Comments on: La Macaronicité 4: fillings, flavours, frippery

By: Aileen

Aileen — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:09:49 +0000

Thank you for your recipe! The plain shells in my first batch were great, but my chocolate fissured and came out looking like brownies. Still tasty, though. I am making my second batch today.

Can you give me some ideas for what to do with all those egg yolks? I made plenty of aioli from the first batch, so I trew away the second batch of yolks. Such a waste!

By: Judy

Judy — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:53:15 +0000

Thank you, I could just kiss you! I have made macarons a number of times with others and this is the best one. Congratulations on a great website.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:24:03 +0000

@Lloyd: I suggest reading my recent article about ovens.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:31:45 +0000

Hi Duncan,

I'm so glad to have found your website! I've been attempting to make macarons and today was my 6th attempt, and failed without having any clues. I been staring at my oven for the whole day and not being able to know what went wrong. I hope you can advise me.

For today, I used this recipe: Egg whites 100gm, I aged them in the fridge at 4 degress. From what you wrote, its better to be at room temp. But my warm Singapore has a room temp of 31 degrees. Any problem you think?

Cream of Tartar, just a pinch

Caster sugar 200gm. I don;t know if this is pure or not. I mixed them with the egg white and deat to stiff peak.

Folded gently with mixture of 140gm of sifted almond meal and 15gm icing sugar.

Piped on baking tray and leave to dry. I don;t see any drying after 20 mins, so I put them into the oven. Temp at 150 degrees. My oven as a fan-oven or bake selection.

I piped over a normal baking tray, on 1 parchment paper, without lining any tray below. 5 mins into the baking, I thought of increasing the temp to 160 to give a shock, and I saw little feet standing, but the crust pops out and erupted. I could just stare at the oven til the buzzer goes off. Another batch into the dustbin, as I have stopped eating my own scraps. Disappointment and wonder if I should try again…And I'm back to the web, reading again and envying others who have made it.

Can you help me?

[THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED FOR BREVITY]

By: Duncan

Duncan — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:04:04 +0000

I'm so glad this is helping people have yumminess in the kitchen!

@vera: I don't know a lot about hydrocolloids, but unless you can find one which binds the water more strongly than gelatine or agar, the shells will always absorb moisture rapidly from a high-moisture filling. I'd guess that gelatine-set fillings can't be used for stored product. As for light-coloured macarons, you would need to experiment with oven temps and venting the oven at a certain point. I've seen someone even suggest shielding the shells with foil. You can solve many of your problems by doing careful tests.

By: vera

vera — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:58:00 +0000

Hi!Congratulations for your site and all the details and troubleshooting. These are the little details that books like Pierre Herme's dont't tell you. I launched a macaron's business myself. I do have some experience now but still fail sometimes. I'd like to start with Beth comment on oct, 29th. I have that problem right now with lemon curd macarons and strawberry macarons. Indeed, I added gelatine to some fillings in order to get them more solid but the macarons shells still absorb all the humidity and they get completely soggy (I had to throw away a whole batch). What should I do? If I add white chocolate, it will be too sweet… 2nd, at what temperature and how long should I bake light color macarons (lemon, vanilla, coconuts) so that they don't get that brown colour at the edges?3rd:I have to stock some production to have them available for my clients when they want.I freeze them but when I take the out, with the temperature schock, they quickly create humidity in their shells. How should I stock them (freezer or fridge)? and how to avoid this? I also have a shop that is interested in selling them. They have a chocolate vitrine (18-20º). Is that enough to conserve macarons? For how long?
Thanks for all your support

By: Kurt

Kurt — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:23:59 +0000

I nearly fell over when I tasted the caramel – just killer. My first batch (made with your recipe) is currently in the fridge cooling off, and I have a rack full of PERFECT shells just waiting to be smeared and sandwiched. Many thanks to you, Duncan, for the excellent advice on your website. Macaron success is just pure joy.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:51:49 +0000

@Cynthia: congratulations. It's a wonderful feeling when they turn out right without all the hassle!

@Beth: I've had this problem too with set fillings. The dry macaron simply sucks the moisture out of the gelatin-set filling. To put it one way, although gelatin binds the moisture, it doesn't *trap* it. And with any wet filling, the same problem of sogginess is the result. Mixing dry flavourings into a ganache or buttercream is a more reliable solution.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:21:34 +0000

I've been using mostly Swiss meringue buttercreams and chocolate ganaches with good success. Two recent experiments though have me contemplating how some fillings lead to soggy shells.
Experiment 1: I combined gelatin with a pear puree, let it firm up on a sheet tray, and cut out small rounds which I placed on a macaron shell. I but buttercream on the other shell and sandwiched the two together. The shell next to the pear puree was horribly soggy by the next day.
Experiment 2: I made creme de marrons by roasting chestnuts, simmering them with a vanilla bean, pureeing and thinning with sugar syrup. Again, I put creme de marrons on one shell, chocolate ganache on the other, and the shell next to the creme de marrons went somewhat soggy within 2 days. (Still very tasty)
Any thoughts/suggestions on how to use these less traditional fillings?

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:35:38 +0000

For the love of all that's Holy! I DID IT! I actually got these to work ON MY FIRST TRY! I have no earthly idea if I can make the magic a second time but now I'm hooked.

I about screamed when I saw their cute little feet and smooth tops forming. Thank you for the extreme detail (I know that took you a lot of time to write up)- it was WORTH it. Thanks!