Comprehensive Guide to ItalianMacarons
Italian Macaron Recipe
Makes ~24 Macarons
INGREDIENTS
135 g almond flour
135 g icing sugar
95-105 g egg whites
4 g egg albumen (egg white powder)
18 g granulated sugar
¼ tsp powdered food colour
50 g water
133 g granulated sugar
1 tsp corn syrup
EQUIPMENT
You will need a #803 or #804 piping tip and a piping bag, as well as 2 light coloured sheet pans. Using a macaron piping template under the parchment paper will help keep your shell size uniform but is optional.
PROCEDURE FOR MACARON SHELLS
Preheat the oven to 350'F (175 C). Place the racks evenly in the oven. If using a macaron template. place on a sheet pan and cover with parchment paper trimmed to fit. Set aside.
In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the egg whites, set aside.
In a small bowl, combine egg albumen, the 18 g portion of granulated sugar and ¼ tsp powdered food colour if you’re using it.
Place the water and 133 g portion of sugar into a small pot. Make sure that the pot is small enough that the sugar fills at least ½ inch up the pot.
Before cooking the sugar, start mixing the egg whites on the mixer on medium speed. Once the egg whites turn foamy start dusting in the egg albumen mixture.
After all the sugar & egg albumen have been added to the egg whites, turn the pot of sugar on medium heat and cook to 118 C.
Once the sugar reaches 118°C and the egg whites are at a soft peak, start streaming the sugar into the egg whites on medium speed. Keep the mixer going until the meringue starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and looks stiff.
While the egg whites are whipping. sift the almond flour and the icing sugar together into a large bowl. Press the mixture through the sifter with your hands if necessary to try and get it all through. Discard any larger pieces that won't go through the sifter.
Once the meringue has whipped up to very stiff peaks, pour the sifted almond flour mixture over the meringue and gently incorporate using a spatula until just combined.
Transfer the batter to a large bowl. Smear the batter along the sides of the bowl, then scrape back into the centre. Repeat until the batter becomes shiny and reaches the consistency of slow-flowing lava. Do not over mix!
Cut the bottom of the piping bag and fit the piping tip snugly inside. Place the piping bag inside a tall glass, folding the edges of the bag over the rim. Fill the bag with the batter.
Hold the piping bag vertically with the tip 1 inch above the tray. Pipe macarons onto the parchment following the template that you have placed underneath or into 1-inch circles.
Remove the template from the tray and bang it firmly to eliminate any air bubbles from the macarons. Let the macarons rest at room temperature until a skin forms on the surface (15--20 minutes).
Bake the macarons for 8 minutes. Briefly open the oven door to let out steam, then bake for another 4 minutes (12 minutes total). If your oven has hot spots, rotate the tray when letting out steam.
Let the macarons cool for 15 minutes before carefully peeling them off the parchment paper. While the shells are still warm, gently press your thumb into the bottom of each shell. If the macaron have cooled too much and this causes the shells to break, skip this step.
To prepare the macarons for filling, find pairs by matching their sizes. Line the pairs up on a tray with one of each pair facing up. Fill one of each macaron with your favourite filling and cover with its twin, sandwich-style.
For my filling I made my Somali Tea Spice Creme Brullee filling which is already on my page, but mixed it with equal parts whipped cream.
Ideally you can eat it right away, but for best results , let them sit in your fridge overnight to let them mature. This will let the flavours meld, and will slightly soften the shell. Stores in the freezer for 6 weeks :)
TIPS
Egg white weight: the standard weight for egg whites is 100 g, but this will vary depending on the time of year.
Problem: Batter is foamy, soft and almost no macaronage is needed and /or shells crack in the oven and have no feet: reduce egg whites to 95 g.
Common during hotter more humid times of year or rainy davs.Problem: Batter is very stiff and no amount of macaronage will loosen it and/or macaron remain ridged and bumpy after baking: increase egg whites to 105 g. Common during very dry times of year.
Drying time may vary anywhere from 10 minutes to 40 minutes depending on the time of year and humidity.
Oven times may vary and total time may be less than listed. If the macarons start to brown around the edges, immediately remove them from the oven.
Depending on your oven, you may need to bake macarons at a lower temperature (340°F) or a higher temperature (360'F).We recommend using the weight measurements when scaling out your ingredients for macaron
