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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Troubleshooting the Macaron

You might have noticed that I've grown quite fond of making macarons.  These airy sweet treats are limitless when it comes to flavor combinations.  They are made with ingredients that aren't as calorie loaded as other desserts, keep for longer periods of time, and easier to store.  With these advantages, I decided to take it upon myself to attempt to master the art of macarons.

Macarons are not easy.  They have been called the pastry that turns your hair white.  They make even well-experienced bakers scream in horror.  And it is rumored that even the best pastry shops throw out about 25% of their macarons.  I've made about 30 batches of macarons now, and I've mostly figured them out.  I still have batches that I feed to the dogs, give to the homeless, and dump into the bokashi bin.  This post is a tutorial for trouble-shooting macarons.  I won't be posting or talking about recipes as there are plenty of them floating around, and I follow the same base recipe regardless of flavors anyways.  The posts I found to be the most helpful are from mytartelette.com (unfortunately seems to be down now).  Here's a link to a pdf file that has been kind of the cliff notes version of the macaron bible. 

Here's some fun photos of macarons.

This one is a togarashi lemon with truffle oil.


Some pumpkin spice chocolate and mint chocolate.  You can see that some aren't covered yet.


And now they are covered.  Perfect macarons.


This is often how I transport them.


These are Tipsy Ispahan -raspberry, rose, lychee, and St. Germain Elderflower liqueur. Those were the pretty pictures.

Now let's get down to some not so pretty ones.  Here's a quick reference chart for various macaron problems along with photos of some at the end.  I'll keep updating this post from time to time with more information and more fails.  Please keep in mind that these are methods that work for me in my kitchen with Texas humidity.  They may/may not work for you or in your kitchen.  Enjoy and if there's anything that you think I should add, email me at Jennie at misohungrynow dot com or @misohungry on Twitter.

Problem Possible Issues Fix
Egg whites don't seem to stiffen Egg whites have too much water Age egg whites at least overnight.  I leave a tupperware of egg whites in the fridge at all times. 
Added flavorings or coloring too early.  Never add any flavorings or color until the very end. Not even spices as some have oils. 
Egg whites seem to flatten or liquefy when mixing in the powdered sugar and almond meal Too much flavoring, color, or additional liquid source.  Don't add so much! Easy does it! If my flavoring has oil (often does), I add just a few drops just prior to piping.
Beating too hard.  Fold the egg whites gently. After adding coloring and flavorings, I fold no more than 10 times. 
Egg whites weren't whipped long enough.  Whip egg whites until very stiff peaks. Then whip for another three minutes. 
Egg whites sat without movement for too long.  Don't waste time between steps.  Get a move on it. 
Top of Macaron seems bumpy or blemished.  Too many chunks of almond meal or flour  in the batter.  Sift the almond flour before using. 
Too many chunks of almond meal or flour  in the batter.  Process the almond meal in a food processor for a longer period of time. 
Macarons maintain a stiff peak after piping and baking.  Batter too stiff.  Fold a few more times or add just a few drops of liquid (flavoring, coloring, or water).
Batter too stiff.  Rap the bottom of the pan on the counter to flatten.  I heard macarons are particularly fond of Sir-Mix-A-Lot. 
Macarons liquify after piping.  They can also run into each other and hold hands.  Too much flavoring, color, or additional liquid source.  Don't add so much! Easy does it!
Beating too hard.  Fold the egg whites gently. After adding coloring and flavorings, I fold no more than 10 times. 
Egg whites weren't whipped long enough.  Whip egg whites until very stiff peaks. Then whip for another three minutes. 
Batter got warm or over-handled with piping Pipe macarons quickly taking care to not hold the piping bag in your hands too often. 
Piped batter too closely.  Pipe macarons further away from each other. 
No feet develop.  Batter is too wet.  See the liquefying problem.
Air was beaten out of the batter. Gently fold the batter.  Quit messing with it!
Too much flavoring, color, or additional liquid source making the batter too wet to rise.  Don't add so much! Easy does it!
Luck.  Sometimes, things just happen.  
Macarons crack on top when baking.  There are two types of cracks.  1. Macaron is too delicate. 2. The foot develops on top creating a large bubbly crack.  Shell too delicate because the batter was too wet.  See fixes for egg whites flattening. 
Macarons did not dry to form a shell on top prior to baking.  Allow macarons to dry for longer periods of time.  Heat up the oven to dry out to the room or use a hair dryer to dry the macarons.  Or turn on the heater or air conditioner to dry out the room.  The top of the macarons should be very dry to the touch prior to baking.
Temperature too high when baking in humidity.  Humidity kills.  Lower oven temperature when higher humidity levels. In dry weather, I bake for 11 minutes at 350. In medium humidity, I bake for 12 minutes at 325.  In wet weather, I bake for 13 minutes as 305 degrees. 
Macarons stick to the bottom of the pan.  Perfect ones will pop off cleanly.  Baking surface was a bit dirty. Make sure baking surface is thoroughly clean prior to piping. 
Silpat is old or cheap.  Go for the gusto and buy the expensive stuff. Some people use parchment, but I'm a huge believer in the silpat. 
The bottoms are not fully baked.  Bake for a while longer. Check every 45 seconds. 
The tops of Macarons come off, but the bottoms remain stuck to the pan.  Baking surface was a bit dirty. Make sure baking surface is thoroughly clean prior to piping. 
Silpat is old or cheap.  Go for the gusto and buy the expensive stuff. Some people use parchment, but I'm a huge believer in the silpat. 
The bottoms are not fully baked.  Bake for a while longer. Check every 45 seconds. 
Luck.  Fill the tops with extra filling and stick them together anyways. Scrap off the bottoms and eat them. 
Macarons are inconsistent. Some are perfect, some are terrible.  Uneven airflow. Bake only one pan at a time. 
Uneven airflow.  Make sure to rotate the pan halfway through baking.  
Uneven airflow. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door cracked. 
Temperature change in batter or over-handling in piping.  Work quickly and don't mess with the batter. 
Luck.  Sometimes, things just happen.  
Macarons rise and then deflate.  Removing from heat before fully baking.  Leave them in the oven until they are done. I've accidentally taken macarons out of the oven when they are only needing to be rotated.  That's how I learned this lesson.  Re-baking them does not fix the problem. 


