Delicious Disaster!

[BCool]

Hi Guys,

I've tried Macarons yesterday . And they were a disaster. Cracked and uncooked like the photo shows.They remained sticky underneath and in the middle (despite burning on top when I put them back in the oven).

Does anyone know where I'm going wrong? I forgot to bring the recipe with me to work, but I'll post it when I'm home later.

I used this recipe and followed each step though my folding dry ingredients to the stiff egg mix was quiet long (30 mins).

Macaron Recipe

This easy to follow macaron recipe, makes a special and delicious treat for your friends and family. I've packed all my tips into this post to help you out!

preppykitchen.com

Please help!
Thanks in advance

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi Guys,

I've tried Macarons yesterday . And they were a disaster. Cracked and uncooked like the photo shows.They remained sticky underneath and in the middle (despite burning on top when I put them back in the oven).

Does anyone know where I'm going wrong? I forgot to bring the recipe with me to work, but I'll post it when I'm home later.

I used this recipe and followed each step though my folding dry ingredients to the stiff egg mix was quiet long (30 mins).

Macaron Recipe

This easy to follow macaron recipe, makes a special and delicious treat for your friends and family. I've packed all my tips into this post to help you out!

preppykitchen.com

Please help!
Thanks in advanceView attachment 3031

I’m not a fan of the French method. Pierre Herme, who made the macaron world famous doesn’t even use the French method.

I would recommend the Italian method. The Italian meringue is more stable. Plus when you are folding it, look for both the thick stick batter to one that flows like lava. and a change from a dull batter to a shiny batter.

When you tap your baking sheets on the counter, you given them two or three really hard bangs.

This is one of Pierre Herme’s recipe. You can make it any flavor you want. You don’t have to use the lychee and rose; it just happens that is one of his most famous. The San Francisco Cooking School where the blogger took the class is founded by Nicole Plue. Plue is a James Beard Award winner. I’ve taken classes there. I can tell you not all almond flour is created equal. If you are in the US, the almond brand shown in the blog post is far superior to any other on the market. It is the brand used by most pastry chefs. Ditto for the almond paste.

Pierre Hermé Macarons at SF Cooking School - Dessert First

SF Cooking school macaron class It’s been a while since my pastry school days, and oftentimes I feel the itch to get back into class to keep up with the newest trends, brush up on old skills, or just to be around some nice shiny professional equipment again. After talking to chef Nicole Plue...

dessertfirstgirl.com

Mandelin Almonds

Grower and handler of superb quality almonds, and manufacturers of premium almond pastes and almond products.

www.mandelininc.com

 

[retired baker]

1. underbaked ,
2. oven too cool initially or
3. too wet,
silpat baking sheets can give odd results, paper is better for direct heat transfer.
watch out for recipes calling for 2 or 3 egg whites, it would be better to have a weight.
Did you allow them to dry to the touch before baking?
If its too humid give them a few wafts with a hair dryer, only takes 5 minutes to form a skin that way.
Use a good thermometer to check oven temp, allow at least 20 minutes for the oven to stabilize, mine goes way up and down before leveling out at 300F.

Be aware that cheap powder sugar is not as dry as domino 10X.
Some will need 5% more corn starch added or it will lack body and result in hollow tops.

I watched a funny video where a girl broke all the rules, threw the sugar in with the ice cold egg whites and color and whipped the whole lot.
She didn't sift anything and dumped it all into the meringue in one go . I was laughing but it came out good.
Just goes to show, theres a lot of irrelevant drama.

 

[retired baker]

I just made some. These are hot from the oven.
60g Almond flour
60g Icing sugar
Process together superfine and sift.

43g Egg White
43g Sugar
300F 13 minutes.

I put mine in the oven to skin over, oven was off but preheated to 100F, same as proofing bread.
Its muggy with 90% humidity here, they crusted over in 10 minutes.

All the videos on youtube mention over folding will deflate the meringue, ok but theres something else going on.
Over folding dissolves more of the powdered sugar and makes it runny.
I've seen this before in other recipes with egg whites and sugar, if they're over mixed the texture becomes too thin, this is in recipes with no meringue to deflate , so its not just the meringue collapsing, its also a matter of controlling the degree to which the sugar dissolves.

Macaroons made with almond paste are notorious for this problem, if left mixing too long the perfect recipe turns soupy.
Nothing changed except the mixing time, too much sugar dissolved and they will lack the desired chewiness.
There is no meringue in this type of macaroon, the egg whites are rubbed into the almond paste.

Addition of corn starch, up to 5% in the almonds if you don't have a processor. It will help them stand up.
4% meringue powder will strengthen the meringue, 2 grams in the recipe above.
The easy answer is just cook the meringue, italian or swiss.