them sit for around 2 hours. They were a bit grany to touch, I ended up putting them in the oven anyways. They didnt grow feet and were exactly the same, grainy and airy. I didn't beat the egg whites for too long and it reached soft peak quite fast. Should I beat the egg whites a bit more ? thank you.
The fact you are describing them as a bit grainy, airy and the soft peaks happened quite fast, is it possible you either didn’t add the granulated sugar to the egg whites or perhaps not the entire amount? This has happened to me when I’ve accidentally used half the amount or no sugar when beating the egg whites is why I ask. They look exactly like you are describing and never dry like you said. If this is not the case, let me know and we will troubleshoot further.
It sounds like that is very likely. When you rub the meringue between your fingers, it should feel completely smooth, not gritty at all. Next time, add all the granulated sugar into the egg whites before turning on the mixer. It will force you to slow down the process and the sugar will be more likely to fully dissolve.
Hallo Tina, ich verwende Konvektion, aber wenn du keine hast, drehe einfach dein Backblech nach 10 Minuten um 180 Grad. Bei meinen alten Öfen habe ich nur das untere Heizelement verwendet. Mein neues funktioniert automatisch und wechselt während des Kochens zwischen den beiden. Hoffentlich funktioniert Google Translate ausreichend, damit Sie dies lesen können. :)
Danke für die schnelle Antwort!😊 Welche füllung ist die beste damit sie bei Raumtemperatur nicht zu weich wird? Bei einer Feier sollen die Macarons ja auf dem Kuchenbuffet oder Tisch stehen und wenn man sie zwischendurch immer wieder kühlen muss ist das schon mühsam.
@@TinaBäcktImGarten Gern geschehen! Ich habe eine einfache amerikanische Buttercreme mit verschiedenen Geschmacksrichtungen gefunden, die bei Zimmertemperatur längere Zeit am besten haltbar ist. Sie möchten doppelt so viel Puderzucker wie Butter verwenden. Wenn Sie also 50 Gramm Butter verwenden, fügen Sie 100 Gramm Zucker hinzu. Mischen Sie dann 2,5-5 ml eines beliebigen Aromas Ihrer Wahl. Ich verwende wirklich gerne die Schale einer Zitrusfrucht und etwas von ihrem Saft, etwa 5-15 ml. Zitrone und Orange sind meine beiden beliebtesten.
My oven has 6 sections to chose from. I bake most often in the middle three. A lot of times I turn my pan 180 degrees after 9 minutes to bake evenly as I have a hot spot in my front left of the oven even with fan on. 300f (150c) 17-19 minutes for my oven. I do have a thermometer to verify temperature. Hollow shells can be from over whipping the egg whites or over mixing the batter or underbaking. I almost always have to rest my macarons 90 minutes due to high humidity levels (often above 90s here.) Go only to medium peaks not stiff and slightly undermix the batter. See if it improves the hollow shells. I have a troubleshooting video on here that might help.
@@Jacksonsjob Thank you very much for your quick response!!You encourage me to try again.The issue I have is that the interior of the macaron,rises and expand sticked at the top of the shell.I I have semi hollow shell from the middle to the bottom.Can I adjust something in my oven in your opinion?Maybe the heatsource?🙏🙏
That sounds like two possible issues to me. When you are mixing your egg whites, use a lower speed. It will create more uniform air bubbles. It takes longer, but produces a more stable meringue. I would go to the soft medium peak stage where the mixture will cling to the bowl, but the meringue loops back on to its self and doesn’t stick straight up. Then I would try to back just a little bit longer. Perhaps try a few trays just to get that baking time right. You could slightly overbake a tray and see if the hollow disappears. They will be crunchy, but you can add filling to them and let them sit a few days and they will soften up. Sometimes you have to purposely go over the recommendations to find what is perfect for your oven. My past oven was very small and cooked a lot faster than this one for example. The one before that was gas and it had a lot of uneven baking. Expect some trial and error which will encourage you to learn. The messing up is sometimes how you master the macaron.
You can but it changes the texture and taste dramatically and not in a good way. It’s edible, but it’s not like a macaron. More like really sugary angel food cake in taste with a chewier texture similar to a brownie. The shell will be translucent and papery. However, it is a great way to practice the techniques more affordably. The closest flours I have had success with is coconut and peanut. The taste is different, but it’s a pleasant one.
My oven is convection, but I have baked them without convection at the same temperature. Without, I just rotate the tray 180 degrees midway through baking so I get even browning.
@@Jacksonsjob Hello. Could you tell me at what temperature is ideal to bake macarons in an electric convector oven? Is it recommended with temperature up and down?
@@ruthnoemilopez2469 I like to use either 275F (135C) or 300 (about 150C) for convection. The lower temperature gives better color but takes 3-5 minutes longer to bake. Hope that helps.
That’s a great sign you are doing great with macarons. 😁. Yes, you can double this recipe. Any more than that, it becomes quite difficult to manage the ingredients without a very large bowl (5qts) and it can become quite cumbersome. To double the recipe, you’d multiply each of the ingredients by 2. If you need it specifically written out for you, please let me know and I can do the math for you but it will be another day or so as I’m struggling with the end of a several day migraine and it affects my ability to do math and read. I’m using talk to text so I hope this all made sense. Otherwise, I would have went ahead and posted it for you now. Glad to hear you are busy making batches of macarons!
Thanks! I usually double the recipe myself but wanted to create a smaller recipe for beginners so they could learn how to pipe the batter and combine the ingredients easily. Plus, almond flour is expensive so I try to be mindful of costs when writing recipes.
The tops of my shells were always hollow but now with your recipe and directions the top of the shell is full but…… now the bottoms of the shells are hollow. What am I doing wrong?
The first thing that comes to mind is are you tapping the tray? If the cookies are lying flat, tapping the tray can cause this. Likewise; if the meringue was not folded enough and the macarons do have too much height and aren’t settling, a whack or two can fix the air bubbles. The second thing that comes to mind is your beater is at a higher speed while making the meringue and it creates a lot of large unstable bubbles that can cause air-pockets. I suggest beating on a lower speed and adjust if big bubbles start to form in the meringue. Using cold eggs as opposed to one’s brought to room temperature can cause these pockets. This is because cold whites can create a more unstable meringue. Another possibility is the macarons are being cooked with the fan blowing on the bottom of the pan which can make the macarons rise too quickly and not evenly in the oven. The last thing that I am thinking could be the culprit is the macaronage stage. If you fold too vigorously this can happen. Unfortunately, without seeing the macarons themselves, I can only give you general guidelines on where to start looking for issues. I hope this helps.
I had success with macarons before but they were a bit hollow at the top so decided to try this recipe. Total disaster! I usually beat stiff peaks merengue but since the recipe says soft peaks I did so. Well the batter was a runny mess, had to throw it away. I might have stopped beating too soon, I dunno, not for me.
Oh no! Sorry it was a total disaster for you. Luckily, there are lots of recipes out there for you to try! If I may, here are some tips troubleshooting. By the sounds of it, since the batter was a runny mess, the macaronage stage was over-mixed. This can happen with soft, medium and stiff peaked meringues alike. Soft peaks allow the meringue to expand in the oven which will fill in the entire shell, but if the batter is deflated in the mixing process, you will have to start over. There is no going back from this and is a skill that is learned through repetition and practice. Hollows can also often be caused by over mixing so I suggest you try the recipe you had the most success with and under mix the batter until you eliminate the hollow shells. These are called the world’s most difficult cookie for a reason. Keep trying and you’ll get the hang of it. As far as runny batter, there is no need to throw it in the trash bin. Instead you can bake it, crush it up and use it as cupcake, ice cream topping, decorations and filling baked goods with a pleasant almond crunchy texture.
Ok now. Hhhmmmm 🤔 I hate meringue cookies. The only cookie I know of, that I don't love. Not only do I not love them, I hate them ☹️ everyone of them I've tried was like trying to eat Styrofoam. The texture of them on my teeth, were like nails on a chalkboard! *YOUR COOKIES DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THAT* They looked softer and didn't bust to pieces when you mashed it. 🤯
Those meringue cookies, especially store bought ones can indeed be disgustingly chalky tasting. I totally agree with you on that one. Let me see if I can give you a description of a well made macaron. When you bite into it, there should be a thin crisp shell that has a mouthfeel similar to a thin chocolate shell around a filled candy. A bit like an m&m but less hard. Then the inside is chewy much like a brownie. And the taste is like a sweet almond cookie. If you overbake them, they will get chalky and hard. Underbaked, gooey. But just right, they are heavenly.