Here's a batch of cracked macarons.  This batch cracked because the shell wasn't strong enough (crack type 1) which is often caused by too much liquid in the batter.  Notice that there is a single perfect macaron with feet in the photo among all the other cracked ones.


I knew that the batter for that batch was ruined so I let someone make shapes out of the batter.  Goldfish-shaped macaron, anyone?  Ironically, all these macarons had feet!


Another photo of some perfect looking macarons, and some not so perfect ones.  This batch was pumpkin spice, with too much pumpkin (liquid) in it.


Here's a photo of some trays of macarons drying before baking.  The batter on these were a little too stiff and thus the peaks on the macarons.  However, if I had to choose, I'd choose too still over liquifying macarons.  You can also see which ones I piped last.  Look at the very far back right pan.  Half of the macarons have peaks and the other half don't.  The ones that don't have peaks were piped last and un-stiffened from the warmth of my hands and the handling.


Here's a better photo depicting the peak of the macarons when piping.  They should slowly flatten out and then dry.


Here's another photo of some perfect macarons, and some crack (type 2 crack) macarons.  You can't really tell in this photos, but many of these had feet.


A close up of the same photo.


Here's another photo of the same batch pre-bake.  I lived life a little too close to the edge, and I piped them too close to each other.  Oopsie.


This is a crack (type 2) because the macaron did not dry out enough.  Typically, a macaron should dry so that the top has a skin.  When the macaron bakes, the skin holds the top together as the macaron rises and develops feet.  The skin on this macaron was not dry enough to keep from cracking as it rose.  I call this type of crack a foot on the top.  If this type of crack was on the bottom, we'd call it a foot.



Here's another photo of a macaron from the same batch. You can see that this crack/foot started to develop on the bottom but wasn't quite right.  The crack also traverses around the macaron and towards the top just to the right of the point.  The point is there because the batter was too stiff when piping.  It didn't quite flatten when drying.


Here's a photo of various problems.  1. Crack (type 2, also called foot on top). 2. They are stuck together. 3. One has a pointy top.


Now here's some photos of pretty macarons.  See how the foot rises from the bottom? The top is smooth (sprinkled with coconut though).  No cracks on the top.

http://romanreign.com/macarontopcoco.JPG
Here's another photo from a macaron from the same batch.


Now here's a photo of a macaron from a bakery (not in Texas) that looked very peculiar.  I have a strong suspicions that these feet were......FAKED!  You can see that there is a round smooth bottom with defined edges on this macaron.  The "feet" sticking out and only around the outsides of the macaron.  They did not rise from the bottom.  Also, the macaron has uneven bits from using grainy almond meal.



I shift my dry ingredients after weighing.  My scale weighs to 0.1 of a gram.


