The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: Toffeemama on December 18, 2014, 01:42:56 PM
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I've been wanting to make some super-fancy cookies for Christmas goodies, and I've always wanted to try French macarons, so I decided to try my hand at baking them! I read up on it, and knew they were tricky to pull off, but I figured how hard could it be? My first try was... okay. They were definitely too big, and seemed a little grainy, which I guess means I didn't sift/grind the almond flour enough? And I'm pretty sure that I beat the eggs too much, since it wasn't quite as smooth as I thought it should be once I folded in the almond flour. It's supposed to fall off the spoon in "ribbons", but it mostly plopped off the spoon instead. I'm going to do a bit more reading up, try these cookies again, and get back with the results!
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I love french macarons! I have made them several times, and almost always get them to turn out well. I make my own almond flour by grinding whole almonds with the powdered sugar that the recipe calls for (if I want them to be fancier, and I have the time, I blanche the almonds first to remove the brown skins). The powdered sugar that the recipe calls for aids in the grinding process so that the almonds don't just make a sticky paste that refuses to become a finer texture. I also age my egg whites on the counter top for a few days before using them (just in a small bowl with a paper towel over the top), which seems to release some of their water content- and in general lower humidity seems to help. Here is a link to the recipe I primarily use, although I usually dollop lemon curd in the middle of the cookie and pipe the buttercream around it- http://delectabledeliciousness.blogspot.com/2010/04/meyer-lemon-macarons.html
Also, if you are looking for more troubleshooting advice, I have found this page helpful: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/08/macaron-troubleshooting-new-recipe.html
I hope you post some pictures of your results!
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I love french macarons! I have made them several times, and almost always get them to turn out well. I make my own almond flour by grinding whole almonds with the powdered sugar that the recipe calls for (if I want them to be fancier, and I have the time, I blanche the almonds first to remove the brown skins). The powdered sugar that the recipe calls for aids in the grinding process so that the almonds don't just make a sticky paste that refuses to become a finer texture. I also age my egg whites on the counter top for a few days before using them (just in a small bowl with a paper towel over the top), which seems to release some of their water content- and in general lower humidity seems to help. Here is a link to the recipe I primarily use, although I usually dollop lemon curd in the middle of the cookie and pipe the buttercream around it- http://delectabledeliciousness.blogspot.com/2010/04/meyer-lemon-macarons.html
Also, if you are looking for more troubleshooting advice, I have found this page helpful: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/08/macaron-troubleshooting-new-recipe.html
I hope you post some pictures of your results!
Thanks for the recipe; I think I'll try that one next time! I separated my egg whites for my next batch just before dinner... do you think it would be okay if I used them today?
I finished my second batch this afternoon, here are my notes: This batch turned out much smoother than last time; one thing I did differently was to give my almond meal an extra long go in the food processor, same deal with the sugar. I did much better with the sizing, although I still have a long way to go in making it even and smooth. I got several that were cracked on top; and the ones with the smoothest tops had no "feet". I also need to get the correct amount of gel food coloring; they were much paler than I'd like. They tasted really good though! I made some buttercream filling, so I can try and get some nice macarons finished.
Once I do my second batch, I'll post a picture of the results!