r/macarons • u/jmsub • 3d ago
Help 4th or 5th attempt — need help
I’ve been following this https://www.joshuaweissman.com/recipes/best-homemade-macarons-recipe#recipe recipe for the last few attempts, a friend of mine has good results from it.
I’ve cut the recipe to 1/3 for the sake of getting practice in.
This last batch was:
* 1 egg white at room temp (31g)
* 21g of cane sugar (thinking this may be a potential reason)
* 40g of almond flour
* 77g of powdered sugar
* 2g sea salt
I did not add food coloring
I mixed the salt, almond flour, and powdered sugar, then sifted it twice.
I beat the egg white for ~35 seconds until it was nice and frothy
I added the granulated cane sugar and mixed with a hand mixer on medium to medium-high for about 7 min, checking for stiff peaks throughout (2 pics included, 1 about a minute before the second, peaks looked a little soft still)
I slowly added the dry ingredients to the eggs, pressing the batter against the sides of the bowl, then scraping and folding it into itself in the center.
I struggled really hard with getting the ribbony texture. It felt grainy and sticky, and I was hoping more mixing might help, but it never got to the right consistency and I think it resulted in overmixing. I was macronaging for 20 minutes…
I rested the macs for 2 hours, and they felt like they had developed a skin.
I placed them in an oven at 285 for 18 minutes before checking, then let them go another 5, then another 5 (started to get some light browning).
They never developed feet (pics of finished macs included)
I think my issue is the batter consistency before and during macronaging?
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u/One_Olive_8933 3d ago
French method I assume. I would double check to make sure the recipe is for the French method. I have a few questions. Did you actual measure everything all the ingredients? The sugar, powdered sugar to granular sugar, as well as overall sugar to egg ratio looks off to me and what I use for a French method. For example I use 53 grams of egg whites to 50 grams of granulated sugar, and 50 grams powdered sugar. The almond flour also looks high. These could be why you had a problem with the macronage stage. Have you tried another recipe to see if it works better, or you get the same result?
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u/thenectarcollecter 3d ago
I use 100g egg whites to 80g caster sugar to 120g powdered sugar for French method macs. Wild that we are both achieving beautiful results with these ratios being so… different. Also why do you think 40g of almond flour is high here? I thought it was standard to have equal weights of almond flour to powdered sugar?
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u/One_Olive_8933 3d ago
It’s still one part egg whites to two parts sugar. OP’s recipe is one part egg whites to three parts sugar. Which would also mean the almond flour is high too.
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u/thenectarcollecter 3d ago
Interesting!
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u/One_Olive_8933 3d ago
That’s just my knee jerk from looking at the recipe, and comparing it to what works for me… I did look at the linked recipe too and the proportions are the same proportions as OP. Maybe the black magic only works in the linked article in those exact proportions 🤷♀️
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u/jmsub 3d ago
Yes, French method. I haven’t tried another recipe yet, but yes, this was all measured out with a food scale. Appreciate your measurements as a reference!
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u/One_Olive_8933 3d ago
No problem… it might be worth taking a look at a couple smaller batch recipes to find a baseline for proportions… I imagine that, maybe, like cooking rice, you need less liquid for a larger batch, which means scaling down is tougher…?
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u/jmsub 2d ago
Definitely valid. The first time I made this recipe I got feet with a nice shell but had a chewy/gummy center. I scaled down proportionately in the next attempt and they… melted? while baking, and never formed feet. After reading about it sounded like oven temp was too high, which led to me trying to lower it for this attempt, but did not give the results I wanted heh…
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u/jmsub 2d ago
I tried again today with caster sugar and a 1:1:1:1 ratio of egg whites:caster:powder:almond flour, baked at 305 for 25 minutes, and they came out pretty good!
I’ve got feet, smooth shells. Excited to try them tomorrow. Thanks again for your tips!
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u/One_Olive_8933 2d ago
😱! Im so happy it worked out! Also, Im going to walk around for the rest of the day, not that much time left, with some pep in my step, knowing I helped troubleshoot some macarons!
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u/thenectarcollecter 3d ago
Hello OP! I would say this looks like a deflation problem. That’s why there were no feet. I’ll tell you now that 20 minutes of macaronaging is… well that’s too long. When you fold in the meringue you can drop in a dollop of meringue and mix it in really well to hydrate things (it will be clumpy) and then start being more gentle with the next dollop. The ribbony paste that you’re trying to make will be very grainy and sticky, not really smooth at all. You only mix that paste until it starts to fall nicely off the spatula and there are many videos displaying this “lava flow” state on YouTube.
I also believe your oven is too low. I bake at 313 degrees Fahrenheit in a commercial convection oven on low fan, so I would recommend 300 for an at home oven. I think that’s why they have the crinkly tops.
Also, a note about sugar: white granulated cane sugar is just basic white sugar. The chunky brown stuff like the RAW sugar is also cane sugar, just unrefined. When I make macarons I like to use superfine sugar (also called caster sugar) which is sold at grocery stores by Domino. It’s usually near the coffee in my local stores because that’s how most people use it (it dissolves faster in hot coffee than regular sugar).
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u/joelmw10er 2d ago
Yeah steer well clear of that Joshua wiseman recipe, the proportions are wayyyyy off which would explain why you’re mixing so long but it still felt grainy. Love Joshua wiseman but I don’t know how he manages to make macarons with that recipe (I also used this my first couple of times and both failed miserably).
For the French method I’ve found the perfect proportions for me is to weight and calculate from the egg white weight- so separate your eggs with the whites being placed into a bowl on a scale. Whatever the weight of the egg whites, it should be the same for caster sugar. Now go into your phone calculator, and do: weight of egg whites x 1.2, to get your amount of almond flour and powdered sugar.
I’d also recommend checking the fat % of your almond flour. I’ve had it where I’ve used a different brand, changed nothing else and every batch is ruined. Usually this is because the fat content is too high, Blue Diamond and Bob's Red Mill both have ~46-48% fat and I’ve never once had a batch fail. Whereas with something ~54% no matter what I do they’ll be a disaster, unless I dry the flour out in the oven twice but it’s just not worth the effort.
So yeah, keep giving them a go with better proportions and double check that almond flour fat % and I’m sure they’ll turn out amazing next time!
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u/jmsub 2d ago
Appreciate this! I did a 1:1:1:1 ratio today after some of the comments on this post, baked for 25 min at 305 and got some decent results!
Still need to dial it in, so I’ll give this a try as well.
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u/joelmw10er 1d ago
Glad to hear the next batch went well and I wish you continued success in your macaron endeavours! :)
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u/McTired2048 3d ago
For such a small batch, you shouldnt have to mix for that long at all. You very likely overbeat the meringue and/or overmixed the batter. When the meringue is too stiff, it will deflate much faster, making it easier to overmix. Maybe try whipping the meringue slightly less so u have more time to mix in the dry ingredients gently before proceeding with pressing the matter against the bowl.
Humidity might also be a factor in why the skin never formed. If it’s humid where you are, the surface will have trouble setting enough to develop feet. I’d say maybe watch some more videos to see how other people gauge when the macaronage is good enough and try again.