I use a glass to hold up my piping bag so I don't overhandle the batter.


I use bobby pins to keep the bottom closed.  The batter will spill all over the place without it.


And here's a bobby pinned filled bag.  I better get to piping before the batter starts to act funny.

87 comments:

  1. CONFESSION: I've never had a macaroon. I like sweets and I know I'll love it, but alas, no try.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Holy Jeebus.. you've been baking lots of macarons!
    Nice thorough description of everything that can go wrong. Love the egg carton carrying case. Clever!

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  3. @Tanya, La Boite, Vesapio, and Walton's have macarons. It is often easier just to buy them.

    @zenchef, :o)

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  4. Love this blog post! I need a personal instruction session on the making of macaroon's!

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  5. Come over, and we'll do a session!

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  6. Great blog post on macarons! I also use a glass to hold the piping bag & using egg cartons to transport them? Great idea!

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  7. By chance, do you know of any place in north Austin that has macaroons?

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  8. Thanks for your helpful article on troubleshooting macarons. Your comment on fake foot is interesting. There are special custom made macaron molds with feet available for sale from master chefs.

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  9. Tanya, There might be new places in North Austin making macarons now that they are gainin popularity. To my knowledge so far: La Boite, Vesapio, Walton's on 6th, La Patisserie, Justine's, Coolhaus, Cinnamon's Bakery and Cafe, Central Market, Baugette el Chocolat, and Bouldin Creek Cafe.

    Anonymous, If they were master chefs, why would they need molds? :o)

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  10. Amazing reference guide- thanks for putting this together. I've added a link to it on my recent post on macarons since I discussed my cracking issue.

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  11. I've never eaten a french macaron either! I say french as the english macaroon (coconut or almond) are different. These dainty beauties are so pretty I am determined to make some but I have failed on 3 occasions. First time they were like uncooked chocolate cookies, second time had feet but sticky bottoms and same with the third attempt. Maybe today will be the day?

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  12. Those don't look faked to me and you're lucky you haven't seen or experienced macs with that look before, it can be frustrating to have them do that. If you watch them in the oven, you'll see the macs rise to excessive height - way beyond what is normal for a mac. Then, they eventually collapse and what looks like it was piped around the edge is what was the foot. Still quite yummy tho!

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  13. Hi! Thanks for your tips on macarons.

    Do you have any advice on piping perfect rounds? I do the straight up-and-down piping, the side piping, and they start out as perfect circles but as they spread they all become a lopsided. What's sad is I'm trained in pastry! (well, I went the chocolatier route, but still--so embarrassing!) I'm thinking the pans are warped, but I've tried it in 2 kitchens, different pans, same thing. I get the foot, the smooth tops, the texture, everything, just not roundness!

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  14. Wow, I love the troubleshooting table that you created for each macaron problems. I've encountered most of the problems that you described here and the major culprit is my meringue. Some how it always come out different no matter how I try to beat them the same way.

    www.themacaronqueen.blogspot.com

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  15. You can't fake the "pied" of the macaron.

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  16. Thank you for this post. I have been obsessed with making macarons for the past few months and am reading everything I can. It is exhilarating when they come out perfect, tragic when they fail. It's an emotional roller coaster. So far I get very consistent results when making plain or flavored with spice ones, but so far lemon and chocolate have been 100% failures and raspberry have been touch and go. I tried flavoring with pulverized freeze-dried fruit and true lemon powdered lemon, thinking dry was good. Also, whenever I color with dry food coloring powder they fail. They only crack on top when the batter seems very dry and stiff. I read that citric acid (all acids) toughen the egg white proteins, so is the problem that the proteins become too inflexible when I add acidic flavor and that's why they crack?? If so, can anything be done to loosen the proteins or buffer the acid? I wish I'd have gone to school to be a chemist or food scientist so I could figure this out.

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  17. Hi jbboyne,

    Glad it was helpful! Are you mixing in too much? It might help if you spread a thin layer of your flavoring, fold in with 2-3 strokes, spread another layer, and fold in with 2-3 more strokes. If you dump it all in as a clump, it might need more strokes and flatten the batter.

    I've never heard that citric acid toughens egg whites, but it might. What kind of cracks are you having? Type 1 or type 2?

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  18. Hi jbboyne,

    Here's an article on egg whites an acid. http://www.finecooking.com/item/8570/the-party-that-is-egg-foam

    The egg whites can act as a stabilizer, but I wouldn't call them a toughener.

