Melt-in-your-mouth macarons
After seeing the darling chocolate macarons by Gilly over at Humble Pie, I was reminded of the fact that I hadn’t tried making macarons in a very long time. I last blogged about them in August last year, but the truth is that I had tried them a few more times with rather disasterous results. They came out too hard, lopsided, lacked shine, and exploded - just about everything that could go wrong did. I was beating my head against the wall when I recalled that Helen over at Tartlette had emailed me the recipe from a French food blog that she used to make her beautiful little domes, so I decided that I had nothing to lose, so what the heck!
(there’s a lot of cross-blog lovin’ going on here, huh?)
Now, seeing as I’d never actually eaten a macaron other than the ones I’d made, I really had no idea what a macaron should taste like, but after trying this recipe I could see just exactly what they should be like, and why the results of this recipe impressed me more than those from A Traveler’s Lunchbox - Helen was right in saying that the recipe with the cooked meringue gave a wonderful result. I found that these all had perfect domes and perfect little frilly feet. They also were unbelievably soft - a thin crackly crust that gives with a slight amount of pressure, giving in to a delicious, creamy inside with just a hint of chewiness. The entire cookie seems to just dissipate in your mouth!
I found that this recipe gives a fair bit of batter, so I thought I’d make a few different flavours. I had considered making some macarons with Asian flavourings, but my search for chestnut puree had been futile and the can of adzuki paste (sweetened red bean paste) that I thought I had in the pantry was nowhere to be found. The other combination that I considered was sweet potato macarons with honey cream, but a search for a recipe to make sweet potato powder with the purple Japanese sweet potatoes in my pantry yielded no results so that wasn’t going to happen any time soon either.
So, what was left?
I sighed with disappointment and reached for my matcha powder and black sesame seeds. Rather predictable flavourings for Asian sweets, but they were all that I had access to at 11pm last night, so I decided not to beat myself up too much over it. I divvied up the macaron batter into 3 seperate bowls and added my flavourings - vanilla paste into one, dutch-processed cocoa powder into the second and matcha/green tea powder into the third. I also decided to try making the meringue-based italian buttercream instead of my regular buttercream, and mixed the same flavourings into that to match the macarons themselves.
Though all were delicious, my favourites of the 3 flavours is without a doubt the green tea and black sesame macarons. The green tea is beautifully scented with just the barest hint of bitterness to offset the sweetness of these delights, and the black sesame seeds sprinkled on top provide a burst of sesame-flavoured nuttiness with each bite!
They may not be the easiest cookies in the world to make, but they are a lot easier than their reputation holds them to be, and I’d highly recommend that you give them a try! Come on, what have you got to lose? Especially when these morsels are to be gained 
Basic Macaron Recipe (adapted from Tartlette)
Ingredients
120g egg whites, at room temperature
35g caster sugar
150g almond meal
150 pure icing sugar **
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
Sugar syrup
150g caster sugar
50g water
** Pure icing sugar is also known as confectioners sugar in the US. Please bear in mind, this is different to soft icing mixture. Pure icing sugar is just powdered sugar, whereas soft icing mixture is a mixture of sugar powder and corn starch. You cannot use soft icing mixture to make these as it will make the cookies too firm and dry, giving entirely the wrong texture.
1. Preheat oven to 160 degees C - make sure you do not use a fan-forced setting. Sift together the pure icing sugar and almond meal, and set aside, then mix in 60g of the egg whites till well-combined.
2. Add the salt and cream of tartar to the remaining egg whites (salt helps thicken the proteins and cream of tartar helps to stabilize the aerated mixture) and beat till foamy. Add the caster sugar 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat till mixture forms soft peaks. Do not overbeat at this stage.
3. Boil together the sugar and water for the sugar syrup till it reaches 110 degrees C, then pour into the egg whites in a slow and steady stream, beating continously. Continue beating the mixture till it is completely cool.
4. Carefully fold the almond mixture into the cooled meringue till evenly combined, and add any flavourings you wish. Continue to fold the mixture till it is soft and flows like magma - when you create a peak it should slowly but completely dissolve to a flat surface.
