Making macarons. It’s all about practice, sure sure you have heard me say that before. But before you get to practicing, there’s definitely something to be said for taking a class. You can own 15 books on making macarons (not that I would know anything about that, ahem) but unless you know what the mixture should look or feel like, it can be very frustrating.
Many of you are sadly not able to come to Toronto to take a macaron-making class with me, and even if you follow my nearly fail-proof French meringue macarons recipe, you might not be able to master macarons, so I decided to try to do something about that. For me there are three key stages to getting your macarons right: 1. Whipping the egg whites. 2. The “macaronnage” (folding the dry ingredients into the French meringue) and 3. Piping the macarons. So since I can’t show you all in person, I made three short videos to help understand what those stages should *look* like.
I already posted the first video last week on my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer giveaway. I’ve found my Kitchen Aid to be indispensable over the past few years as I have worked to perfect macarons. I’m all about knowing at what speed and for how long I am beating my egg whites and the ability to change that by a speed or a few seconds/ minutes is key. Having the hands-free mixer makes that easy. No, Kitchen Aid are not paying me to say that either.
Here’s how to whip egg whites to the right stage when making French meringue macarons:
The next key to making great French meringue macarons is the stage where you mix in the dry ingredients into the whipped egg whites/ sugar. It’s a key step because if you under mix, you’ll get meringues and if you over mix, you’ll get sweet crackers. Hopefully this will help explain the “scoop and press” idea where you need to deflate the mix you’ve just whipped up into a stiff meringue.
The last key step is really all about practice but it does tend to freak people out – the piping stage. I find this incredibly soothing and could pipe trays and trays of macarons every day. Many find it difficult but if your batter is right (see above), your macs will be easy to pipe. I pipe mine from the side, as I was taught at Lenôtre and I have good success with that. Hopefully this video is of some help in showing you how.
Et voilà. Hopefully these help you unravel a few of the mysteries surrounding macaron-making and might even persuade you to give it a go at home!
Check out my entire macaron recipe using French meringue.
And last but not least, congratulations to Michelle who won my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer giveaway. She commented “My Kitchen Aid Mixer colour quiz result is “Crystal Blue!” Love it!” so Michelle, I will be in touch with you soon and we’ll see about that Crystal Blue Stand Mixer getting to you asap!
Very cool! I’ve got my mad about macarons book but I’m still too chicken to try
The tutorial will definitely help
I hope so!
Would you believe that this past summer was the first time I ever had a macaron? Unfortunately my ranching town here doesn’t subscribe to such fancy cookies. I think with your tutorials I should try making them myself, who knows maybe I’ll start something new up here.
Let me know if you do!
One of these days Mr. Neil might make a duck proscuitto or foie gras maracon, just to freak everyone out…
Right. I’d like to see that!
Apropos Mr Neil’s descriptors of oxymoronic dishes – it reminds me of a fish milkshake.
To return to the topic of macarons – I believe Mardi has well and truly demonstrated a compulsive/obsessive disorder. But, they do look gorgeous.
Geoff, I think that was proven about 148 post ago…
SO many more than that…
There are worse things to be obsessive/ compulsive about!
I
bloody
LOVE
macarons!
hi mardi,
thanks for your videos, i have finally seen the glorious la pied on my macarons. however, some of them cracked. why is that happening? they are not hollow and have feet but it seems the top is alittle brittle!
Sounds like maybe your oven is a little hot in that part? Most ovens have hot spots – feet and no hollows is a pretty great start! Also, maybe you didn’t rap the trays hard enough – could be an air bubble?
I actually have the same problem with my macs, hollow and cracked. Next batch was already not hollow, but still cracked on top. Any tips on cracked tops as well?
Sounds like you might have under beaten the dry ingredients into the wet OR your oven runs a little hot OR you didn’t rap the trays hard enough.
Hello,
I have a convection oven, so I’ve been setting the temp lower by 25F from the conventional oven temp. Can I bake more than 1 tray at a time? If yes, should the time and/or temp be adjusted from the single tray baking?
Thanks!
Depends a lot on the oven, you have to experiment and figure it out. Some convection are fine with more than one tray but some are not. Temp should stay the same.
