I've also been getting emails over the past few months asking for 'behind the scenes' pictures of (the madness that is) my working process so I'm adding a picture to the end of this post that shows what a mess my floor looks like when I'm taking pictures with all the props I try and incorporate into each shoot. Email me or leave a comment to let me know if you'd like to see more detailed photos. Of my props. No, no, not MY props. Oh, you know what I mean.
Now, I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I've been baking since I was 8 years old (no, that's not what I'm ashamed of!) and
I have never once made French macarons (macs). They are quite different
from coconut macaroons in that one is spelt with one o and the other is spelt with two o's, and when I saw that Jamie & Deeba had
started a whole new blog called MacTweets for people like myself who have never dared
attempt to make these French beauties before, I knew that it was the ultimate baking challenge and I had to at least give it a try. Besides, how hard could it be? It's just a bunch of egg whites!
Oh, how wrong I was.
Before you even begin, can I suggest that you do what I didn't: research and read everything you can about making macs before you actually make them. By the time I got mine right, I'd read THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, and of course THIS.
Also, what I found *really* helped was watching the following videos on how to make macs, because I can't stress enough how important it is to see
what the texture of your batter is supposed to look like before you pipe it. Everyone says it's supposed to flow like lava, but you wouldn't know exactly how fast or slow that flows unless you're standing next to a volcano or watching the Discovery channel 24-7. And for that matter, how would you know if it's the lava that's freshly erupted, or the lava that's cooling down? Anyway, just watch
THIS, THIS and THIS (videos of batter by the way, not lava!).
The last video is in French, but trust me, just watching that hottie will make you want to make macarons it
doesn't matter if you don't speak the language. Mute it if you have to,
but just watch - you'll learn so much about mixing, piping and handling the macs, I promise.
The important bits:
- Egg whites: You must age your egg whites to achieve a harder macaron shell that doesn't break easily. The usual ageing time is between 24-48 hours, and I feel like I aged ten years waiting for them to age. Alternatives to the ageing process (egg whites that is, neither of which I've tried by the way) are microwaving your egg whites for 10-15 seconds or adding roughly 10 grams of dried powdered egg white to the fresh egg whites.
- Macaron feet: Yes, feet. And no, you haven't landed on some internet fetish site (not that I know what those are - ahem). When you bake your macarons, they form what have come to be lovingly known as 'feet' around the bottom of each macaron shell. Whether you get feet or not depends on a combination of things - your almond flour and how much of it you use, how much you stir your macaronage, and how your oven bakes.
- Silicone: I can highly advise you to invest in good silicone implants baking sheets. It will prevent your macarons from sticking to the baking paper. If you do use baking paper, you might need to slightly dampen the underside of the paper, but only after the baked macarons have cooled.
- Know your oven like you know your man: When is he warmest? When is he coldest? When does he give you what you want? Is he fiery? Temperamental? Impulsive? Does he bring out the best or the worst in you? I have a very hot, erm, oven, and even though I got feet every time, my macs always turned too brown. So I had to experiment by lowering temperatures and placing the baking tray on different shelves in the oven. In the end, what worked for me was preheating the oven to 160˚C, then lowering the temperature to 140˚C, placing the tray on the top shelf for 10 minutes, then turning the tray around and placing it on the middle shelf for 10 minutes. And that's just my oven... can you imagine what I do with my man?!
Recipe, macaron tips & tricks, and a picture of my messy floor when I'm taking photos after the jump!