5. Pipe the macaron batter into even circles on a lined baking tray, leaving 5cm between each cookie, and make sure you don’t pipe any air bubbles into each form as that will cause them to ‘explode’ very much like a volcano while they’re baking. Sit them for about 15 - 20 minutes so that the surface can dry and they can form a skin.
6. Bake them for 13 - 15 minutes, then remove and place in the freezer for 10 minutes - this will make them cool quickly and make it easy to remove them from the baking paper. Carefully peel off the baking paper and pipe buttercream onto half the cookies, using the remaining half to sandwich them.
Italian Buttercream
2 egg whites (60mL)
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp castor sugar
60g unsalted butter at room temperature, roughly diced
Whisk together the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl bain-marie style (over a pot of simmering water) and heat the mixture, whisking often, for 3-5mins or till it feels warm and sugar has dissolved.
Remove from heat and whisk on high speed till stiff and shiny. Add the butter slowly, one cube at a time, and continue to mix till all the butter is combined. Add any flavourings and refrigerate till firm enough to pipe.
These can be flavoured with any variety of different flavours, so think about what combinations you might want to try and let your imagination run wild!
Technorati Tags: macarons, cookies, mignardises, sweets, dessert, french cuisine, baking, recipes
People who have tried this recipe:
- Sharon from Lots of Sprinkles
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Comments
Evan hi there, i came to know abt your blog thru’ your flickr photos. your macarons are really beautiful!! mine always look shiny & glossy at the top but im actually trying to achieve the “matt” look like yours =)
beautiful blog btw!
Brilynn I’m getting closer and closer to trying my hand at macarons again after see you and Gilly make it look so easy. Those are amazing!
landa You rock!! All the tips you gave me over at the Food Porn livejournal worked perfectly. Now I just need to work on my piping technique and I’m good to go. Thanks a lot.
Callipygia Hey way to go. I know I know it is torture standing on the sidelines watching all the other bloggers pipe and produce these beautiful macarons. Too scared still!
Trying now to look…..trying not to look…..
neil I’m such a macaroon virgin, I’ve seen them everywhere, but have never had a one. Maybe I’ll search some out…too lazy?
estelle next time you have a cooking extravaganza message me!!!! i will come over tout de suite. maybe if you want to cook something your family doesn’t like.
Cin I really HAVE to try these given that I missed out on getting macarons when I was in Japan - dont ask, the line was WAY too long otherwise I would have brought a couple back for you.
If the freezer step is just for cooling then i twould be okay to skip and let cool naturally, right? I don’t think it would fit in my freezer.
Ellie Anh - I hope you do give these a try 
they can be difficult to make, but the recipe that I use is a lot easier than others that I’ve tried in the past!
Evan - Thanks hon, though I think that your macarons far outshine mine!
Truffle - Thanks sweetie!
I-Ling - And now you do! Or, did
Kat - Thanks hon! I <3 macarons too!
Brilynn - I soo recommend that you try these! You conquered your fear of sugar, macarons are the next step 
Landa - Yay! I’m glad they worked out for you
Callipygia - I can’t recommend this recipe enough, trust me, this is far easier than the others that I’ve tried and the end product is much tastier!
Peabody - Thanks sweetheart!
Chris - Hehehe, thanks hon
Neil - They have them at the Laurant bakery, but I’ve heard reports that they aren’t really that great…best bet would be to make them yourself
Estelle - Hehehe, you’re on
Cin - This is absolutely the recipe to try! I don’t think that cooling naturally would work quite as well (I let the vanilla ones cool naturally and getting them off the paper was an absolute pain in the arse!!). Perhaps fridge them? The coolness helps to make them a bit firmer (temporarily!) to aid the paper-peeling process
gilly Oh Ellie, they are GORGEOUS! Way to go! I’m in love with the novelty of macarons - not only in taste and texture, but the “flavours only limited by the imagination” approach taken in making them. I’ve seen the wildest flavours and most vibrant colours! Your matcha/black sesame ones sound like a beautiful paring! It makes me eager to get back to the kitchen and experiment!
kate alrite even though i’m visiting your blog for the firat time, i’ve let u talk me into trying these out.I’ve eyeing these ever since i saw them last year on helens blog but never had the courage to try them.But u have made it sound easier that its famous reputation .Green tea and black seasme would be my fav. too .Thanks !