This can happen one of four ways, typically. The oven gets too hot. This is common with smaller ovens found overseas or ones that are older and haven’t been calibrated recently. Another cause is baking the macarons a little too long. I give a guideline for the most common brands, but every oven is slightly different and it takes a little time to learn how long to bake macarons in yours. Then there is the color of the sheet pan. If it is a darker color and not shiny, it will dry out the shells quickly and lead to crispiness. Drop your temperature 25F or 4-5C depending on how accurate you can go. Finally, it can be because the shells were dried a little too long before placing them in the oven. This is not uncommon in arid climates.
ive made over 50 batches of macarons over 5 months (with all kinds of different recipes, using egg white powder, cream of tartar, running all kinds of my own experiments) and this recipe got me full shells with the french method for my first time EVER - on the first try. this is magic, and i applaud you immensely for tweaking even the most strict rules for baking these, no other recipe would ever mention not getting stiff peaks and not rapping the trays!! i can’t imagine the trial and error that went into this, but i am amazed and so thankful 💗
That is wonderful news, Meredith! Congratulations!!! 🎉🎈🎊
I went through the same thing. Took me several months and I have all kinds of funny mishaps posted on the website. I made so many bad macarons! 🤣🤣🤣
Hey ladies ! I have been trying to make it for one year and all the recipes were unsuccessful. The issue I have is my macarons are empty I don’t know what do you call that gap between the feet and the shell , fyi : I have gas oven, not electric one , please any suggestions!! Thanks in advance !!
@zinebjalal1628 The gap you are experiencing is often referred to as “hollow shells” and is a common issue when trying to learn how to make macarons. The four main reasons they happen are most often due to the over mixing of the egg whites, the egg whites collapsing due over mixing of the batter, the food coloring breaking the meringue and a poorly written recipe. Another reason is the transferring and piping stage can cause a lot of deflation, especially as you learn how to make them. The Italian and Swiss versions are less likely to have this happen as the meringue is very stable and can tolerate a lot of mixing and a variety of food colors.
What I suggest is doing a little troubleshooting to find out what is going wrong. Let me suggest the following:
First, do not add any food coloring until you really learn the process. This will eliminate the possibility of it being the food coloring as well.
Second, mix the egg whites on a lower speed and only to a softer peak. It should flop over, not stick straight up. This will allow the whites to expand in the oven. If you have it at stiff peaks, they can only stay at the same volume or even collapse.
Third, purposefully under-mix the batter. Have it to where the batter does flow off your spatula, but doesn’t sink into the batter but rather sits on top. Slightly undermixing will tell you if the hollows are coming from your meringue or macaronage versus your transferring and piping.
Fourth, do not tap the tray whatsoever or pop any bubbles. Doing this with the French method can collapse the meringue when you are new as you have to kind of gauge when to tap and when not to. If you slightly over mix your batter and then tap the tray, it will completely collapse the meringue.
Finally, purposefully overbake a small batch of macarons. If they are underbaked, they will collapse as they cool and form the hollow layer in the shell. Much how an underbaked angel food cake collapse. Overbaked, they will be crunchy, but they should be full if you did all of the above right. This is how you troubleshoot which step is giving you fits and I’ll be glad to help you perfect each step so you can make successful macarons.
For gas, I do recommend rotating the tray 180 degrees midway through baking. And if you are baking more than one tray at a time, swap the trays as well. That will eliminate any hot or cold spots.
@@Jacksonsjob thank you so much for all this suggestions and advice . I will try to avoid this mistakes next time when I make them. I can’t wait to try it and see the result . Thanks again for your time to read and response to my comment. I appreciate you!!! Sending you love from Michigan 🤍
@zinebjalal1628 much luck to you! Let me know how it goes regardless of the outcome. I have other recipes and bakers I can recommend if you want to try different recipes that have worked out for me.
Based on the success stories, I decided to follow your recipe and let me tell you, it’s the best recipe to follow for me. Thank you.
That is wonderful news, KarliGee! Congratulations on being successful making macarons! You’ve just made “the world’s most difficult cookie.” That is quite an accomplishment. Do you have a favorite flavor you want to try?
I’m from Florida and let me tell you about the struggle with macarons. I’ve tried to make macarons 4 times now and all have failed. I did 2 batches of yours today and they came out perfectly. I can finally move on to the different fillings now. Thank you so much for the great recipe!!
Oh that makes me so happy for you, Tyler Ton! 🤗👩🏼🍳😁 Congratulations on perfecting the macarons! The fillings are the fun part once you start making them in earnest.
I’ll give you an easy filling that is my most requested for you to tinker around: 1/4 cup (half of one stick) softened butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar. Thin with one to two tablespoons of juice or milk.
Flavor with 1/2 - 1 tsp of your favorite extract, 1/4 - 1 tsp of any type of spice, or use 1 tsp of zest. You can also add up to 3 tbs of cocoa powder for a cheap but tasty chocolate filling.
@@Jacksonsjob a possible video you could make is the different types of fillings then give a quick recipe for each. Like a crash course for buttercream, ganache and etc. I’m sure you would help a lot of people out and would get a lot of attention on that video. You deserve way more subscribers! Thank you
Tyler, that’s a great idea! Thanks. 😁 I will put this in on my little to do pile and start thinking of the most common ones and how to organize it. I just posted up a little macaron experiment video today for another viewer so maybe 🤔 doing some more macaron specialty videos that other viewers like you request could be a fun little thing to keep going. 😁
I do have a few short videos on ganache and buttercream you might like to check out in the meantime. I’ll keep you posted!
OMG you are such a life saver, i made today 6 batches of different recipes and none came out good until I saw yours, thank you very much. Im making 3 more batches tomorrow but again thank you very much for sharing this amazing recipe 🙏🙏🙏🙏
You are very welcome, Pablo! I wanted others to have success in making macarons once I learned the key to baking them myself. I’m so happy you are pleased with the results. 😊👨🏽🍳
Thank you for this video. My very first attempt was not only perfect but utterly delicious.
That is fabulous news, pkimbler! Congratulations on successfully making the world’s most difficult cookie as they call it! What flavor did you make? Pretty soon you’ll be surpassing me as many of my friendly viewers have went on to become macaron masterminds with their flavor combinations!
@@Jacksonsjob I used your recipes to a T.
That’s so flattering! Try some different extracts in place of the vanilla to get all kinds of new flavors. The sky is the limit! Or you can add a couple tablespoons of cocoa to the buttercream to get some chocolate filled ones!
Another success story! This is my first time trying to make macarons, and they came out perfectly thanks to your recipe. I knew they were particularly difficult to get right, so I googled common mistakes and found your videos. Thank you so much!
That is wonderful news, Claire! I am so happy for you and if you ever have any questions about macarons, feel free to reach out. Lots of people are happily baking these little confections surpassing my skill level. 😁
I'm about to throw my apron for this fickle minded cookies, until I tried your recipe. Thank you sooooooo much for your research and clear explanation, making it possible for anyone to bake macarons. God bless :)
Hello Anne! I am so happy you found this recipe before throwing in the apron. 😉 It took me over six months to figure out how to make them so I feel your pain! 😳😊😁
Hello, I’m in South America with 78-80% humidity, resting time takes 1.5 hrs. But I decided to place my tray in the bottom warming drawer of my oven for 10 min, and it worked. I added three grams of meringue powder and baked at 315 F for 17 min. I think the drying time was little too much, but overall they were ok. Your video is the best out there, thanks.
Next time, try to avoid using the warning drawer. It can make them too crunchy on the outside. But I’m glad to hear you are making progress! The hardest part with macarons and humidity is the patience on waiting for them to dry. The meringue powder was an excellent idea!
After so many fails, first success !!!! You video helped soooo much!
Almost perfect macarons ! Thank you so much!
I am so incredibly happy to hear this for you! Sometimes it about finding a recipe that works for you. Perfection comes with practice. Keep going and before you know it, you’ll be making better macarons than I can! 😊 Start dreaming about all the possibilities of flavors and practice more. You’ll get even better the more you make them. 👨🏽🍳
I can’t believe it!! I got it right with this video only.. I was about to give up and first time trying this recipe , success!! Just gotta work on getting them all the Same size!!! Thank you. !
That’s fabulous, Jemika! I am thrilled to hear this for you. Congratulations on making them right your first time!!! That is seriously impressive as they are a bit more than tricky for most to learn. It took me close to six months when I started making them. For getting consistent sizes: try counting as you squeeze the piping bag. That’s what I do. I count to six. 😬😂
@@Jacksonsjob that’s exactly what I’ll do!! I just made two more batches to take to work , my coworkers are really gonna love these!!!!
And so it begins. 🥰Watch out, people will start asking you to make them in no time! 🤣
I wanted to say thank you so much! I was going to give up after trying the nytimes macaron recipe 2x to no avail but after I did this recipe, I got it on the first try! You are a really great macaron teacher and your pictures and videos are really helpful
You are so welcome, Audriti Mazumder! It's wonderful to hear you had success and are now enjoying macarons! I know the exact recipe you are talking about from the times. You aren't missing much. They are the really sweet variety and not that pleasant to eat except with really tart fillings. Have a lovely day!