I’ve had this bookmarked for what seems like forever to read and what. A WONDERFUL toturial for macs. Bravo and Happy New Year!
I mean “read and watch” and “tutorial”. Jeesh!
Hi Mardi,
Your videos are really helpful! I’ve been referencing your recipes and these videos while making macarons lately but I’ve been plagued by hollow shells!!! Normally my macarons have nice feet and shiny shells, but are hollow. My definition of hollow is that there’s a gap between the shell and the insides of the cookie, where the insides have collapsed. I’ve tried raising and lowering oven temperatures (between 275 and 310 F), but I’m starting to think I may be overmixing my batter. The batter normally reincorporates in around 10 seconds. I also rap the baking sheet 4-5 times and allow the shells to dry for at least 30 mins (usually not more than an hour or so). I might try undermixing the batter next time but it’s so frustrating! Do you have any tips or advice on how to get rid of these hollows?
I do find hollows are worse in the winter (when you are starting in a cold kitchen) but it does sound like your batter is overmixed. 10 seconds for the batter to reincorporate is pretty fast… How long are you baking them for? I find longer at a lower temp helps with hollows.
Thanks for such a quick response. I tried baking them today at both 270 and 280 F, it probably took them over 20 minutes to cook through. Any sooner than that the bottoms of my macs stuck to my silpat. I’ll try mixing the batter a little less next time and see how it goes.
Also, I’m signed up for your baking class on February 9th. Looking forward to meeting you!
Also, I love how I don’t have to worry about when to add the sugar to my egg whites when whipping the meringue. Kudos to you and Brave Tart!
Try 300 for about 18 minutes. Hollows can also be because the insides are not cooked properly and they collapse. Or, just wait a couple of weeks for the class
There really is no substitute for taking a hands-on class! Looking forward to meeting you!
I made macarons for the second time and i have been getting the same constant results! I dont know why my macarons turn out cracked and always hollow with no feet? Why is that? I tried experementing…. changing temperature, aging egg whites but its still the same!
What do you reckon went wrong?
Thank you so much for your post i love it!!!
It sounds to me like your batter might be overmixed and/ or your oven is too hot…
Hey Mardi! Thank you so much for these video tutorials…they were a great help!! I suffer from OMD (Obsessive Macaron Disorder) ever since I had these yummylicious treats in Paris many years ago. Since then I’ve wanted to try them but was terrified after my first attempt turned out awful crunchy meringues!!! Well, a couple of friends and I decided to put our heads together and follow your tutorial (with a bottle of champagne)…and were successful in our second attempt (first one had cracks on the top and we realized that was because we didn’t mix the almond/sugar into the eggs well enough and piped the macaron before the mixture flowed like ‘lava’ (or maybe the second batch was better as we became more light-headed and were having more fun?!). Whatever the reason, thank you for helping us eliminate the fear of making macarons as we honestly thought it was rocket-science in the kitchen!!! Now to try with colors and flavors!! Cheers…
Champagne is the perfect match when making macarons! Seriously, so glad I could help you out! And you know, practice makes perfect!
Absolutely Mardi…now to practice and perfect these babies! Just a question though…do you prefer to use powder colors or paste colors? Does either affect the texture of the macarons like dry them out? For savory macarons, do you still use the sweet shells? Thanks once again!!!
I use powdered colour always. And I have never made savoury macarons but believe that the shells are still sweet – it’s the filling that is savoury.
I was reading your instructions on the other page and compared the beating time of merigue and they don’t match and also the temperature and baking time. So which one should we follow, the first one or the video? Thank you. You’re blog is great!
If by “the other page” you mean the recipe, the egg white beating times are the exact same. Also, there is no baking time mentioned in this post so I am not quite sure what you are referring to?
have just made my 5th batch of macarons, worst yet! the last 3 batches have had no feet. I have just watched your videos so will attempt more maybe tomorrow of I can summon up the macarenergy! typically the first batch I made were the best!
Can’t wait to try making some!!!!!!! Thanks for the video very helpful! By the way where did you get your tips for you piping bag?
I buy them at a place called Golda’s Kitchen in Toronto but you can get them at any baking supply shop.
Hi Mardi!
I am so thankful that I found your blog!! Your tutorials have been so helpful!!