Sue after reading n seeing how beautiful your macaroons are …u definately have gave me a kick start in doing them soon. But i’m warry bout the part bubbles n the exploding part hence i hv a bad experience in oil exploding while deep frying. How can i know if i hv piped out bubbles on the macaroons..will they be very visiable? Will the oven explode as well.
As for the suger syrup …while pouring the hot syrup to the egg white…wont it melt the whites.
After pouring the syrup …at which speed do i use to beat until its cooled down.
thank u
Ellie Cris - Thank you honey!
Kate - Aww, thanks hon! I hope that you do give these a try and that you like them as much as my family and I do!
Gattina - *blush* aww shucks! Nowhere near it, but I’m loving all the practice
Sue - I’m glad you like the pictures, but even more than that, I’m glad to hear that you’re wanting to give these a try! Now, onto the questions:
1. Bubbles/exploding - they don’t actually explode like oil does, what you’ll see happen is that in the middle of the cookie a peak will slowly form and this will get bigger and bigger till the skin breaks and the cookie dough flows out from the top instead of coming out from the bottom to form those darling little frilly feet. So, your oven will in no way explode - it happens fairly slowly and its kind of just like watching lava ooze down the side of a volcano, but there’s no splatter or spitting of batter. The way to avoid getting air bubbles is to take care when transferring the mixture into your piping bag, make sure you spoon it in evenly and without leaving any gaps in the bag
2. Sugar Syrup to egg whites - by the time the egg whites have been beaten to soft peaks, the proteins are fairly spread out with air so they’re not in a position to cook and form egg lumps. They will, however, melt if you dump the syrup in at once, so just make sure that you keep it as a slow, thin stream and that you’re constantly beating it around and into the meringue. All the beating of the egg whites in this recipe have been done at the highest speed on my mixer
Lisa They are just gorgeous - I love the colors together. I’m with Bril - you guys make me want to try my hand at these!
xoxo
Cheryl They look so beautiful stacked together like that. My stomach would love one of those right now.
Sue thanks Ellie for your swift reply. I will definately try baking these lovely babies soon and with all your helpful giudence , i’m sure i’m able to do this ( crossing my fingers). Btw i having the dillema of finding the pure icing suger as here(malaysia) the ones i’m using for all my bakes are mixture of icing suger + corn flour. Will it really effect the texture of the macaroons.
rgds
Ellie Ari - Hehehe, that pretty much sums it up, though I don’t think my family would ever think that food is too pretty to eat
Lisa - Yes! I think everybody should give these a try - they are so unbelievably nummy
Cheryl - Aww, thanks hon
Sue - No worries, I’m glued to the computer these days because of study so receiving emails is a nice distraction
Unfortunately the addition of corn starch will definitely make a difference to texture - I learnt this the hard way once when I went to make these but did not have pure icing sugar in my kitchen, the end product had a much crunchier exterior and the inside was far too dry and chewy 
The only thing that I can think of is to process granulated white sugar till it’s at the same fine grain as pure icing sugar (or close to). It might also be a name thing - pure icing sugar is also sold as confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar if that’s any help?
I don’t have any Malaysian food bloggers on my blogroll, but perhaps you could try tracking some down and seeing if they know anywhere that might sell this particular ingredient? I just found this one on google - http://babeinthecitykl.blogspot.com/
Good luck with the search, I hope you manage to find some!
Helen We are having a menage a trois….
Beautiful result! I am so happy they worked out for you!!
Ellie Helen - Hehehe, there’s certainly enough macaron-love between the three of us THANK YOU SO MUCH for the recipe, and my family are indebted to you for it as well!
Tanna Well, wow, those are over the edge beautiful macarons! Really beautiful. Too strange, I’ve never tried a macaron but it must happen soon.
Ellie Tanna - Thanks hon You should definitely give them a try, they are quite an experience!
Sue hi ellie, may i know how to make the green tea n black sesame macs. As for the green tea filling , how to i go in making them. thank u
rgds
Sue hi ellie.. how much green tea should i add on top of the recipe. Do i need to deduct it from the almond meal.
Ellie, when do u place the black sesame on top of the macs, before or after the resting period.
thank u
Ellie Jennifer - Thanks hon You should be able to find almond meal at any store that sells baking supplies - try health food stores if you can’t find it at the supermarket!
