How to make perfect macarons {Part 2}

Instructions

Make macarons.

1. Weigh the ground almond together with the icing sugar. You can weigh it directly in the food processor if you wish.
2. Blend both ingredients together. Our aim is to achieve a very fine texture of the almond together with the icing sugar. WARNING: When you process almonds, make them with intermittent touches, not too long. Otherwise the blades will be heated with friction and the almond will release oils that we are NOT interested in this process.
3. Sift the mixture. It is not necessary to do it two or three times, with one we will be perfect.
4. Weigh the egg whites and separate them into two equal parts of 28 g each.
5. Mix one of them with the food coloring and the extract. The other we will pour it in a bowl to whip it and to elaborate an Italian merengue.

Make Italian meringue for macarons.

1. In a saucepan pour the water together with the sugar and cook over medium heat without stirring. Leave until it reaches 118º C, for it we will help ourselves of a digital thermometer.
2. While it reaches the wished temperature we begin to whip the egg whites (that we had reserved in a bowl previously) until we get soft peaks.
3. Start with the lowest speed and gradually increase.
4. We will never reach the maximum speed of the manual mixer, otherwise we will dry the egg whites. It is preferable to whip gradually rather than suddenly and with a high speed.
5. Once the syrup reaches 118ºC, remove it from the heat and begin to incorporate it little by little and in a fine and continuous thread to the semi-mounted whites. While we do this, we will beat at the same time with the electric whisk or in the Kitchen Aid.
6. Whip until obtaining a firm meringue, but without forming hard peaks. We don't want a firm and dry meringue, but one that falls on itself.
7. A small tip to know the state of merengue is the use of a thermometer.
   When we are whipping the meringue and we consider that it is ready, put the thermometer in it.  If it marks between 50º-47ºC, it will be ready. WARNING: This information is for guidance only. If we take a long time to whip the egg whites and stop very often to check the temperature, it will fall before reaching the desired point and, therefore, this guideline is not worth us as a step to follow.
8. Add the un-whipped egg whites with the dissolved food coloring to the almond mixture. Do not mix or stir, and add the meringue as well.

Make macaronage.

1. Make macaronage with gentle, enveloping movements. We have to integrate some ingredients with others without beating them, as we do not want the meringue to lose its firmness.
2. Place silicone spatula underneath and towards the centre, we go up incorporating it into the centre again. We will make a few movements but not many! We must observe that texture takes our mixture once the ingredients are integrated.
3. When we find ourselves doing the macaronage and want to know if our batter is ready, we will deep and remove the peak of the silicone spatula in the batter with a quick movement. If the peak falls and is incorporated practically whole, it should not be totally integrated, then we will have it ready.
4. When you do this test you can hit the bowl against the table a couple of times after removing the spatula, so we will imitate the effect of gravity that will appear after piping the macaron in the tray.

Pipe.

1. Once we have the batter ready, it is time to place our macarons on the baking tray (pipe). At the time of baking there are several options to place the macaron: we can do it on baking paper, Teflon or silpat.
2. We can use a smooth tip or make a cut at the end of the piping bag. When you cut the piping bag to place the nozzle, make sure that the cut you make on the sleeve is far from the exit of the tip, otherwise you can deform the macarons when piping.
3. To pipe the macarons we can make drawings on the baking paper or use templates. Remember that I attach 4 templates with different sizes: very small, small, medium and large. In this way it will be much easier to control its size without having to make circles in the paper oven.
4. Place the templates under the baking paper and pipe.
5. With the vertical piping bag, gently press and release before reaching the limit of the circle. They tend to grow a few millimeters after the piping because they expand slightly, so it is advisable not to reach the edge.
6. Once we have all our macarons on the tray, tap a couple of times against a work surface to help settle them and expel possible air bubbles.
   

Drying process or croûtage.

1. The drying time will be relative and will depend on various conditions, the place where we live, temperature, humidity ... It can range from 20-45 minutes as a normal average or even go a couple of hours in cold times.
2. In order to know when they are dry it will be enough to pass the fingertips over one of them, the batter will not stick to these. In addition we will notice that the surface will have taken a satin aspect.
3. In order not to spoil our macarons the best thing will be to make a macaron in a side as a sample and it will serve us to know how the time of drying evolves.

