Many think that the perfect macaron will never be obtainable, however through trial and error, countless recipes and different oven settings, the perfect macaron can be broken down into a couple simple steps.
The best meringue starts with a clean bowl: any fats including butter and oil residue on your bowl will prevent egg whites from reaching a stable peak stage. Not only are outside fats detrimental to your meringue, but the yolk in your eggs itself will inhibit the protein network that is crucial to your success from forming. Using an egg white separator is an excellent tool to help with keeping those pesky yolks out when cracking your eggs.
Another common pitfall that many bakers make is the premature addition of sugar to their egg whites. It’s pivotal to start beating your egg whites until foamy before adding any sugar then continue adding your sugar in small quantities while blending. The large and heavy particles of sugar will weigh down your egg whites preventing stable peaks that you can hold over your head.
Apart from your wet ingredients, your dry ingredients are very important in this classic French pastry too. They must be sifted to prevent lumpy shells: the best way to get a fluffy and lump-less batter is to sift your almond flour and powdered sugar alone and then again when combining into the egg whites. Obtaining a clump-less batter is your best way to ensure smooth and shiny macaron shells.
A “lava-like”consistency is what you should be aiming for according to many recipes and bakers but let’s be honest, who has actually seen lava in their lifetime? A mistake that many make is the over-mixing of batter: when in doubt, under-mixing is always better than over mixing. Defining the line of over-mixing and under-mixing your meringue is an important step of creating a fluffy macaronage, setting you up for a bakery tier macaron. The “figure-eight” method (where you use the spatula you’re using to fold, to draw a figure 8 until your batter can draw the 8 without breaking) is a test used by even the most skilled of bakers. It’s crucial to combine your dry and wet ingredients manually rather than with your stand or hand mixer, preventing a runny and deflated batter.
If you’re yearning for a bakery tier macaron, you must use a stencil or sil pat to achieve consistency in sizes. However, even with the size issue solved, the only way you’ll have shells in equal diameter and thickness is practicing the art of piping. After you have them piped, the hard part is over, time to sit back and relax: rest when the macarons are resting.
The last bump is simply putting it in the oven! Oh, if it was only that easy. Over baked shells will be hard and dry, unsatisfying to bite unlike those crisp on the outside and dreamy on the inside, professional macarons. Underbaked shells will keep your shell stuck to the parchment or silicone and when you try to release your hours of hard work to fill, they’ll form a hole on the bottom, draining all your long efforts.
Creating a filling is quite easy, the only thing that will ruin your hard work is a soggy filling. When using any fruits, be sure to make a compote or a syrup otherwise, as the fresh fruits decompose, the juices will leak into the shells making it soggy.
Although the perfect macaron seems impossible, following these steps and experimenting with your own oven and different batter recipes will grant you the ability to try endless fillings, colors, and shapes that will be more catered to your own tastes and style.
Sources:
Kanell, John. “Macaron Recipe.” Preppy Kitchen, 23 Apr. 2020, preppykitchen.com/french-macarons.
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