@@Jacksonsjob speaking of fillings, do you have some recommendations for some less sweet ones? More sour? Like your key lime macaron videos
@@audritimazumder6592 Forgive me as it's been a long time since I've made that video, but here are a few I use that aren't as sweet. I also like to use nut butters in the inside at times. In addition to the ones below, I like to use a swiss or french buttercream as it's not as cloy as american ones. Anything made with cream, eggs, fresh berries or cream cheese has to stay chilled and brought up to temperature to eat. They don't last long outside of fridge. Hope that helps.
Chocolate ganache
Heat 4 oz (1/2 cup) cream until a simmer.
add 4oz (about 3/4 cup) of semi sweet or dark chocolate. Let melt in cream.
Stir until it comes together. Let cool before piping.
Optional:
add up to 1 tsp of any type of ground spice. Add 1/8 at at time and taste.
add 1 tsp (1gram) zest of citrus.
Should stay chilled and brought to room temperature.
Cream cheese filling
44g (3 tbs) cream cheese softened
14g (1 tbs) butter softened. Blend together.
Blend with 15mL (1 tbs) of crushed fresh fruit (raspberry, strawberry, etc.)
Add powdered sugar 9g (1 tbs) at a time to taste and piping texture.
Must stay chilled and brought to room temperature to eat.
Basic Fruit buttercream
28 grams softened butter (2 tbs)
56 grams powdered sugar (just over 1/3 cup)
zest from half a lemon, orange or other citrus (about 1/2 tsp, 1/2 g)
15-30 mL enough juice of citrus to thin out butter cream (1-2 tbs)
or add 15 mL (1 tbs) of crushed berries, add more powdered sugar as needed to keep mixture from splitting.
Lemon curd
¾ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup white sugar
½ cup butter, cubed 3 large eggs
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Cook in a double broiler until mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, cover and chill. Mix with butter cream or pipe a small circle of buttercream and dollop curd in center.
@Jacksonsjob thank you all of that looks good, especially the lemon curd and fruit buttercream
@Jacksonsjob another question: how do you recommend going about the cookies sticking to the tray? I put the cookies directly on a silicon mat. I was thinking I should use parchment paper instead.
My hubby is ticked at you!! I’m at about 8 double batches now!! You made it so easy I’m making a double batch every week!!! I gotta stop tho.. I’m eating them all!!!!
🤣🤣🤣 Congratulations! This makes me so happy that you are baking away. Tell him I said sorry! 😆 I have an idea! Tell your husband that you’re turning it into a side business. 👨🏽🍳👩🏻🍳🧑🍳 Seriously, think about selling them if you enjoy making macarons. I’ve had many viewers contact me and tell me they have started making some extra money off macarons. One woman even opened her own bakery. I could sell them consistently if I had the ability to do so. Nowadays, I make them as gifts and teach others how to make them locally.
I already watched your troubleshooting video. I’ve spent 7 years on research, watched hundreds of videos, made hundreds of batches and today came across your videos. What a great information! Thank you so much, it’s almost 2:00 am, I’m still watching your videos and will try this tomorrow, if works - my research is done! Just need to figure out the proper temperature for this 70-80% humidity climate. I won’t get STIFF peaks and will update in two days.
It is frequently 97% humidity here and I bake macarons all the time. It just takes a little longer for them to be ready for the oven. Typically I wait at least 45 minutes for 60-70% humidity, then turn on the oven. When it’s greater than 75% humidity, I will toss a little test batch in when I think it is ready and if I see feet, I know it’s okay to bake the remaining cookies. If I don’t see feet and they crack or dome, I add another 30 minutes. On super high humid days, I would have a couple small batches to test with. Then I just wrote down the times for resting each one. For me personally, it takes 30 minutes 40%, 45 -55 minutes over 50 but under 60%, 90 minutes resting when it’s greater than 75% humidity and at least 120 minutes over 90% of you want some general guidelines.
@Jacksonsjob hi I'm so glad someone understands humidity.. I have 60-65% humidity and bake macaron but no feet.. don't know what I'm doing wrong.. have you ever tried oven drying or even a no rest method.. I've seen in some videos but don't know if they actually work 🤔. It's just that sometimes having macaron drying in your kitchen can take up space only if there was a way around the drying process.. would be great if you could do a video experimenting with oven drying or no resting. Xxx
Hi Afy,
I have tried both methods and I honestly can’t recommend either. The no rest method uses a different recipe that had way too much sugar for my liking. It ended up changing both the texture and taste of the macaron. Some may like it but they are already a very sweet cookie. This was just too much sweetness. If you don’t mind sugary foods, it is worth trying. You could balance it out some with a filling like dark chocolate or lemon.
The oven drying method works, but it can create a lot of hollows as it often dries out the interior as well as the outside of the macaron. You do get feet, but they aren’t as pretty because the meringue isn’t strong enough to create that umph needed for pretty feet.
What I have done when making a batch is to use the oven and placed the macaron sheets on the rack while it was turned off and left the oven door ajar. That way they are out of the way.
Using parchment over top of a silicone mat or alone will speed up the drying in a humid climate. Silicone mats alone can take forever for the meringue to dry. I don’t use the silicone mats when I make macarons above 60% humidity. They take way too long and I don’t want to sit around waiting.
@Jacksonsjob thank you so much for your reply can't wait it try again I actually wanted to give up on macarons last week but will your recipe and method step by step.. I have made country attempts but mostly failed can't be consistent with the humidity.. thank you once again for your time and detailed videos. You have put so much into them 😊
If you have any hiccups, please let me know. I’m here as long as you need to master this cookie! It took me months to learn how to make them. Don’t give up, you’ll get there.
What I personally like to do when it’s really humid out is to make a small little “test” batch with some of the batter. Instead of piping all onto one tray, I will get a smaller tray with parchment and only pipe 4-6 and the remaining on the large tray. When I think the macarons are ready, I will only bake the little tray first and see what happens. That way, it will tell me if I need to wait a little longer (which often happens) instead of ruining a whole tray. It typically takes them around 90 minutes on humid days using parchment. Longer with silicone mats. I turn on the oven after they feel dry. Not before. That way I’m not tempted to try to bake them too early.
YOU ARE AMAZING!! I've tried so many different recipes, about 10 different times and have never had the success until now! Your instructions were perfect, thank you so. Much!
I am so happy to have helped. There are a lot of bad macaron recipes out there, sadly. Enjoy learning to make all kinds of flavors and color combinations now! ☺️
Oh my gosh it really worked! This is AWESOME!!
That is awesome to hear! Congratulations! 🤗
I love your video.
It's just so well explained, and I like your feedback with every step.
Thank you so much.
What a tremendously kind compliment! Thank you very much. If you need any help, please let me know and we will troubleshoot. Macarons are tricky to learn and can take a while to master making them. Just remind yourself it is called “the worlds most difficult cookie” and enjoy the learning process. It’s pretty tasty along the way! 😉
@@Jacksonsjob hi!
Thank you for replying!
Actually I made them today. And they turned out quite good!
They had feet!
They were a bit too small in diameter and because of that ended up a bit thick so need to work on my piping....but they weren't hollow , weren't cracked and tasted really nice!
I added some powdered instant coffee and used a dulce de leche/butter cream center.
Absolutely happy with the results.
Thank you so much you are great at explaining. These were my first macarons and they were good 🙂
I call that a big success! You are a natural. 😁 You’ll get better with knowing how to pipe and exactly when to stop folding the more you make them. It’s all about developing your own technique at this point. The combinations of flavors you picked sound really good! Congratulations on your first batch of macarons! Let me know if you ever need any help or just want to share your new favorite flavor.
@@Jacksonsjob thank you so much 🙂 xx
You are very 🤗 welcome!
Thank you so much for such a well explanation in how to make macarons, I am going to try it as I been doing a different batch every day for a week without success, all different recipes and different way of making, Swiss, Italian and French meringue, but your recipe have more sense, I am doing it today and let you know how it’s going…thank you for your video.
Much luck to you! Sorry for the delayed response, I’ve been cleaning all day! If you need help, I’m glad to share what I’ve learned.
Great video , thank u! 🇲🇽🇲🇽
You are very welcome! 🤗
Hello again, thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I tried it today and got the best batch of macarons I have ever made :-) I am really happy about it! Will fill them with homemade raspberry ganache :-) Many greetings from Germany!!
Christine, Raspberry ganache sounds absolutely delightful! I bet that will be excellent with macarons!
Yes the raspberry ganache is great! I warmed up fresh raspberries, used a sieve to get out the grains and then mixed it with cream and white chocolate. I added pink colour to the shells and now I have pretty pink macarons :-) I am really happy about this!