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  19. Hi! Browse through to fix my macaron baking problem, my macaron leg sometimes only rise at one side. Did anyone can help??? Pleaseeeeee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. try rotating your pans half way through the cooking time. your oven may be too hot on the side that rises

      Delete
  20. Is your oven unevenly heated? Are they all rising unevenly or just a few?

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  21. OMG I think you have put me off trying (and after buying all the ingredients :()

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  22. Thanks you so much for the suggestions...I tried them twice.first batch was not left long enough so they cracked on top a bit.Second batch was perfect.I filled red ones with with strawberry jelly , and green ones with pistachio/creamcheese filling.It was requested twice from friends since and one offered to pay for a batch of 50!!
    Can't thank you enough

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  23. the macaron in that pic that you say is faked is probably not because ive made some just like that but rare lol at least for me i usually end up with the ones u have with small feet and no bulge...

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  24. There is no way on Earth the macaron foot in that photo is "faked". No business that would like to make money and stay open would take the time to pipe a little foot around hundreds of macaron during production taking hours and hours to do it. And there is no way to replicate the baking process that creates the meringue foot. If you piped a fake foot around the edge, it would simply bake up into a ringed macaron.

    And sorry but while I think your trouble-shooting guide is fairly thorough and accurate, luck does not play into the process. Science of ingredients and baking, and proper technique does.

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  25. I've only tried making macaroons twice and both times were a fail, but I was wondering if I could grease the parchment paper or use a silicon mat to ensure that they come off.
    Btw thank you for your trouble shooting guide it was so helpful.

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  26. Dear Anonymous,

    You can conceptualize my use of the word luck as statistical error. In every science, there is some error term that is, for the most part, unmeasurable.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Dear Anonymous,

    Don't grease the parchment paper! If you do, it might flatten out the batter! If they are sticky, you might need to bake them a bit longer or at a higher temperature.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This article is amazing! Thanks for all the helpful tips and pictures! Some of my macarons were cracking at the top (crack type 2), and I found this article when I did a quick search to find out why. I still haven't quite mastered macarons, but they are improving.

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  29. my macaroons dont form any skin at all..i've let it sit for very long time..what should i do??

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  30. Tks for the tips. I made a batch today andbmost of them cracked. Last batch was near perfect as I ensured the skin was formed and the tops were dry enough. Lesson learned is never try macarons on a rainy day:) guess my place became too humid...

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  31. Thanks for the tips, I can't wait to make my next batch! Where do you buy your almond flour from or do you process it yourself?

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  32. @Krista I get almond flour from Central Market (Texas store). I haven't processed it myself.

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  33. thank you so much! im in the middle of baking my first batch and i had a couple have feet on top but all in all they looked like they should! i think i got to excited and didnt let them dry enough. o well. thanks for your help!!

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  34. Hi,

    Thanks for the thorough troubleshooting guide! I was wondering if you would be willing to share your general recipe for macarons?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Brian,

      I use a base recipe from this site: http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2005/08/recipe-index.html

      Jennie

      Delete
  35. Hi! My macarons are perfect until half time of baking. Then the batter "comes out of the shell"...what am I doing wrong? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can you describe "comes out of the shell?" The batter will typically rise/bubble to form the feet. Do you have a photo?

      Delete
  36. Any ideas on dealing with a fluctuating oven? I get results like the "faked feet" bakery. My oven heating element turns on, causing wonderful, super-high scone-like feet. Then my oven heating element decides to turn off since it's hit the target temperature (equivalent of taking the tray out of the oven), causing the feet to deflate and squish out sideways (but the bottom has already formed a nice crust).
    Gah. So frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you tried leaving the oven door open a crack? That should help with the temperature fluctuations.

      Delete
  37. Hi i am living in Indonesia and i make plenty of macarons. I maked them perfect but somtimes they cracke completly. Now my qestion is lately I don't manage to make them any more. Now is it that we are going into the rain saison can that be the reason I feal?
    They have a problem with drying.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When it is rainy (at least for Austin, TX standards), I leave them out to dry for a longer period of time. I also bake at 15-25 degrees lower and for a longer period of time.

      Delete
  38. Hi. Any tips on piping? I dont think im piping it correctly. Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Make sure you use a tip that is big enough that it doesn't "squish" the batter. Also, pipe from the big end so you don't warm the batter with your hands.

      Delete
  39. Hi. Can you please give some tips on piping? Thanks.

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  40. My macarons dry for 1 1/2 hour and seem to have a good shellf but ones it is in the over they crack at the bottom and it starts to leak, what is the problem?

