I have played with a few different recipes to find the best shell for these beautiful french treats. I have found that they are temperamental at the best of times, but this recipe has worked for me a number of times. This time last year, I became a little consumed by my need to make the perfect shells and through my travels I noted a few things-
- There is a HUGE difference between grease proof paper and proper baking paper.
- The more desperate you are for the shells to work, the less likely they will.
- As perfect as you plan on making these delectable shells, over mixing will cause them to crack.
- Ageing the egg whites can take forever! By zapping the egg whites in the microwave for 10 seconds, the shells still work because the microwave dehydrates the whites enough without cooking them.
- Italian and French macarons have a slightly different technique and foot. I have found this french recipe that works for me.
- The foot is the little ruffle that forms around the base of the shell after the piped mixture is let to set for half an hour before baking.
- For some unknown reason, I could only get the batter to work if I used a glass bowl. Please share if anyone knows anything about this!
The paper fiasco took a while to sort out. I couldn't figure out why my shells would not separate from the paper. I was using grease proof and not baking paper. The recipe I use has been very solid the whole time and I have even added a few other ingredients without any trouble.
I have noticed that American recipes use a lot of pumpkin in their desserts, which in Australia is not very common. I came across a pumpkin pie spiced macaron recipe which was AMAZING! Although it should be noted that there is no actual pumpkin in the macaron.
Macaron Shells
Ingredients
3/4 cup almond meal/ almond flour
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites, aged
1 pinch cream or tartar
1 tsp liquid food colouring
Method
Preheat oven to 130C. Line baking trays with grease proof paper. (Some people like to draw circles on the underside of the paper to make piping matching shells easier.)
Sift the flour and confectioners sugar. Sift them a second time. Set aside.
Beat egg whites on low-medium speed with an electric mixer until foamy, then add a small pinch of cream of tartar. Beat on medium-high speed until the whites start forming soft peaks. Slowly add food colouring and 1/4 cup granulated sugar until the mixture starts forming stiff peaks. (The peaks should form on the ends of the beaters, but should be soft enough that when tapped on the bowl, the peaks fall of the beaters).
Now- the business end. It is really important to not stir the mixture, folding will not cause over-beating if careful. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture in small amounts (at least three additions). I found only folding until there is no more dry powder was the right amount. Most recipes say until the mixture "ribbons" off the spatula, the mixture should be the consistency of lava- slowly moving back into place after folding, otherwise the shells might crack or be too runny to pipe.
Using piping tips, slowly pipe the mixture onto the prepared trays. Give them plenty of room, if the mixture is runny the shells can get bigger. If the shells have noticeable bubbles rising after piping, gently tap the tray on the counter top to get them to disappear (I have not had to do this much with this recipe). Now the piped macarons need to rest for 30 minutes. If you don't let the shells rest, they will not form a nice foot at the base of the shells.
After resting, the trays are put into the oven for 12-16 minutes. The top should look dry and you can tell they are ready if the shells do not slide if you gently touch them. The foot needs to be baked through properly.
After the shells are completely cooled, they can be removed from the paper and filled as desired. They will keep in an airtight container for a few days before filling.
Notes
You can add small amounts of spices to flavour the shells. Vanilla essence in tiny amounts should also work well.
Pumpkin pie spice: 4 tbs ground cinnamon, 4 tsp ground ginger, 4 tsp ground nutmeg and 3 tsp ground all spice. You only need to add a tiny bit of this to the shells for a beautiful flavour. This is AMAZING with a cream cheese icing.
Some nice fillings include-
- Lemon or passionfruit curd- these tend to be a bit wet and can make the macarons soggy if filled too early.
- Cream cheese frosting- chocolate or vanilla or anything else really. The more icing sugar, the firmer the filling will be and the longer the macarons will keep.
- Buttercream frosting.
- Ganache- white or milk are usually received well.