Bake.

1. Preheat the oven to 310ºF/155ºC. We must preheat a minimum of 10 minutes before baking, it must have the correct temperature when we place the macarons. It will be very useful to help us with an oven thermometer to know and know the interior temperature.
2. Placee the macarons inside and lower the temperature to 300ºF/150ºC.
3. Halfway through baking (depending on the size chosen, see NOTES) open the door for a few seconds to encourage the steam exit, close the door and finish cooking. In some cases we will have to gradually lower the heat and in others we can bake at 290ºF/145 ºC throughout the time without changing anything.
4. Remove from the oven and transfer to a smooth surface or another cold oven tray (room temperature) on the parchment, teflon... and let it cool completely. Never place them on a rack. The reason is that they are still tender and the base could take the form of it.
5. Once they have cooled, we will be able to separate them from the paper without problems. They will actually peel off on their own.
6. Store in an airtight container until the next day. You can also fill them the same day if you wish, but remember that they must mature 24 hours in the fridge before consuming them.

Notes

• To make a correct syrup: When our thermometer reaches 239ºF/115ºC, we can lower a little heat intensity so that the temperature increase in the syrup is slower and favors the evaporation of water resulting in a correct syrup. We will leave until the syrup reaches 244ºF/118ºC.
• If you want to whip egg whites in the KA, you must use more egg whites than I leave you in the recipe. It's a very small quantity and the whisk will hardly be able to beat them.
• I know that when you're making merengue you'll think - shouldn't this be whipping until it's firm? No, it's not necessary. We run the risk of beating the egg whites and drying them out, a consequence that will bring us disastrous macarons. The egg whites will be whipped, with a lot of brightness and firmness but not too rigid. In fact, if we turn the bowl with the whipped meringue this will not fall. In my workshops I always did it so that they could see that it stayed inside without moving.
• How will I know when I've reached the perfect point of macaronage? This is probably the most delicate and important point of processing. We must achieve a homogeneous mixture, but with the ideal drop point so that it integrates again into the batter without leaving "peaks" on the shell of the macaron. You will have read in many places that the best option is to make a cut in the batter and count 20 seconds until what happens again or that it has to be similar to the fall of the "lava"... But of course, when we are at home making our macarons we think... - What speed do I count the seconds... does the lava fall like that? I think so... - I don't know about you, but I've never seen a volcano erupting up close and I've seen how lava flows to engrave it on my retina. So we find ourselves in the kitchen removing the batter, making it dizzy and asking the whole family for their opinion as to whether what we say is right. Of course, they will support us or tell us... - no, I think a little more...ays you've gone too far-. After many tests I realized that the best thing I could do to know which was the exact point at which to separate the piping bag after piping, the peak fell and was incorporated into the batter without leaving a trace, was simply imitate it. When we find ourselves doing the macaronage and want to know if our batter is ready, we will deep and remove the peak of the silicone spatula in the batter with a quick movement. If the peak falls and is incorporated practically whole, it should not be totally integrated, then we will have it ready. When you do this test you can hit the bowl against the table a couple of times after removing the spatula, so we will imitate the effect of gravity that will appear after piping the macaron in the tray. Don't forget that when you put the batter in the piping bage and pipe it, it liquefies a little more.
• Another feature that tells us that macarons will turn out well is a brightness on the surface of the shell, it creates a kind of glossy film (this you will notice after making many macarons).
  
• It is very important to know 100% how it works our oven, this is fundamental, otherwise we can have very unpleasant surprises. The time of baking and temperature that I leave you is indicative. In my case it works perfectly, but I've had to make countless macarons to find the exact point. These guidelines will serve to guide us approximately, but they can always vary a little depending on the oven. It is very important to carry out tests. The baking time will depend on the size of our macarons:
  • For very small macarons we will bake for 8-9 minutes
  • For small macarons we will bake for 10-12 minutes
  • For medium macarons we will bake between 13-15 minutes
  • For large macarons we will bake between 18-20 minutes
   
• When the base of a macaron begins to overcook, in addition to being visible to the naked eye, we will perceive a characteristic burnt smell. You will know this well to those who have happened to you. You will also see a darker shade at the base of the macaron.

Archivado en

• Almonds
• Egg whites
• Meringue