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Why are my macarons failing? - Here are some tips



Orriiiight! Rima is busy baking; so since her one-eyed bandit is at home I will be posting something today. But this posting involves plenty of Rima-input.

Macarons. I-say-maaan.... those melt-in your mouth confectioneries with rich chocolate or salted caramel fillings.. Just as good as Se.....listening to classical music. There are many tips on the internet but most of them are for dryer northern or southern climates. Not our humid equatorial climate.

So I will certainly duplicate some of the known tips, but Rima has some "local" tips that may help in your macaron-making escapade...

1) Weigh everything - digitally. Many Asian recipes are quite forgiving. And so are the simple desert recipes. But when it comes to macarons, the ratio of eggs, sugar, almond powder is really important. If you don't have a digital scale and still rely on an analogue one, get one. For example HERE or HERE. (Free marketing)

2) When you see pimples on top of a macaron, they are caused by almond that was not ground fine enough. Also, almond "chunks" weigh down the macaron shell - so they will not rise. Make sure your almond is ground finely and if not, put it into a food processor.

3) Amount of sugar. In my opinion, if you want less sweet - then don't bake. But anyway - You can do less sweet in other deserts, but doing less sweet on a macaron will cause its stability to weaken as you will not get a full meringue.

4) Meringue: Make sure your bowl is tip top clean. And absolutely no oil or butter in it from your previous bake. The slightest bit of grease in your bowl and the egg white will not foam. Mix your egg whites well until soft peaks form. MEANING: when you pull out your whisk, the meringue will follow and after that not topple.

5) The macaronage: Its important to mix everything thoroughly and not leave stray bits of meringue on the outer edges which you then later on end up piping onto the tray. The meringue batter behaves differently to the macaron mixture in the oven - so if you have some meringue mixture in there, it will most likely crack your macarons.

6) After piping your mixture, you will need to let any air escape and also let the macaron settle. You do this by tapping the tray 3 times - hard - on your counter. Forget this step and your macarons will not turn out well.

7) Let your macarons sit for awhile - and that while can be the big deal breaker. You need to let it sit until a skin forms on the macaron. Meaning: Touching the macaron mixture with your finger will not dirty your finger. In the tropics this can be tough to achieve due to the humidity. So the options are: a) When it is raining - don't do macarons. b) Let your macarons dry in an air conditioned room b) let them dry and prior to putting them in the oven, let them rest for 2 minutes on top of the open door of your oven.

8) Make sure you know how your oven works. Many ovens don't burn at the temperature we require. But they can be up to 20-30C off. So learn your oven and work with it prior to attempting macarons. Finally: switch off the fan in a fan forced oven if you can.

9) Make sure your macarons are well baked. If you don't bake them enough, the soft goo inside will stick to your mat and you will have hollow shells.

10) Macarons taste best when they are piped and then left in the fridge for at least 24 hours. When you are ready, take them out of the fridge and they are good to eat after about 10minutes.

11) So how should the macaron actually look/feel like texture wise. It is not a biscuit - so its not crunchy. It has a crunchy shell and a semi-hard-goo inside.

12) So why can't they be posted? Because they are too fragile. Only the outer shell is crunchy; so if you post them the movement will almost certainly crush the macarons.

Anyway, good fillings generally need to be refrigerated. Courier services and postal services cannot give you a chilled environment - so the only way to have macarons is either in a shop, self collected and then you have to refrigerate them quickly or delivered in a chilled bag.

...and just before posting I was bloghopping and chanced upon Liyanah's blog Baking Abode on her first Macaron try. Well done!!




13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr Rima for sharing these valuable tips.

Both you and Rima are definitely kind people who share all the recipe and tips. I have encountered some bakers who purposely omit one or two ingredients out of the recipe they post on their web and end up in us having wrongly baked goodies.

Take care and hope you are recovering well.

Sally

Chah said...

Hi rima, i did my batch yesterday. N guest what..i 'm using mastrad silicone pad ordered from ur store! Unfortunetely the pad not suit my oven size n i hv to fold a bit to make them sit well in the tray. Never mind, coz mmg dlm hati ada taman coz i owned that pad. Start using this since mr postman ring the bell bout 2 months ago and the pad now mine! * gedikss

but only today i shared in my blog n iam gladdddddd if u can hv a look my macs...www.bilachahkedapur.blogspot.com

But still something wrong somewhere ( most of them cames from my hand :( so everytime i baked them mesti ada yg crack punya...

Ummi said...

Rimaaaaaaaaaaaa....adeeei banyaknya tips yang mengetarkan tangan akak nak buat nih! Hahhahaa... Anyway, thanks for your local tips on making this melt-in-mouth dish...adeeeeii. Baca jek pun semput, x tau la nnt nak memicit adunan...hahahhahaha, sabauuu jek la... InsyaAllah, one fine day...! ^__________^

Mama said...

ye yeh......at last Mama r d first person who gonna komen...ha ha ha ha...eih kak rima..apsal complicated sungguh nak way maccarroon ni..? sungguh la menakutkan bile tengok procedure nyer...Mama ni jenis campak wet ing...then dry ing... blend it...masuk mould ..straight away get into d oven...after 40 - 45 minute..tadaaaaaaaaa...my baking session done!!!! tu jer yg termampu!!!! im telling u... u memang seorang wanita yg sunguhlaaa penyabar...( on what i looks at ur every kind of bakes n methods ) u deserve it..... pls keep it up..n always heppy deppy with ur lovings..murah rezeki... n makes lots of entry..( ishk ishk tetibe terase sayu n sedih plak )...bye bye....

KG said...

voila....mr rima...when is mr kg gonna do this wt me haha! i dry my macarons almost all the time in the oven, they never dry in my house tt is in the midst of jungle haha! take care!

elaine chan said...

Thank You for your generosity in sharing the tips.

Mama said...

me again...have u try any apple strudel resepi??? Mama dah survey lots of a.strudel resepi..but i couldn't fine any resepi that add custard cream n whipping cream as the garnishing with d apple ... and the method is too hussy fussy 1... i slalu bli jer kat Fruity cake house.. its layerd with apples, custard n whipping cream( if not mistaken : based on d taste )and d pastry was very cunchy..sprinkle with sugar on it.. pls pls pls...chill it and have it...hhmm yummmyyy!!!! penah cuba tak?? have a try??? ._____.
v

pRee said...

Thanks for sharing, hopefully 1 day ill try baking macs :)

YHL said...

Rima,

This Morning i was reading your maracons post n i would like to say thank you to you, the recipe is so good

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr Rima. With 1 eye you still manage to compose some good tips for us.

Get well soon.

psssst! while at home now, did you nag on Rima. hehehe

Azian

Zatil said...

Kak Rima....tq for the tips..i shall again try this very delicate macaron making..pheww..

Mikel's Wifey said...

Salam Kak Rima, thank you for sharing these tips. Macaroon is delicate and tricky to bake. Am going to bake another tomorrow and hopefully this time jadi. I love your chunky choc biskut recipe..my nieces keep asking for more. LOL.

natrah said...

Tq for the tips..

About Me

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Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..