Comments on: La Macaronicité 3: the more reliable macaron recipe and a few tips

By: Duncan

Duncan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:28:27 +0000

@LauraM: please read the various articles and comments on the site to understand the causes.

By: Laura M

Laura M — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:12:13 +0000

Hi Duncan, could you please tell why feet dont develope and what could make a macaron crack?

Thanks

Laura

By: Duncan

Duncan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:48:30 +0000

@Meghan: stacking baking sheets can be useful to insulate the bottoms of the macarons. Depends on your oven.

@Nomie and Shannoncita: may your cooking go well!

By: Shannoncita

Shannoncita — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:31:11 +0000

I am having a macaron breakdown, I have made 3 failed batches today! I made them for the first time last week and they turned out pretty well-I was very surprised, cleary beginners luck.
So today i tried a batch of David Lebovitz and they turned out flat, cracked and without feet and very gooey. I then made a batch that was successful last week, some of them cracked, they had a bit of a foot but they were sticky. Tried again, this time mixing less: all cracked, kind of had wonky feet and very sticky. This is so disappointing since my batch last week were almost perfect!

By: Nomie Aziz

Nomie Aziz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:19:56 +0000

Hi Duncan,

Your information on macaron is really helping me to understand what went wrong with my macaron. With your tips i will try and try again. I think this is my second love after my first love – baking sarawakian layered cakes;-)

By: Meghan

Meghan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:26:02 +0000

Hi Duncan,

I recently returned from a trip to Paris and can't wait to give your macaroon recipe a try! I'm a little confused about the stacking of the baking sheets. What is the reasoning behind this?

By: Duncan

Duncan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:28:21 +0000

@Andy: thanks for the comment! Really thin shells can often be due to overmixing (though this would often be accompanied by some surface wrinkling as soon as they cool). Otherwise, I'd suggest letting them sit for longer before baking.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:52:42 +0000

Hi Duncan,

stummbled in a sense of frustration across your website and can't quite believe there are people out there going through the same mental trauma as me!.
Anyway – I have a minor problem which I don't think others have mentioned yet, and I seem to get this with both the french and Italian meringue method.
In summary..

- My "Magma" sounds about right – Dr evil would be proud.
- Feet, Getting plenty of rise on my maca's – no worries there
- shape, very happy with my size
- Outer shell…. this bit is driving me nuts..

My macaroons look like macaroons, come off the tray easily after a couple of minutes resting, taste wonderful – but.. I think their shell gives just a little too easily, If I compare with Hemme's Laudree etc.. I'd say that they have slightly more crunch on the very outside shell. (note I'm not trying to re-create AU Masterchef's abominations here – they were wrong and they should be suitably ashamed, but I do feel I'm loosing a little bit of bite)

Too try to get this right I have…

- Varied the oven temperatures in so many different ways I'm losing count (no noticable difference to this particular issue – but many others can occur of course!)
- Cooked for longer – well, they just go brown don't they.
- sulked for a few days..

anything glaryingly obvious to you?

By: jo

jo — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:00:33 +0000

I must say this is an amazing guide i stumbled upon!! Thanks so much for this!! Simply love the calculation methods for ingredients too.

I've been making Macarons the French method and the amount of pain and inconsistent results each batch produces, kinda drained me…till I decided to try your method today.

Amazing results I must say! Managed to whip up 3 trays of cute little perfect macarons! (i piped it smaller). Had feet, came off the parchment paper without a fuss & a hard crust with soft insides.

Just to share with the rest this is what i did extra (or didnt quite do):

1. Use aged egg whites (well i was gonna embark again on my french method)

2. Added some egg white powder to egg whites that went into the beater

3. Didn't have a candy thermometer, so had to make my own estimation on the syrup. Once all sugar has melted, left it boiling for a minute or two. Syrup was relatively watery, not a thick paste.

4. Poured unused (half) egg white onto dry ingredients and mixed it up as much as I can. Then scoop some egg white onto that and mix it furiously again.

5. Added remaining meringue in 2-3 batches onto dry ingredient (which now should looked like a super thick paste). This is when you'll need to be gentler as opposed to earlier.

6. Pipe it. Left to stand for 30 mins max. Baked at top 1/3 of my oven shelf at 140-150 degrees for about 12 mins.

Renewed confidence! Hope i can whip up the same results next time with this method!

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:03:32 +0000

Thanks Duncan.. will look it up. Angela