Ahh, I just asked you about the ganache on Facebook. Now it really sounds wonderful! Your macarons were also perfection! Thank you for sharing them with me. They are just a pretty shade, too! 🤗
I made these macarons today, and they were a success! I have tried 5 other recipes to no avail. I decided to give this a try because the steps and ratios of almond flour to powdered sugar were different from all the others. On my first batch, it failed because I did not measure out the powdered sugar correctly and I severely undermixed the batter. On my second try, they came out perfect! Although, I did have slightly hollow shells (but that can be fixed with a bit of tweaking). I was overjoyed to see my macarons have volume and tall feet. FYI, I used cold egg whites which worked great, and a dark colored baking pan with the oven temp at 280F. Anyway, I love this recipe and everyone should try this! Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. I would love to see more recipes of different flavored macarons on this channel too!
That is fabulous news! I’m so glad you are happy. The full shells come with a little practice learning your oven and getting the folding techniques. The good news is you get to eat all the delicious mistakes. 😂
I’ll work on some more macaron flavors in the future for sure! I’ll put it on my to do list. ☺️
@@Jacksonsjob Yep, I definitely ate all the failed cookies! A couple days ago, I made strawberry flavored macarons and gave them to my friends. They all thought it was from a bakery until I told them that I had made the macarons! Today, I made lemon macarons with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd filling! They came out great too. I can’t thank you enough for this amazing recipe.
Strawberry and lemon are two of my favorite flavors. I once made some with apple filling and cinnamon in the shell they were really popular. What’s great about them is how many different flavors you can come up with to make it a completely different experience! I bet yours were better than a bakery. 😁
Wow this is the best video om macarons. I tried alot of recipe, and this info is so on top of everything i already tried. And it makes sense. Thank you.
You are very welcome! 🤗 Let me know if you need help with making macarons. They are a bit tricky to learn, so I’m happy to share knowledge.
I just found you and you are amazing. I am in Utah and have tried many many times to get full macs and I have not been successful, I don't know what the issue is. I have videos I can send you of my process and see if you can help me. I get hollow shells, soft tops which then makes them not full and sometimes they are over baked and brown on the bottom, I would appreciate any help you can provide. I use the recipe from SweetMacs Shop if that will help you know what my recipe is
Hello Nichol! I am glad to help! Send me a message privately and we will go from there.
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of this link jacksonsjob.com/about/ and fill out “Questions? Contact Us Directly” it will send an email to me and then I can contact you directly and we can communicate and you can send videos. I once put my email address up on UA-cam in comments and got slammed with spammers so I created that form. 😁 You can also look up my Facebook or Instagram page and contact me there. I will share some information below in the meantime.
I am familiar with the recipe you are talking about. I cannot comment on how the recipe was invented, but some have had success with the recipe. Others have failed. I think it comes down to finding the technique that works best for you. That could be her recipe, mine or someone else’s. However a lot of failed attempts come down to the person that is writing the recipe failing to understand and communicate the process behind making macrons effectively to the individual. That’s the challenge of writing recipes. Every individual is different and may need a little guidance.
The recipe of the original macaron is actually based on two ratios. If they are off in the slightest, you can have issues like you are experiencing.
The ratio is as follows: for every gram of egg whites, you will need 1/2 the amount of granulated sugar by weight. So for 30 grams of egg whites, you would need 15 grams of granulated sugar.
To find out how much almond flour you need, you divide the amount of egg whites by 1.2 to get the total amount in grams. So 30/1.2 = 25 grams.
For every gram of almond flour, you need twice the amount of powdered sugar. So for 25 grams of almond flour, you will need 50 grams of powdered sugar.
If you deviate from this ratio, weird things start happening to our little macaron shell. I hope this helps somewhat.
Thank you so much for your amazing recipe and video I had success 1st time . I made a coffee ones. I will be making them more often. Thank you again 💓 Rashida from South Africa
Hello Rashida, I am so happy to hear they worked out for you with the first try! Coffee flavored macarons sound fabulous. Enjoy all the possible flavor combinations now that you’ve learn how to make macarons successfully! 😁
I have heard South Africa is such a beautiful part of the world. Hopefully you are having good weather over there compared to us today. It’s been a brutal stormy day.
Gosh, thank you so much! It worked well!!!!
🥳🥳🥳 I just read your other comment about failing prior. I am so happy for you! Congratulations. It’s a huge deal accomplishing the world’s most difficult cookie! 🤗🤗🤗
Thanks for sharing this recipe!! Only thing is, Im getting a bunch of holes on the interior. Some are even hollow on the bottom 😂 do you have an idea of whats causing this?
Are the holes uniform or sporadic? If they are big bubbles, but also full in other areas, turn down your mixer to a lower speed. It will take longer to beat, but it will eliminate any bubbles.
Ok I’m trying these now I have to get up even though it’s 10pm ! I gotta try now! 🎉
I hope you had much success! If not, let me know how I can help! These little delicate shells can be tricky.
Thinking of you today and making your famous French macrons. They are drying before the bake right now and I'm confident they will turn out perfectly as the other times before following your instruction. I hope your days are going good and all the critters are fine. Thanks so much! (hugs)xxo
Hello, Karen! It is always a pleasure to hear from you. The critters are doing well. How is Winston? I started a new treatment for the chronic migraines and they said it could take months to take effect, but I'm hopeful! I am so happy to know you are happily baking away in my absence. I really hope to get back to making more posts and videos soon. If you visit my website, don't be mad. I experimented with ads as it's now costing me nearly 300 dollars a year and it was a hot mess! They absolutely wrecked my website. :( I took them off, but they said it could take a few days to take affect.
@@Jacksonsjob I do hope the new treatments work! I'm always researching health concerns. Some sources say where there is pain, there is also inflammation. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, how would one reduce or eliminate the inflammation? Determine the cause I guess. Good luck with the website. I know you have dedicated so much time to it, and it's a wonderful resource. Winston is fat and sassy, (just like me, haha) we both are career foodies.
You won’t like this answer, but sugar is a huge source of inflammation. 😳😭🤦🏻♀️ It is why I started baking as a way to control my sugar intake and still be able to enjoy sweets on occasion. Only helps if you don’t eat more than one serving like I did last night working on a new recipe. 🫣🫠 Put me on the list of fluffy people. I’ve gained around 30 pounds since losing Jackson. You’ll see it if I ever get back to making videos. 😭😳🤣🤦🏻♀️
@@Jacksonsjob yes I know...sugar is not our friend. :( Summer is around the corner. We'll shed those pounds with all that outdoor activity, right? Today we are going on a long walk for starters. 🚶♀🚶♂🐕🍞🍦🧁☕
Good job on the walk! The daylight extending helps. I think 🤔 the walking will do us all good. 😊
Hi! What altitude are you at? I would love to know so I can anticipate any tweaks I wil likely have to make to your recipe. I am interested in trying it out!
Hi! We live in a valley surrounded by Appalachian mountains so it’s pretty low altitude where we are currently. About 633 feet (193 meters) or so. I hope that helps!
Hi thank you ....will definitely try making them following the steps you showed, can you plz guide as to which mode to use in my OTG with or without fan(top bottom rod on).
Hello snehaverlekar9716, I would recommend the bottom rod on and not the top. The top often leads to over browning in my experience. Let me know if you need any more help!
Hi I have modes in my 42litres OTG like...
1.Bottom rod function
2. Top and Bottom rod with fan function
3. Top and Bottom rod with out fan function.
So while baking macarons i should use only the Bottom rod on function and bake at 150C for 20minutes plz guide. Thanks
Love too Maggie and Jackson ❤
Since you have the fan option with both rods, that would be ideal. Drop the temp to 145C if it’s an option for you and start checking them at 18 minutes. .
K😊
what silicone mat do you use? I’ve been trying to find a good one lately just so I don’t have to keep buying parchment paper haha
The brand I use is called “cook time” and I got them off Amazon. I want to say they average around 5$ each. I’ve had good luck with them. They go on sale with coupons or discounts often, so don’t pay full price. I just checked and they are currently on sale.
Whatever you do, don’t get the Amazon basics ones. They are hit or miss. Some work well, others suck and everything sticks to them. Not quality control. Worst thing is the smell like strong chemicals as they heat up in the oven and the smell often permeates the food.
Now if you have any pets, silicone mats love to grab onto any fur floating around as well as lint from towels, especially paper towels. So keep that in mind and just look at the mat for any stray pieces of lint or fur so it doesn’t bake into your macarons. 😳🙈🤷♀️
Thanks very much.
You’re welcome! ☺️
Will try this .I tried yesterday. Some came out others didn't. They are so hard to do .
They have the nickname “the world’s most difficult cookie.” The fact you had some come out right should make you so proud of yourself! Keep trying. You will get there! It comes down to practicing and a little luck. Try making them without any food coloring. Sometimes that can cause issues, especially when you first start out. I’m hear if you have any questions!
I’ve failed a lot of times… I’ll try this recipe.
I wish you all the best!
