French Macarons
French macarons are delicate cookies with a crunchy exterior and airy interior. They have a chewy texture and can be filled with anything from frosting and ganache.
The French method of macarons starts out with a French meringue (sometimes called common meringue), where egg whites that are whipped with sugar until they reach stiff peaks. The dry ingredients (almond flour and powdered sugar) are then folded into the meringue to form a batter.
When learning to make macarons, most people start with this method. It doesn’t require any special equipment, and there’s no chance of burning yourself with boiling sugar syrup. However, the mixing/macaronage process can be tricky since the meringue is delicate and not very stable.
French macarons at home! these cookies are not simple. Impossible! Absolutely not. Requiring BOTH patience and practice! That’s why they’re so expensive in bakeries and restaurants! Let’s get started. You can do it.
Although in the french method of macarons we need only three ingredients yeah Almond powder, powder sugar and egg whites, three simple ingredients but the most tricky to make them.
It requires alot of techniques while making batter and baking them. In this tutorial I am going to share with you all the important techniques with basic ingredients. I must say if you are going to make macarons with french method must follow these steps very precisely and intially make simple one.
Ingredients:
Almond powder 70 grams (about 2/3 cup) Powdered sugar/Confectioners sugar/Icing sugar 120 grams (about 1 cup) Egg whites 2 Large about 65 grams (Must be at room temperature) Granulated sugar 50 grams (1/4 cup) Lemon juice/Cream of tarter/ vinegar 1 tbsp (optional)
Yield: 20-24 macarons
Direction:
First most important step to measure ingredients very precisely. Dry ingredients must be finly ground. So it will help in making macarons shell very light.
For the macarons we need almond meal. The question is how can we make almond meal at home? Its very simple, in firststep take almonds and soak them in tap water overnight. Then peel off the almonds and let them dry in the sunlight completly. These almonds are called blanched almonds.
Your blanched almonds must be completly dry, for best result just toast these blanched almonds in the oven for 5 minutes at 350 F or 180 C and grind these blanched almonds in the chopper very finely.
Sift the almond powder and powdered sugar so there must be no lumps in the mixture. And mix evenly both of them and set aside.
Your powders must be dry, there shouldn't be humidity in them.
Whip the eggs white at midium speed and add lemon juice/cream of tarter/vinegar, it will give more stability to the egg whites stiff peaks.
Beat eggs white at medium speed until they become frothy and then add granulated sugar in two batches.
Beat until you have the stiff peaks. Peak must be stiff not soft. CHECK: when you flip your bowl of egg white, meringue must be stay inside the bowl ;)
Add dry ingredient mixture into egg whites in two batches. Mix very gently. Must be very concious while mixing, don't overmix or under mix. Overmixing will give the flat surface of macarons, and undermixing will give the domed, round shape and crack on the top.
The consistency of the batter should be like when you lift spatula, the batter will fall down like ribbon form and it will sink back into the mixture in about 20 sec itself.
When you piped the macarons on the parchment paper the peaks should be set itself in about 10 to 15 sec.
Transfer the batter into piping bag. Piped the macarons on the parchment paper.
Must bang the baking tray on the slab for 3 to 4 times. It will help in escape the exessive air bubbles and prevent cracking while baking the macarons shells.
One of the very crucial step in making macarons is to rest the piped macarons for about 20-30 minutes or untill the skin is formed on surface of macarons and your finger will not be sticky while touching the macarons shell.
Heat in the oven caused the air in the batter to expand causing outward pressure and if shell is strong, then pressure causes shell to rise off the baking tray, creating the height to macaron. Bake at 325 F or 160 C for 12-15 minutes only. IMPORTANT: your oven temperature and time is very important otherwise they will burn or will nor rise properly. There should be a thermostate in your oven if its not electrical.
When the macarons are baked just slightly open the oven like a slit and let release air through oven and let its temperature down, after a while remove the macaron from oven otherwise your macarons shell will sink down.
Before filling the macarons let them cool completly. Must follow these techniques for making the perfect macarons. I will recommend to watch my vedio for better understanding.