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  41. I tried making macarons today for my first time and the first batch had feet and everything and were smooth on top, but the top shell seperated itself from the cookie and was hallow on the inside. My assumption was that I had to much air in my batter, so the next time I tapped the baking sheet on the counter 3 times, and mixed it more.
    this time they were still hallow in the inside AND the tops were cracked!
    WTF! I give up, they aren't worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you tried to bake them for less time? Try lower temp as well.

      Delete
    2. Try adjusting the temperature of the room where you're baking. This can happen if the macarons cool too fast after being baked

      Delete
    3. Super helpful guide!! Made my first last night and they were too good to be true, tried to recreate tonight and got a bit too much color gel in there. A few more times and hopefully I'll understand the beast!

      Delete
  42. Made three batches of macarons today. Raspberry, pistachio and chocolate. 2 1/4 of the batches came out absolutely perfectly. the other 3/4 batch cracked ( type 2) but had beautiful little 'pieds'. Making macarons is not for the fainthearted. But when they turn out, Oh my! I used Pierre Herme's recipe for the chocolate macarons and it contains unsweetened melted chocolate on the meringue batter. It freaked me out a bit at first but 7 of the shells are absolutely picture perfect. The other ones, not so much. go figure. Will keep on trying, though. They are such a wonderful treat. loved your guide and all you pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  43. THANK you for this -- I'm in College Station and attempted my first Macarons yesterday (trying them out in anticipation of my daughter's birthday party). Yeah, big ol' failure but your post definitely helped me troubleshoot the issue. Yes, issues ... I did several things wrong. ;)

    Thanks!

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  44. Thanks for posting this up! Before I came across this blog, I had made a couple batches of macarons. Obviously, the first two came out terrible. It was all due to my misreading problem(or rather, they didn't state it clearly enough).

    After the first two batches, I started making perfect ones(ish). But the most recent one that I made with actual ground almond flour(I usually make my own almond flour, but they turn out chunky because my blender doesn't go fast enough). Thing is, perhaps I was a bit too hasty, but my macaron came out with a dry top and cracked.

    Was it because I didn't set it out long enough?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you mean by dry top and cracked? Grainy almond flour doesn't always change the macaron, besides in texture. Was the humidity different?

      Delete
    2. Well, the top doesn't have that "glossy"ish look. It's more rather like a cookie than a macaroon. Inside sometimes aren't cooked, also. I don't know about the humidity.. Does that affect greatly on the macaroons?

      So I remade some today and I'm not confident whether I mixed it well enough. I tend to just push here and there and mix just a bit so it's "evenly" spread throughout the bowl and just gently put it in a piping bag. But when I squeezed it out, it all clunky and quite stiff. I learned how to make macaroons from SORTED(Youtube). So when they piped it out, it's quite liquid-y. Is that supposed to happen?

      Delete
    3. Oh........... try a finer grind on the almond flour. That happens to me if I don't shift the almond flour fine enough.

      Are you folding the flour into the egg whites in small batches. That will keep it from being clunky.

      Delete
  45. even after leaving mine out for an hour and a half, i still have macarons which dont really dry out and the batter still sticks to my hand while some others dont and theyre all from the same batch. help?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have a fan on them? Are you warming the batter with your hand when you pipe so that they are more liquid than the others.

      Delete
  46. I attempted green tea macarons last night but ended up with green tea crisps. Yuck! This morning, I tried again. The surface and bottom were perfect, but "fake feet" were formed - this is from the batter not rising, just oozing and spreading out like the other normal cookies.

    My first ever attempt at making macarons had some perfect pieces, even though I hadn't sifted the flour nor rapped the cookie sheet. The imperfect pieces were burnt and cracked, and they were in the second cookie sheet that I placed in the oven together with the one with some perfect pieces.

    How fine does the almond meal have to be? Last night, I used only very fine (literally powder-like) grains. Does this contribute to the batter being too wet? Should I include slightly bigger grains? Perhaps I've over-mixed the batter, or the egg whites not beaten to stiff peaks. Or too much liquid in the egg white. I'm going to attempt two batches today. :D

    ReplyDelete
  47. I actually don't use a very fine almond meal. It is fairly uneven and course. I just shift it and get the big pieces out. I don't think it matters because I have success and failures with different fineness of almond meal. If it liquified, the batter was probably broken before you piped it.

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  48. Christine,

    Is your silpat completely clean? How about trying them at a higher temperature?