Sue - 3 tbsp for one quantity of macaron batter should do the trick, the sesame seeds are sprinkled on just after piping
Argone - Merci beaucoup (is that spelling right? Hehehe!)
Ida Hi Ellie,
I’ve made the macaroons with much success the 1st time. then I made them again last weekends. the macs turned out with crispy shells but the insides are soft and moist… any idea wad went wrong?
Another question is that if we add colours to the macs, does it have to be powdered form or liquid is ok? and for essence, can we add essence in liquid form too?
Thanks in advance for yr advise!
sandy hey there, was wondering if someone can help me make macaroons!! ive been dying to tr to make them, i have a problem that my oven is fan forced, then they dont have that crispness under the base of the macaroon? help me please!!!
[...] are others in Australia who make macarons independently of my exhortations, including Ellie at Kitchenwench who has also written about them, Mellie at tummyrumbles who has also made them and Y at Lemonpi who [...]
Kelly Hildebrandt Hi Ellie,
I desperately need some advice!! I have made several different batches of macaroons — only one batch came out perfectly. Several of them will only "rise" or develop a foot on one side and sometimes the batter oozes out of the side that rises. So, basically I am making very ugly lopsided macaroons. I am baking in a convetional oven. The tops are smooth and flat — I am happy with the tops. If they could just rise evenly!! Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong? Thank you!!!!
Ellie Hi Kelly,
I’m no expert, but I suspect the problem may come down to temperature and your baking tray…the rise should be slow, enough to dry the foot as it grows so it goes up and not out…have you tried stacking 2 trays together and baking on the top one? Not entirely sure about the lopsidedness, are you leaving them to dry properly before baking?
Claudette yes, you are right, I used two one inch trays stack togehter and put my baking sheet on the top and I got feet and they were LOVELY!! the next batch didn’t come out right b/c I way over beat the eggs,,,you need to stop beating as soon as you feel it "come together"…it needs to form a "soft peak" not a stiff peak, this is KEY. Also, the eggs were left out over 2 days and I have been told this is optimal..I literally left them OUT, not in the refrigerator, but OUT on the counter.
I would like to know if the parisian macarons that are made at Laduree have buttercream or a form of ganache in the middle..I am not speaking of chocolate flavor…any thoughts are welcome!!
Bon Appetite!
Ellie Hi Claudette - I did in fact say ’soft peaks’ in the recipe, nowehere do I mention beating the egg whites to a stiff peak. As for ageing the egg whites, I’m not entirely sure it makes much of a difference when using the meringue method such as here as I’ve made it without ageing the egg whites and they’ve turned out fine. I’m sorry that I can’t answer your thoughts on Laduree as I’ve never been to Paris, but I’m sure that if you have a look around on the web you should be able to get some answers.
Claudette Ellie, I realize you didn’t mention stiff, I just thought others might benefit from my mistake of overbeating, which I found to be confusing, but I was using a different recipe. I also left the oven door open with a wooden spoon, I had read online that this is also key..any thoughts on this or using any other tricks of the trade?
Ellie Claudette, not really :/ I don’t wedge open my oven door but then again I have a suspicion that this depends on the oven and not the recipe :/
jen Hello! Do you find the recipe very sweet? I made ones before with equal amounts of almond and icing sugar and tasted fine, but with another lot of granular sugar I suspect it will be really sweet. ALso, I noticed that you added cream of tartar and salt. Tartlette didn’t use these 2 ingredients, so do you think it won’t be successful without them? Thanks! Love your blog
Ellie Jen - I do, but then again I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. The reason you may find the version with granular sugar to be sweeter might be that the larger grains haven’t been able to evenly distribute and dissolve, therefore leaving larger concentrations of sweetness. The recipe will be fine without the salt and tartar, I just find it easier and more fail-safe to have them there.
Lots of Sprinkles - Sharon I just tried this yesterday and i’m so happy with the result i still have to work on making the middle not so gooey and piping them better but overall i was happy with the texture and the little feet Thank you for sharing your recipe… i’ve linked my post to your blog.
Oh Ellie, your macaron looks perfect! I haven’t tried my hands on them yet. Hopefully my attempt won’t become a mess since I have heard that making these is difficult ! I love the green tea flavour, too.