Macarons

Almond meringue shells folded to exactly the right slackness and rested until they skin over before baking.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (double cream).

Ingredients

For the shells

• 150 g ground almonds
• 150 g icing sugar
• 110 g egg whites, aged, at room temperature
• 150 g caster sugar
• 50 ml water
• a pinch of salt

To fill

• ganache, as on its own page

Method

1. THE FOLDING IS THE WHOLE RECIPE AND IT HAS AN EXACT END POINT. The batter is deliberately knocked down until it falls from the spatula in a thick ribbon that sinks back into itself within about ten seconds. Under-folded, the shells are lumpy and crack; over-folded by even half a minute, they spread flat and have no foot. There is no recovering either, and the ribbon test is the only reliable judge.
2. THEY ARE RESTED UNTIL THEY SKIN OVER AND YOU CAN TOUCH ONE WITHOUT IT STICKING. Thirty minutes to an hour depending on the kitchen. That skin is what forces the rise downward into the characteristic foot instead of upward through the top.
3. THE ALMONDS AND ICING SUGAR ARE SIEVED TOGETHER TWICE and anything that will not go through is discarded. Grit makes a pitted shell.
4. Almonds and icing sugar blitzed briefly together, then sieved twice.
5. Half the egg whites (55 g) stirred into the almond mixture to a stiff paste. Set aside.
6. Caster sugar and water boiled to 118C.
7. The other 55 g of whites whipped with the salt to soft peaks while the syrup heats.
8. The syrup poured onto the whites in a thin stream with the mixer running, then whipped until the bowl is only just warm and the meringue is thick and glossy.
9. A third of the meringue beaten into the almond paste to slacken it, then the rest folded in.
10. NOW THE FOLDING DOWN: pressing the batter against the side of the bowl and turning it over, repeatedly, until it falls in a thick ribbon that sinks back within 10 seconds. Test every few folds from this point.
11. Piped into 3 cm rounds on lined trays, and each tray rapped hard on the worktop twice to knock out air bubbles.
12. RESTED 30 to 60 minutes until a finger laid on one comes away clean.
13. Baked at 150C for 14 minutes. They should lift cleanly and have a visible foot.
14. Cooled completely on the tray, then paired and filled with ganache as on its own page. MATURED IN THE FRIDGE 24 HOURS before eating -- the shells soften against the filling and the texture is the point of the wait.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes