Article: Macaron Shell Recipe By Ollia
Procedure
The Italian Meringue
1. With your egg whites in your mixing bowl and ready to go. Place your pot on your burner, set to medium/med high heat. with the thermometer inside. Make sure your thermometer is covered by the liquid but not touching the bottom of the pot.
2. When the sugar syrup reaches 115 Celsius, this is when you will begin beating your egg whites at high speed, continuing until your sugar syrup is ready.
3. When sugar syrup reaches 118 Celsius, remove from heat. When your egg whites are fully white and resemble a marshmallow fluff texture – slowly add the sugar syrup to the egg whites in a thin strand avoiding the whisk and side of the bowl, while the mixer is still at full speed. *This step is easiest when working with a handheld mixer VS a stand mixer due to the amount of egg whites used.
4. Wait roughly 2 minutes or until your meringue has reached somewhere between med and stiff peaks;not going further than stiff. Overmixed meringue will look dry and like broken fluff.
The Almond Paste:
Using a spatula, blend the almond flour, icing sugar, and egg whites with your desired amount of gel colourant, until partially combined into a paste with loose crumb. Do not overmix; over mixing may release the almonds oils, resulting in a greasy macaron.
Macaronage: *read “stages of macaronage” before starting
1. While your meringue is still warm, add the Meringue to the Almond Paste. Mix well using a spatula, gently folding the two together. Keep folding until the mixture is fully combined, and no paste chunks are left. *To remove paste chunks, smoosh them with your spatula against the bowl as you fold.
Stages of Macaronage:
1. Under Mixed: When your batter is under mixed it will have white strands of meringue marbled throughout, and chunks of the almond paste not incorporated. This will result in a lumpy batter when piped.
2. Perfectly Mixed: Your batter should be smooth without any lumps, it will resemble cake batter, still holding its shape without flattening out. You should be able to get a consistent slow ribbon when poured.
3. Over Mixed: When your batter is overmixed, it will be very thin and more liquid than batter. This will cause your piping to be difficult and result in the macaron foot to be flat beside your shell VS under the shell, and will have the appearance of grease or cracking.
Fit your pastry bag with your piping tip (#805), do the twist and tuck
method to prevent batter from coming out of the tip while filling. Fill your
piping bag and give it a twist at the end to prevent batter from coming out
the back. Pipe your macaron dollops of batter on the parchment paper or
baking mat using a template underneath as a guide to keep macarons
consistent. (if you have purchased a baking silicone mat from Ollia, you will
have the circles already on it for you!)
Once your tray is full, whack the baking sheet on a protected surface
(either cardboard or a towel) to smooth the batter out and release any air
bubbles. Remember to whack the tray evenly, roughly 4 times each side or
until you see your batter settle into flat discs. At this point you can add any
sprinkles or decorations you want to stick to the shell. *see decorating on
page 6
Pre-heat oven to 290-300 F.
Let macarons rest for around 20 minutes, depending on the weather
(humid days needing more time). Resting macarons helps them form a dry
crust, they should not be not tacky when you lightly touch them. If so, let
them rest longer.
When they are no longer tacky to the touch, bake for 13-14 minutes. Baking
time and temperature will vary depending on your oven, adjust
accordingly.
*Suggestion: pipe a few macarons on a separate tray and use that tray as
your oven tester. Using the troubleshooting at the end of this document to
adjust baking temp and time if needed,
Filling your Macarons:
Your macarons must be fully cooled before trying to remove them from the
mat to fill. Pipe filling onto a shell; about the size of a Hershey Kiss, cover
with another shell, and with a shell in each hand, holding it by the foot on
both shells (avoid using your thumb and index finger with the pinching
motion to close the shells, as they are fragile) twist as you squish the shells
together until filling reaches the edges of the shell, et voila! You may adjust
how much filling you like depending on preference.