Macaron Maggie made my day:)
😊 She’s the highlight of our day! Just a joyful little pup. 😁 I saw your other comment but it’s not showing up. The mat is called cook time on Amazon. I’ve bought a few over the years and they have been pretty consistent. Whatever you do, don’t purchase the Amazon ones. They are hit or miss in performance and have a peculiar off gas type smell as they heat up in the oven.
I will definitely try it!❤ Question: Can I use food coloring for the filling? Thank you in advance for your response and help! Thank you as well for the easy to understand recipe ❤
You can use food coloring. I do recommend gel or powder as the liquids can have a funny aftertaste and split the filling to get nicer the shades.
Thank you very much for sharing your valuable recipe!
I'm just wondering if we could substitute the almond flour with all purpose flour or anything else ?
I have used ground up toasted coconut flakes, rice and peanut flour with pretty good results. I practiced with regular all purpose flour to get the macaronage process figured out, but it tastes nothing like a macaron and is more like angel food cake but denser. The top part of the shell becomes translucent and often separates from the bottom as it cools. I have used up to half all purpose and half almond with a pretty good result, but the shells are more fragile and the texture is a bit different. I can do a video soon on what happens if you use all purpose flour if you like.
Thanks i really appreciate your help 🙏
I will be waiting for your further videos 😍😍
I’ll try to get one up with the all purpose flour in the next coming weeks. I’m glad to help. Macarons are tricky to learn. 😆
Hey this recipe looks very simple nd convenient but just a small query ...as i have watcged many recipes they do tap thier tray 2 remove the aur bubbles nd u havent done it...did u skip it deliberately? As its not beeded in ur recipe?
Hello! I found with this recipe and most French meringue macarons, it can lead to failures when you otherwise would have had a great shell. Let me explain.
French meringue is not as stable as Swiss and Italian meringue macarons. The air pockets in cooked meringue is strengthen and secured by the dissolved sugar as it is more like “glue” and forms a strong bond before baking as it was partially heated. Because of this, it can take more force as it’s harder to break that bond formed to collapse air.
In French meringue, think of the sugar more as an adhesive that is temporary like tape. Until the sugar melts in the oven, that bond is more vulnerable to force. The French meringue needs secured permanently by the heat of the oven. Until the heat of the oven is introduced, the French meringue is more vulnerable to collapsing.
If you pipe the batter at the just right stage and then give the tray a tap on the workbench, it can collapse too much air in the macaron and lead to hollow shells or wide holes and misshapen edges.
If the batter is under mixed and you have them with peaks, then you can gently tap the tray to take out some of the air as they are at a more stable state. But even then, you are at risk ruining the final product due to the nature of the French meringue being vulnerable.
It would be much better to take a toothpick or skewer and gently pop any large air pockets instead and to use the tool to gently swirl out any peaks if they bother you.
Hope that explains why I don’t teach people to tap the trays after piping.
Hi there! If I want to add flavoring to my macaron shells, how much extract would you recommend, and at what point in the process should it be added to the batter? I've made your recipe before and it worked PERFECTLY on the first try!!! Now, I want to up my game with the flavor combos ☺
That’s wonderful you had so much success! Many of the extracts today have oil in them, so you wouldn’t want to add them until you are folding in the almond flour and powdered sugar. If you add them with the egg whites before whipping them, you will not get the volume needed or perhaps they wouldn’t whip up at all depending on how much oil was present in the flavor. You would want to drizzle the extract throughout the whole bowl and not just pour in in one spot. Some extracts you will only need 1/4 tsp (1.25mL) and others 1 tsp (5mL) to get good flavor. Unfortunately, this varies brand to brand, but I have found store brands often need more and the more concentrated ones only need a small amount.
You can make chocolate ones by adding 1-2 tbs cocoa powder (5-10g) and removing 10 grams of powdered sugar. You can also add up to 1 tsp (2g) of a variety of spices as well.
But what most people do when wanting to up their macaron flavors is to add it to the filling itself and then dye the shells a corresponding color. For instance, add strawberry extract to the buttercream and then dye the shells pink. This is the easiest way as you don’t have to worry about breaking the meringue.
Thanks for another great video! My wife and I have been struggling with Italian macarons, with limited success. French macarons are so much easier (though we haven't tried them), that we're going to try them now. Do you have any experience with Italian macarons? If you enjoy messing with several containers, heating sugar syrup, etc., they're fun. Which type do you think are better.
Listening to your accent, this old Appalachian boy thinks he recognizes a northern W. Va. pattern. (Which ain' bad!)
😂🤣😅 You are pretty close on the location! Like within a few hours. It isn’t as strong as it was prior to my going through speech and physical therapy to learn to talk, move and eat solid foods again. I bet you’d have the location down to an exact street address if you heard the full twang. I come from a Tristate area and I’ve grown up in all of them so I picked up a bit of accent from each location. It’s amazing how hard the Appalachian accent is on your vocal chords when you’re learning how to talk again. 🤔😳
I’m not a fan of Italian meringue in general since the arm had to go through rehab with the old voice. I kept getting molten sugar all over the place including my skin. 😳
I personally prefer the French meringue method. With a little bit of practice, French meringue are the easiest to master. They also are the ones I get the mot compliments on as the others can be a bit too cloy.
My second favorite method is the one with Swiss meringue. It’s much more easy than the Italian style and in my opinion easier. If you want to try out the Swiss version let me know. I will be glad to suggest some channels on UA-cam for you that use that method.
What about air bubbles? My first 2 batches turned out great but my 3rd batch, had lots of air bubbles on top of the cookie. I was in a rush so I think that definitely had something to do with it, haha.
Hello Jordyn, if they were micro bubbles all over and didn’t look like macarons but more like a vanilla wafer with bubbles, then guaranteed you either didn’t add in the granulated sugar to the egg whites or not enough. If the shell was smooth and looked like a macaron but just had pinholes, the egg whites were mixed at too vigorous of a speed. Both of these have happened to me when I’m in a rush. 🤣
Hi! Is it possible to use all purpose flour instead almond flour and if yes would it be the same g?
Yes, it is possible. Yes, you would use the same grams. However, they don’t taste very good. I’m sorry to tell you that.
its all in the method.
Don’t you just love macarons? 🤗
Oh hi dear, i just re watched the video again, you dont suggest to rap to tray after piping , is that correct?? Thank you..
That is correct. When it comes to macarons made with the French meringue, they are much more delicate and the tapping of the tray can deflate the batter.
Now, if you under-mixed the batter and it simply won’t go down and is standing up like say a Hershey kiss, then you can give it a couple whacks. This may lead to less full macarons and wonky shaped shells, so I’ve often just baked them as is and next time folded a little more.
If I want to make two different colors, is it possible to add the gel food coloring after the macronage process?
Ally Kim, it is possible, but not advisable as you can deflate the batter too much and will end up with flat and hollow shells. Instead, immediately after the almond flour and sugar is combined, divide the batter into two, add the coloring and then continue to macaronage.
Another alternative is to divide the meringue, almond flour, and powder into two, then mix the food coloring into the meringue before starting the macaronage (folding) stage. Hope this helps!
I'm struggling with hollow shells and I've tried one recipe about 5 times and always get the hollow shells. I'll try whipping the eggs to only soft peaks for a start. I also noticed that when you sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together, you can just tap on the side of the sifter and everything goes through. I have several sifters with different sized holes but none of them let the almond flour through with just tapping the side. I have to run a whisk around the inside of the sifter to get the flour through. I'm not sure if that makes any difference but it is annoying that I get stuck thinking about it. Is your almond flour more finely ground than mine or are the holes in your sifter larger than mine or both? What is the make and model of that sifter? Thank you for the video. I'm also glad to see that your recipe is smaller than the others I've seen. I was afraid that going smaller had some evil effect but now I know that's ok.
One strainer I have has very fine mesh and it’s nearly impossible to get the flour through. If you push it through with a whisk or spoon, it makes the almond flour oily and makes it hard to mix the ingredients without deflating too much and leads to hollow shells. The brand I have issues with is made by cuisinart. It makes great light cakes, but terrible macarons as it’s too fine of a sifter. The other brand is a generic one that I picked up at a grocery store (Kroger’s) years ago. The openings are roughly the size of window screening, about 2mm wide, about 1/16”
If you have access to a blender, you can pulse the almond flour and powdered sugar together to break up clumps and then use as is or try sifting with the sifter you currently own.
Let me know if you need more help!
I examined the 24 hr results of my attempt using "sagging peaks" meringue. There was still a gap in all 30 but in almost all of them the gap was noticeably thinner. There was more evidence of progress in that as I broke them open, many of them FELT like they were full and I tore macaron flesh at the top and the bottom of the cookie with the gap in between. I never had any at the top before. One thing I did that I remembered not to do right after I did it was tapping the pan before drying them. Next attempt I'll try to remember not to tap and that might help. I also bought an electronic temperature probe and found that when my oven was set for 300 F, the temperature ranged from 265 F to 301 F in a very repeatable pattern with an empty oven. I had set an offset in the oven temperature control to calibrate a higher temperature so I removed that offset and the new range for 300 F is 285 F to 321 F. I intend to NOT use the offset and I'll set the oven to 300 F as in the test with the 285 F to 321 F range unless you think I should set the oven to another temperature. I did see your temperature test results and it seems like that range is ok. I can't do anything about the size of the range but do you think I should move the range down below 285 F to 321 F or above it or should I put the macarons in the oven at the low end or the high end or middle of the cycle? I think I'll just pulse the sugar and almond flour a few times and let that go until I can find a wider mesh sieve or colander. Thank you for that advice.
@@Jacksonsjob
I would shoot for the middle end of the cycle. It will give you the most consistent results. The tapping of the tray definitely could have impacted the shells to become hollow for sure, but the ranging of the temperature could have done it as well and you’ll need to do some experimenting to determine what is happening.
I recommended first trying a batch of not tapping the tray and bake to see if hollows disappear. If not, then I would suggest you purposely overbake the macarons by a good 5 minutes and see if they create full shells. They will likely be crunchy, so don’t waste food coloring or have expectations of soft middles. But this will tell you a lot about your technique, oven and how to move forward.
When macarons are slightly underbaked, slight hollows can form as the macaron cools, much like angel food cake can collapse in the middle when slightly underbaked. The weight of the meringue itself compresses and can lead to the air created during mixing to deflate as the batter didn’t have enough time to fully set in the oven.
The other possible issue could have been that you deflated some of the air in the batter during transfer to the bag or while squeezing the batter onto the trays. If you overbake the macarons and they are still hollow, this would be the next place to investigate. I would suggest purposely under mixing the batter next and see if you have nice full shells. If not, then we keep troubleshooting together until we find the answer.
Good call on using a blender and not worrying about a sifter. Do quick pulses, about 10-15. Don’t go too far or you will get sweetened almond butter.
Keep me posted! Talk to you soon.
On which rack I have to bake the shells...add also which rod top bottom or both on convection oven mam ?
I have found the middle to lower third rack positions best for my oven. When I use convection, it cycles with both rods, but when I don’t, the oven only heats on the bottom. Using the top rod can lead to over-browning and washing out the food dye if you are using it. So some find it better to only heat with the bottom. Hope that helps!
@@Jacksonsjob😍 thank you mam for your kind reply ma best wishes🤗Love from India ❤️...
I wish you the best success making macarons. Feel free to ask questions if you need help along the way. They are a little tricky to learn.
@@Jacksonsjob thank you mam... I'll definitely try this method ...you're very kind ,sweet & inspiring person to teach beginners like me...will follow u for more upcoming recipes...THANK YOU ❤️
Thank you for the kind words! If you have any issues, don’t give up. I’ll help you until you are successful.
Thank you for your information, for sure i will try and let you know...i try for 5 bag of almond flour but still not success ...i love your video..thank you ..😍
Good luck! I practiced with wheat flour in place of the almond flour for a long time to learn the macaronage to save money. It took me so many months to figure it out. If you need further help, just message me. There’s also a troubleshooting video on here that talks about some of the most common mistakes.
Thank you, and guess what i already watched that too😊
Haha! Hopefully you will learn how to make them faster by watching all the things that went wrong for me. 😁 Enjoy learning to bake macarons and I’m here if you want to ask questions, complain or brag on your success! 🤗
Thank you very much for your friendly help and nice heart ...😍
You are quite welcome 🤗
do you recommend putting cream of tartar into the egg whites?
Whereas I don’t personally recommend cream of tartar because of the cost in purchasing it, there is no reason not to utilize it if you have some on hand. If you wanted to create more stability and see if it would help, it certainly wouldn’t hurt trying it out. Generally, you would use 1/4 teaspoon for every egg white or 30 grams of egg whites. So for this recipe; I recommend 1/2 tsp which is just under 1/2 gram. Hope that is helpful!
yeah it helps thanks!
You’re welcome!
also could you let me know if ground almonds are the same as almond flour? i have almond flour but not sure if I'd have to use the same ratio or change the amount if you know what i mean
Yes, ground almonds is the same as almond flour for this recipe. Use the same amount.
Hi There bakers, I am trying to make white macrons for my sons wedding in two weeks, not much practice time, I know 🤪… I have a fan oven (in uk) and baking at 150C but they always turn out slightly golden, I have tried adding a white paste food colouring, and used a tray to shield the tops but still no luck… I am going to try this ingredient ratio and see how I get on….. wish me luck 🍀x Catherine
Good luck! 🍀 You can try to reduce the temperature even lower to try and get those whites really nice. I’ve dropped the temperature to around 120C (250f) and added 8-12 minutes on the baking time to get whiter shells in the past. My oven is also a fan oven. Hope that helps you!
I think my oven is too hot for 300F because my cookies had feet turned outward and I noticed that the color showed slightly overheated. Do you think I can bake at a lower temperature? I placed my tray on the middle rack. So I’ll try again.
Absolutely, you can drop the temperature to 275. You will have to add 3-5 minutes baking time. Also, turning the tray 1/2 turn midway through baking will help with over-browning from hotspots.
Which oven for best for macrons ?
Please help out
Thank in advance
Convection is always going to give the best results. For conventional and gas, you may want to rotate the tray halfway through baking to prevent hot spots.
Hi just tried making batter using your guide lines...kept for drying, fingers crossed.
😢 didn't turn out good it stuck to parchment and were like pores on top with cracks baked at 150c 20min . Plz what could have gone wrong.
Oh no! It sounds like it needed to rest a little longer. I usually have to make the macarons and wait until they are dry and then turn on my oven. This usually takes 90 minutes just to turn on the oven due to the high humidity in our area. Every oven is a little bit different so you may need to adjust the baking time just slightly if they are sticking to the parchment. They should peel away nicely when fully baked. Don’t give up. These are called “the worlds most difficult cookie” for a reason. It took me months to learn how to make them.
Yeah will not give up...kept it for drying 2hrs as it's raining heavily here in Goa(India). Thanks for your prompt reply 😊
You may want to give the oven drying method a try!
Dry macarons in a preheated oven using Fan Mode @ 90 degrees for 3-4 mins. Increase temperature to 120 degrees still on Fan Mode to bake for 15 mins.
I worked for a doctor that came from Panaji. I think it’s a bit northeast from your area. Beautiful coastline if so!
Ok wil try😊
Yeah I live in Vasco da Gama so it's takes around 45mins to reach Panji.
Have been to Goa.
I start and drop the process of macaron baking, because something is always wrong. I will try your recipe though…A piece of advice for your subscribers: do not trust your oven thermometer, buy additional one and you will see that your oven shows wrong temp. I have a gas stove, and when it says it is 300 F (it is but on the top rack close to the heating element) in reality I have constant 300 F in the middle rack when my oven shows 320 F). Just find a sweet spot. Moreover when you take out the ready batch and get in the new one your oven’s temp drops down tremendously and when you think it is 300F in reality it is 255 or 260F so add additional couple of min to your baking time. Double-check the temp with additional thermometer ( it is cheap 5-7$). Also, do not use home-made powdered sugar, use commercial ground one, usually a bit of corn starch is added into it, so it will help your macarons to dry faster.
What silicon mat do you use? Brand name maybe?
What almond flour do you use? Brand name, please?
The brand is Cook Time silicone mats. I got them on sale many years ago and they are really consistent compared to other brands I've tried. You sometimes have to add a minute or two when baking on silicone mats as opposed to just parchment. And silicone doesn't let the macarons dry out well in humid conditions. I prefer parchment, to be honest. The next best thing is parchment on top of the silicone.
I've used many brands of Almond flour. My favorites are Blue Diamond and Bob's Red Mill and homemade (in that order.) My least favorite is the Walmart brand. The almonds are too large for about 25-35% of the bag so you have to sift out the finer parts and then carefully grind the larger bits with powdered sugar to get a smooth shell. It works, but it just causes a lot more work initially. Fine if you aren't making hundreds! You didn't ask, but I really like Americolor, Wilton and of all things Hobby Lobby gel food coloring. For powdered sugar, I like all of them, but some of the generics can give you a more drier shell in the end because of the cornstarch consistency. My favorite is a small chain of stores in our area's brand. Domino is my second choice. You just have to see which one works for you best.
I totally agree with the use of a thermometer! I have my oven calibrated and separate oven thermometer hanging out in various places on the oven rack. All of the recipes have been created with tested temperatures. You also want to keep your oven clean and tidy as it can vary your temperature a lot when baked on messes are allowed to bake on overtime.
where can i get the matt your working with?
Hi Maria, I purchased them off Amazon years ago. The brand is Cook Time. I just checked and they still have them. Type in cook time macaron mat and a lot of varieties will pop up.
Most work really well. I do not recommend the amazon basics ones, however. Macarons and other baked goods tend to stick to some of the mats and not others. They aren't consistent with their product.