    ReplyDelete
  49. Thank you for the troubleshoot. I was suspecting it was my oven and after dozens of inconsistent batches, stuck the wooden spoon in to keep the oven door slightly ajar and thereafter every batch came out beautifully footed and smooth on the top!

    ReplyDelete
  50. hi! do you have any advice on transporting/packaging macarons?
    When I place them standing on its side like how laduree sells them, the filling often slides out and messes up the shells of the other macarons... :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I usually pack mine in egg cartons like this: http://romanreign.com/IMG_1204.JPG

      Delete
  51. Hi, Have you ever experienced a concave base like this when cooking on Silpats?

    http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w252/TJM82/DSC_0362_zpsc7488a49.jpg

    When they come out of the oven, they look perfect, but once they come off the tray, they look like this (and no, the guts isn't left on the sheet, it is just non existent)

    I have recently upgraded to 2/3 aluminum sheets and Silpats, and keep getting these results for 95% of the shells. I went back to my old 1/2 sheet steel trays and parchment for 5 or 6 batches, and they came out perfect. With my oven, on a Steel Tray at 150C (300F), cooking time is bang on 16mins, but at that point on Silpat, they are no where near cooked. If I turn the temp up at all or lower the shells, I end up with a tray of 36 odd volcanoes.

    I always make sure the Silpats are clean
    I am using an Italian Meringue

    I think the shells don't dry as quickly on the Silpat, but I have invested so much money that I don't want to shelve them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have had that problem a few times, but only a few times. I do also tend to have better luck on parchment. Can you try lower temp (maybe 10-15 degrees) for a longer period of time? Perhaps the temperature is too high, and it dries out the guts too fast before the feet can fully cook.

      Delete
    2. I'm having exactly the same issues. if anyone could help that will be great!

      Delete
    3. Hi There, its the concave shell issue. I have tried to lower temperature the shell still comes out concave.

      Delete
    4. Are you starting in a super hot oven? Is there a later that is stuck to the bottom and it is just the shell that comes off concave?

      Delete
  52. hello, very good troubleshooting guide. i was wondering if you might know the answer to my issue. i have baked so many macarons and still cant get a perfect result. i really think its my oven. lately i get pretty good looking macarons but the problem is they get brown buttoms but inside is still wet so after cooling it falls. i tried baking a lower temperatures and at highter and still cant get that perfect dry cookie inside. do you think i just need a new oven? or maybe a stone on the buttom? it drives me nutts that i cant get them perfect. thanks

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  53. What are you baking them on? Parchment?

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  54. This is the most detailed guide to macaron troubleshooting. Love the table and the pictures are really helpful. Thanks a ton

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  55. Your troubleshooting guide is fabulous. Not sure this has been covered: I have made several types of macarons with pretty good success. Today I made green tea macarons (with powder) and the pieds really spread. I'm baking them in a 325 oven. Any suggestions on how to correct this problem. Also I filled them with either chocolate ganache or melon curd, both of which overwhelmed the green tea taste. Any suggestions for fillings? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  56. @Autolysej Personally, matcha tea powder is a pain to use with meringues. I use it in my souffles, and it gives me trouble. Can you try making the outside with chocolate or melon flavor and doing green tea on the inside?

    ReplyDelete
  57. @Autolysej, is the melon flavor in a liquid extract? If yes, add it when folding in the almond flour.

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  58. Thank you! I keep getting the "foot on top" crack, but now I know how to fix it!

    ReplyDelete
  59. What tips do you have for using freeze dried fruit in shells? I've been attempting strawberry for entirely too long. I've got plain, vanilla, chocolate, pumpkin spice.. all down pat. But every time i attempt strawberry they come out cracked, brown, and underdone. I've gotten to know my oven pretty well for all the other ones. I'm not sure what is happening!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How big are the strawberry chunks? Could they be too heavy and collapsing the batter from the inside out?

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  60. I grind mine as fine as the almond flour and add it to that, not the whipped egg whites,

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  61. I beat my eggs to stiff peaks then added my flour mixture but the batter never would reach the lava stage, it stayed fairly stiff, even after way overmixing (which I assume is why they didn't have feet)

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    1. Can you try a little less stiff peaks? Or just one drop of flavoring like peppermint oil?

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  62. I've been baking macarones all day for a baby shower....12 hours and just as many batches and half that many different recipes...I think I might have 30 that will pass the test...although my "feet" are missing on most.
    I want to conquer these babies, though, so I will keep trying.

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  63. I had to let you know- that Sir Mix a Lot comment had me laughing. Came here to trouble shoot my macarons, left with great info and a great laugh.

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