French Macarons - a Study in Shells

image courtesy of Laduree - famous famous famous

Ah, this has probably been the most difficult thing I have ever made... Having said that, it was the actual reason I decided it was worth learning how to do: it was difficult. I am a sucker for a challenge!  An elusive cooking technique that would take time to understand, let alone master?  More than I could resist.

The French can make boiling water look difficult.  To watch videos from Pierre Hermé made this seem an impossible feat.  I researched on the internet, surfed blog after blog, bought numerous Kindle books on the topic and finally just decided that it was all hype.  Nothing but fluff about fluff...

What I came to realize is that while the technique is veiled in mystery and all kinds of ideas that seem more like superstition to me than anything else, the actual process of making macarons is all science. And while it is only a handful of simple ingredients, everything about the recipe depends on your environment.  Sound at all familiar?  

There was one recipe my mother and grandmothers used to make that really did depend on the weather and that was meringue.  As it turns out, macarons are actually just meringues mixed with ground almonds. No big deal, right? Right. No big deal.  

Let's attempt to demystify and simplify this hyped up little treasure...  I saw a u tube video of the daftest ding dong of a girl make these her first try and it validated all I already suspected: the Frenchies are on crack (just kidding Frenchies, I love you!). These are not only easy to make but they are truly fun and terribly addictive, so beware. The only thing you will have to work hard at is to not devour them before you have finished making your first batch. Seriously. Powerfully attractive little buggers but worth every bit of effort.

For this lesson, a Study in Shells, we will focus on just the cookie part and once we have that mastered, we can talk about filling. Trouble is, I can't keep them in the house long enough to need a filling... :)

Ingredients:

• 165 g of powdered sugar
• 165 g of  whole almonds or almond flour
• 115 g egg whites (room temperature) beaten to stiff peaks
• 150 g organic granulated sugar mixed well with 
• 1/2 tsp cream of tarter and pinch of salt

Process:

Resting shells, not quite ready for baking... still too shiny.

1. Process almonds and powdered sugar and set aside. **Don't let it process too long or the heat from the motor can turn this into almond butter. Instead, pulse the almonds and sugar until it is as fine as you can get it. If you want to use a sifter to catch the larger bits, that is a good idea, if you care about that. I don't bother.
2. Mix granulated sugar, pinch of salt and 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, beat room temperature egg whites to medium peaks.
4. Slowly sprinkle in the sugar/salt/cream of tartar mixture and continue to beat until stiff and shiny peaks form.
5. Turn mixer to the lowest speed and slowly sprinkle in the almond/sugar mixture.  This is also a good time to add your food  coloring gel, if you are coloring your shells. We will get into flavoring agents in a later post. Right now, let's just work on getting some good shells.
6. Turn off mixer and fill your piping bag with batter.
7. Pipe rounds about the size of a quarter to start. You can go bigger or smaller but we need a frame of reference and I find this size to be about perfect for me.  You will see what I mean. On your last sheet, try a couple of different sizes to see what works best for you.
8. Pipe everything at once so skins form on the shells. 

Hint: The shells go from very shiny to very dull and don't stick to your fingers if set.

Baking:

Bake at 275-280 degrees Fahrenheit for 14 minutes.  

This is my sweet spot for my particular oven. I have tried so many different temps and baking times and this was what 3 months of effort yielded for me. :) Try it first and alter it if you must. You may have no choice if your oven is at all finicky or unpredictable.

Lessons I had to learn because I was a non-believer:

1. To make almond "flour". I use whole almonds from Costco and don't worry one bit about the skins on the almonds. Makes not a bit of difference so save yourself some money and make your own "almond flour".  That's just another way of saying: finely ground almonds.
2. Egg whites should be at room temperature for best results.
3. To get properly formed "feet", you must let the shells rest for at least 10-15 minutes, maybe longer, if you have high humidity. The shells need to dry out a bit so they form a skin. This allows the shells to lift or rise properly during the baking.  If yours crack or look a tad volcanic, it is likely due to missing this minor, but important resting step.
4. Pipe them all at the same time. Sounds crazy but it is easier. I cut parchment paper to fit my pan and cut 4 or 5 more pieces the same size so I can line them all on the countertop or table and pipe them in one go.  They dry properly and your batter won't deflate in between pipings.  It's meringue, remember, so pipe it while it's fluffy.
5. Your oven is different than mine so temperature here is relative. Arggg.  I know. But here is the deal: Bake your first batch at 275 degrees. Then try 280 if those don't turn out the way you think they should. Suffer a cook's guilt and test one by eating one or twenty to see what the texture is like. Test again after they have cooled. My best macarons are done between 275-280 F.  I've tried starting low, rotating trays, turning it up high. Nonsense.  Unnecessary if you find the right temperature for your oven.
6. May sound like a pain, but bake only 1 sheet at a time, middle rack, until you get the hang of it. I can't seem to bake multiple sheets and still get good feet without a lot of fussing. I can't handle it so go one sheet at a time.
7. Parchment is actually better than silpats.  I love silpats but can't afford to buy 6 and parchment paper is divine. It can be reused until it can't... I know, they say it can't but it's another industry fib, like how some clothes can't be washed and have to be dry cleaned. Whatever.  Not only does it work fine for many batches of macarons but the shells leave marks which can help you learn to be consistent with your piping. Just pipe onto the same circles your first batch of macarons left behind.
8. Piping - do not get French fancy. Keep your piping bag and tip straight up and down and pipe directly then pull straight up. If you have a peak, just tap it down once the shells have rested.  In time, you can learn to pipe straight up and down the drag to the side to keep the tail or peak from forming but in the beginning, just do your best to keep the shell round and even; that will be hard enough if you've never used a piping bag before. My mother in law said my first ones looked like terds... Nice. But she was right. Don't worry about it. They don't taste like terds... LOL!
9. Piping bags - great but totally unnecessary. Load your batter into a gallon zip lock bag, zip the bag almost all the way to let air escape. Twist the end to keep it all compressed towards one of the bag corner-ends and snip the tip off the bag when you are ready to go. Just be sure you are ready... ;)
10. Weigh your ingredients exactly. I mean, exactly as if someone were grading you on it.  Exact measurements (don't groan :) is key to doing it right. Weighing is important because it is an exact ratio of ingredients and each ingredient weighs differently.  Do you know how many cups of almonds are equal to 165 g of almonds? EXACTLY. Neither the hell do I! :) Weigh it, my friend.
11. Save your egg yolks for making Zoku pudding pops, TexMex Valley Lemon Curd or Gelato. :)