Also in case you don't use silicone mats, lint, dust, hair, and pet fur clings to them, so watch out before you pipe out your macarons if you have pets or a dusty home. 😄
Hi dear, may i ask you wheat flour you mention is all purpose flour?? I did try your recipe, thank you very much , my macarons came out full , feet are very pretty , but for my first batch , the macarons tops are pretty smooth , but the second batch and third batch all full ( so happy about this!!) Not hollow..but the top are not that smooth...but my humidity is 60 percent!! So it might affect my macarons too...so what you think i should try to avoid that?? I appreciate your video and thank you again for your help😍
I used all purpose flour to practice. Smooth tops can be achieved two ways: sift the flour with a finer strainer or a few more times with the strainer you have, or give the batter another fold or two. I suspect since the first one came out fine you just needed to fold it a wee bit more. That is when it comes down to just practicing and getting an eye for it. This comes with time. You’ll see it turning glossy but not runny, that’s when you know it will be a nice smooth top. But hey! Your macarons turned out full!!! That is absolutely amazing and perfect! 🎉🥳👏🏻
Hi. I tried making today but the macs were hollow and crispy. Why was that 😕
Oh no, the dread hollows! When this happens, the batter has been over-mixed or deflated during transfer to the piping bag or during the piping stage. Next time, stop folding the batter earlier. Have the batter still rest on the top some without leveling off. See if that improves your shells. If not, let me know and we can continue to troubleshoot.
Hello,
I made macarons with your recipec but unfortunately they came out hellow. I noticed way much less almond meal then other recipes, is there any reason for that?
Oh no! Practice makes better when it comes to making macarons, I’m afraid. Some perfect them it the first try, others takes months to develop the skill. Did you tap the tap the tray? If so, this can cause hollows in addition to over beating the meringue or over mixing at the macaronage stage. So can measuring your ingredients with cups as opposed to using grams. Try several different recipes and see which one suits you best.
My recipe is based on the French version from hundreds of years ago. They use less almond flour and less sugar overall. The more sugar used in the recipe, the more almond flour is needed to absorb the moisture it naturally creates as they bake. My recipe is a small batch and if you compare it to other French versions in equal quantities, it’s usually spot on. The French macaron is based on a specific ratio of almonds to powdered sugar and egg whites to granulated. I use that ratio and that’s why the almond flour is less than say the Swiss or Italian versions. Swiss versions can often use a 1:1 ratio but they often come out sickly sweet. The Italian method also uses a lot of sugar so they up there almond flour as well. Hope that helps!
I always make them with the french method, but due to my bad oven, they are always hollow. I was hoping that your recipe would give me full shells. I hate the italian method, I made them once or twice, didn’t like it. Swiss method is okay, but not worth the effort to me. I am from Belgium, we don’t use cups, we only use metric measurements.
From Belgium? Greetings! My husband spent time in Ghent around 2005 and loved it. He wish he could have spent more time in your beautiful country.
Could you please explain what is wrong with your oven? That could definitely make a difference.
This is what I would try first. Make another batch. Purposely undermix your batter. Fully incorporate your almond and sugar mixture, but don’t go until it ribbons off sinks back into the mix. Rather, let it sit on the top and rest and leave a bit of peaks or ridges. Then pipe them just like that and do not tap the tray. Let them rest for 60-90 minutes before turning on your oven.
Tell me if you still get hollow shells trying this technique. If you do, then I can guide you on the next steps. If you don’t and get nice full shells, then it’s a matter of mixing the batter one fold more at a time and then seeing what happens with each batch. Eventually, you’ll get perfection and a feel for the macaronage.
What could be happening is when you transfer the batter into the piping bag or are squeezing the batter, you could be deflating it a wee too much which isn’t uncommon when you are learning the process. The first step is to find out if it is the meringue or macaronage that needs tweaking.
Come back and share the results and we will continue to troubleshoot until you have perfect macarons. I can also direct you to other recipes that people have had success with if this one isn’t working out. We will troubleshoot together until you get them just right. I promise to guide you through this!
Hey there! I’ve been making macarons for a few months after not baking for years just cuz I had a craving for them. I also have a problem with hollow shells. Every single batch I bake has them. I use the carton egg whites to avoid having leftover yolks. I just wanted to ask if using the carton egg whites affects the macarons badly or maybe if they are the reason I have hollow shells, and how I can fix that?
Egg carton whites are notorious for causing hollow shells in macarons. They don’t make good meringue in general as many egg whites are pasteurized which can weaken the egg proteins. I have read over the years that Costco egg whites have been successful for many, but I don’t have access to test them out.
I’ll definitely try the Costco brand. Thank you so much!!
Will you let me know if it helps? If not, we can troubleshoot further and get rid of those hollows for good. 😊
I’ll let you know how they turn out. 😊
Alright, so I bought the Kirkland brand egg whites. Unfortunately, I wasn’t even able to make the batter because the eggs refused to whip up! 😅 I did make macarons with my normal carton egg whites (Bob Evans brand) and I used your recipe. They taste absolutely delicious! But sadly …. Hollow shells 😢 Any advice?
Do you use convection or just regular bake, thank you
I have used both regular and convection. It’s best to use convection but only if your oven is good at holding a steady 300F (150C) throughout the baking process. Some convections run really hot so you’d want to drop it down to 140C (250F) and bake longer by 5-10 minutes.
You mentioned drying time of 2 hrs? Is that ok? Also, you don’t bang the tray at all? Thanks
The drying time is dependent on the humidity. Under 50%, I can get them ready for the oven within 30-45 minutes. One days that it is over 90% humidity, it takes 1-2 hours, especially if you use silicone mats as they trap moisture. What I like to do is a little test tray when it’s humid with just a few macarons to see if they are dry enough. Do be aware of food safety when handling raw ingredients and gauge your time wisely.
I just realized I never answered your question: for French meringue, I don’t like to bang the tray unless I undermixed the batter and it doesn’t settle on its own within a minute. French meringue is more delicate than the Swiss and Italian versions and you can deflate the batter if you bang on it too much.
hello,
I would like to ask can this macaron recipe be doubled?
Absolutely! I often double the batch. More than that, you’ll need a larger piping bag than the one I list.
@@Jacksonsjob thank you! I will try this recipe soon!
You’re very welcome! Let me know if you need any help. ☺️
@@Jacksonsjob thank you for this recipe! I tried it out today and I got the prettiest macaron shells with no hollows. I have tried several recipes but got hollows. I will be making this recipe from now on!
That is wonderful news? Isn’t this the easiest and best macaron recipe? It only took me six months of terrible macarons to come up with the secret to no hollows. 😬👩🏼🍳😆
I’m so happy for you! Enjoy your macarons. What flavor will you try next?
What speed do you put your hand mixer on?
I always use a lower speed. Usually the first dial, but sometimes I go up a notch. The higher the speed, the bigger the air bubbles created in the meringue. This leads to air pockets and gaps in the macaron.
Mine were not drying, I let them sit for around 2 hours.
They were a bit grany to touch, I ended up putting them in the oven anyways.
They didnt grow feet and were exactly the same, grainy and airy. I didn't beat the egg whites for too long and it reached soft peak quite fast. Should I beat the egg whites a bit more ? thank you.
The fact you are describing them as a bit grainy, airy and the soft peaks happened quite fast, is it possible you either didn’t add the granulated sugar to the egg whites or perhaps not the entire amount? This has happened to me when I’ve accidentally used half the amount or no sugar when beating the egg whites is why I ask. They look exactly like you are describing and never dry like you said. If this is not the case, let me know and we will troubleshoot further.
Noticed that the sugar wasn't mixing properlly with the whites, probably going too fast
It sounds like that is very likely. When you rub the meringue between your fingers, it should feel completely smooth, not gritty at all. Next time, add all the granulated sugar into the egg whites before turning on the mixer. It will force you to slow down the process and the sugar will be more likely to fully dissolve.
Can I use almond flour?
Absolutely! Ground almonds is often called almond flour. They are the same thing. 🤗
Hallo, backst du deine macarons mit ober/unterhitze oder umluft?? Lg Tina
Hallo Tina, ich verwende Konvektion, aber wenn du keine hast, drehe einfach dein Backblech nach 10 Minuten um 180 Grad. Bei meinen alten Öfen habe ich nur das untere Heizelement verwendet. Mein neues funktioniert automatisch und wechselt während des Kochens zwischen den beiden. Hoffentlich funktioniert Google Translate ausreichend, damit Sie dies lesen können. :)
Danke für die schnelle Antwort!😊 Welche füllung ist die beste damit sie bei Raumtemperatur nicht zu weich wird? Bei einer Feier sollen die Macarons ja auf dem Kuchenbuffet oder Tisch stehen und wenn man sie zwischendurch immer wieder kühlen muss ist das schon mühsam.
@@TinaBäcktImGarten Gern geschehen! Ich habe eine einfache amerikanische Buttercreme mit verschiedenen Geschmacksrichtungen gefunden, die bei Zimmertemperatur längere Zeit am besten haltbar ist. Sie möchten doppelt so viel Puderzucker wie Butter verwenden. Wenn Sie also 50 Gramm Butter verwenden, fügen Sie 100 Gramm Zucker hinzu. Mischen Sie dann 2,5-5 ml eines beliebigen Aromas Ihrer Wahl. Ich verwende wirklich gerne die Schale einer Zitrusfrucht und etwas von ihrem Saft, etwa 5-15 ml. Zitrone und Orange sind meine beiden beliebtesten.
Please, what rack of the oven is the best??I use fan but that gives me uneven baking..What about temperature?I always have hollow shels.
My oven has 6 sections to chose from. I bake most often in the middle three. A lot of times I turn my pan 180 degrees after 9 minutes to bake evenly as I have a hot spot in my front left of the oven even with fan on. 300f (150c) 17-19 minutes for my oven. I do have a thermometer to verify temperature. Hollow shells can be from over whipping the egg whites or over mixing the batter or underbaking. I almost always have to rest my macarons 90 minutes due to high humidity levels (often above 90s here.) Go only to medium peaks not stiff and slightly undermix the batter. See if it improves the hollow shells. I have a troubleshooting video on here that might help.
@@Jacksonsjob Thank you very much for your quick response!!You encourage me to try again.The issue I have is that the interior of the macaron,rises and expand sticked at the top of the shell.I I have semi hollow shell from the middle to the bottom.Can I adjust something in my oven in your opinion?Maybe the heatsource?🙏🙏
That sounds like two possible issues to me. When you are mixing your egg whites, use a lower speed. It will create more uniform air bubbles. It takes longer, but produces a more stable meringue. I would go to the soft medium peak stage where the mixture will cling to the bowl, but the meringue loops back on to its self and doesn’t stick straight up. Then I would try to back just a little bit longer. Perhaps try a few trays just to get that baking time right. You could slightly overbake a tray and see if the hollow disappears. They will be crunchy, but you can add filling to them and let them sit a few days and they will soften up. Sometimes you have to purposely go over the recommendations to find what is perfect for your oven. My past oven was very small and cooked a lot faster than this one for example. The one before that was gas and it had a lot of uneven baking. Expect some trial and error which will encourage you to learn. The messing up is sometimes how you master the macaron.
@@Jacksonsjob Thank you veru much!!
You’re very welcome! Let me know if you need more help or how it turns out for you.
Could you use all purpose flour instead of almond flour
You can but it changes the texture and taste dramatically and not in a good way. It’s edible, but it’s not like a macaron. More like really sugary angel food cake in taste with a chewier texture similar to a brownie. The shell will be translucent and papery. However, it is a great way to practice the techniques more affordably. The closest flours I have had success with is coconut and peanut. The taste is different, but it’s a pleasant one.
@@Jacksonsjob Thanks for the advice
You’re welcome. 🤗 I hate that it’s not the same, but honesty is better than wasted ingredients. 👩🏼🍳
@jacksonsjob hi, is the oven convection or not?
My oven is convection, but I have baked them without convection at the same temperature. Without, I just rotate the tray 180 degrees midway through baking so I get even browning.
@@Jacksonsjob okay thanks.... let me try again
If you are having trouble with over browning, drop the temperature to 275 (135C) and add 3-5 minutes baking time.
@@Jacksonsjob Hello. Could you tell me at what temperature is ideal to bake macarons in an electric convector oven? Is it recommended with temperature up and down?
@@ruthnoemilopez2469 I like to use either 275F (135C) or 300 (about 150C) for convection. The lower temperature gives better color but takes 3-5 minutes longer to bake. Hope that helps.
Only problem I have with this recipe now is I have to make it twice , I like bigger batches.. ca you double this recipe, if so how??
That’s a great sign you are doing great with macarons. 😁. Yes, you can double this recipe. Any more than that, it becomes quite difficult to manage the ingredients without a very large bowl (5qts) and it can become quite cumbersome.
To double the recipe, you’d multiply each of the ingredients by 2. If you need it specifically written out for you, please let me know and I can do the math for you but it will be another day or so as I’m struggling with the end of a several day migraine and it affects my ability to do math and read. I’m using talk to text so I hope this all made sense. Otherwise, I would have went ahead and posted it for you now. Glad to hear you are busy making batches of macarons!
@@Jacksonsjob thank you!! I can do the math and I hope you get to feeling better quickly!!!!
Thanks! I usually double the recipe myself but wanted to create a smaller recipe for beginners so they could learn how to pipe the batter and combine the ingredients easily. Plus, almond flour is expensive so I try to be mindful of costs when writing recipes.
The tops of my shells were always hollow but now with your recipe and directions the top of the shell is full but…… now the bottoms of the shells are hollow. What am I doing wrong?
The first thing that comes to mind is are you tapping the tray? If the cookies are lying flat, tapping the tray can cause this. Likewise; if the meringue was not folded enough and the macarons do have too much height and aren’t settling, a whack or two can fix the air bubbles. The second thing that comes to mind is your beater is at a higher speed while making the meringue and it creates a lot of large unstable bubbles that can cause air-pockets. I suggest beating on a lower speed and adjust if big bubbles start to form in the meringue. Using cold eggs as opposed to one’s brought to room temperature can cause these pockets. This is because cold whites can create a more unstable meringue. Another possibility is the macarons are being cooked with the fan blowing on the bottom of the pan which can make the macarons rise too quickly and not evenly in the oven. The last thing that I am thinking could be the culprit is the macaronage stage. If you fold too vigorously this can happen. Unfortunately, without seeing the macarons themselves, I can only give you general guidelines on where to start looking for issues. I hope this helps.
@@Jacksonsjob I will give your suggestions a try. Thank you
You are welcome. If you need more help, let me know!
I had success with macarons before but they were a bit hollow at the top so decided to try this recipe. Total disaster! I usually beat stiff peaks merengue but since the recipe says soft peaks I did so. Well the batter was a runny mess, had to throw it away. I might have stopped beating too soon, I dunno, not for me.
Oh no! Sorry it was a total disaster for you. Luckily, there are lots of recipes out there for you to try!
If I may, here are some tips troubleshooting. By the sounds of it, since the batter was a runny mess, the macaronage stage was over-mixed. This can happen with soft, medium and stiff peaked meringues alike. Soft peaks allow the meringue to expand in the oven which will fill in the entire shell, but if the batter is deflated in the mixing process, you will have to start over. There is no going back from this and is a skill that is learned through repetition and practice. Hollows can also often be caused by over mixing so I suggest you try the recipe you had the most success with and under mix the batter until you eliminate the hollow shells. These are called the world’s most difficult cookie for a reason. Keep trying and you’ll get the hang of it.
As far as runny batter, there is no need to throw it in the trash bin. Instead you can bake it, crush it up and use it as cupcake, ice cream topping, decorations and filling baked goods with a pleasant almond crunchy texture.
Ok now. Hhhmmmm 🤔
I hate meringue cookies. The only cookie I know of, that I don't love. Not only do I not love them, I hate them ☹️ everyone of them I've tried was like trying to eat Styrofoam. The texture of them on my teeth, were like nails on a chalkboard! *YOUR COOKIES DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THAT*
They looked softer and didn't bust to pieces when you mashed it. 🤯
Those meringue cookies, especially store bought ones can indeed be disgustingly chalky tasting. I totally agree with you on that one.
Let me see if I can give you a description of a well made macaron. When you bite into it, there should be a thin crisp shell that has a mouthfeel similar to a thin chocolate shell around a filled candy. A bit like an m&m but less hard. Then the inside is chewy much like a brownie. And the taste is like a sweet almond cookie. If you overbake them, they will get chalky and hard. Underbaked, gooey. But just right, they are heavenly.
@@Jacksonsjob I need to go on the hunt for some good ones!
Just make your own! They only took me about 6 months to learn. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦🏻♀️
@@Jacksonsjob 🤨🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I've just now after all these years made a decent loaf of bread! 😳
Then you are ready for a new challenge! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤗
I tried this recipe today. My macaron shells turned out very crispy and break easily. @jacksonsjob any recommendations?
This can happen one of four ways, typically. The oven gets too hot. This is common with smaller ovens found overseas or ones that are older and haven’t been calibrated recently. Another cause is baking the macarons a little too long. I give a guideline for the most common brands, but every oven is slightly different and it takes a little time to learn how long to bake macarons in yours. Then there is the color of the sheet pan. If it is a darker color and not shiny, it will dry out the shells quickly and lead to crispiness. Drop your temperature 25F or 4-5C depending on how accurate you can go. Finally, it can be because the shells were dried a little too long before placing them in the oven. This is not uncommon in arid climates.