The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

For a person who has never heard of Macaroons before (leave alone a french one at that), is completely lousy at making pastry/meringue based desserts, who laughed at the term ‘feet’ when talking about cookies, I really had this coming – thanks to this months Daring Baker’s Challenge. You would think that with such a handicap I would have started the challenge the first thing in the month? Nah! I am never going to prosper – last minute yet again it was and this time it punished me severely! 8 BATCHES of Macaroons are lying in a zip lock bag in my kitchen right now – looking like anything but Macaroons – Utter failure! And when I finished off all the aged egg whites, almond flour and the powdered sugar – I see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

The result is still 50-50! Not a success at all – but not a complete failure either. If like me, you are wondering why so much hoopla is made about getting some “feet” at the base of these meringue pastries, then you need to see this post!

Macaron Flop Show – Batches 1, 2, 3 , 4 and 5

I know I READ all instructions again and again – guess theory alone didn’t do any good! These came out tasting great – but the base was soft – with no feet

Macaron Flop Show- Batches  6, 7 and 8

Yet again different technique but same old sad story – Taste once again, great but looks wise and feet wise – this batch did not sprout feet either. Happy Feet they sure weren’t! In fact there was NO FEET!!!

Macaron Batch 9

Just when I was giving up – tired, cranky, irritable, cursing woman is not good to be around with (ask my husband!) – one last batch of egg whites and last 2 cups of almond flour and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar beckoned me yet again! They seemed to tell me, “Just try one last time! – Dont give up on us!”. So back to the computer – rewrote all techniques yet again, read through 50 more sites, glanced through 1000 tips yet again ( just let me get my hands on few of those ppl who wrote it #$%R%R$@!!!!!) and ground some powdered sugar at home for the recipe (late to shop)

And tada – few BABY FEET AT LAST! Not great – but I had something to show at the end of it all and also some little justification for the immensely messy kitchen and for looking like a Halloween Ghost with all those powdered sugar on me!

So the main purpose of this post is to give you HANDS ON TIPS - so that you save those 8 batches of footless macarons! Try variations with tips that will not make you waste time with wrong base or technique. I have given tips at the end of every method where applicable to help out the beginners like me!

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

Tips and Tricks
You can grind your own almonds to make the flour. But even if you buy the store bought ones – Grind them once again. Simply combine the powdered sugar and almond flour and grind them fine.

Important: Sift 3-4 times once ground.

It will remove any lumps if any – you want it as fine as it can get.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

Tips and Tricks

1.First make sure you separate the egg whites from the yolks very carefully. Even one single drop of the yolk can spoil the entire meringue.

2. Once separated, keep the egg whites on your counter top (covered with paper towel) for 1-3 days. This helps to concentrate the protein and bring out a shinier end result.

3. Soft Peak Stage – Start beating eggs at low speed for 1-2 minutes and then gradually increase it to med-high. You get a soft peak stage, I think approx in 5-6 minutes. You know you have a soft peak when you lift up the beaters and you see a peak but with the end slightly curled. They would droop slightly. You should be adding the granulated sugar now, little by little.

4. Stiff Peak Stage – Continue beating for another 2-3 minutes. You know you have a stiff peak, when the meringue, true to its name displays a stiff peak. These are formed because of the addition of the sugar and when you lift the beaters, you see the peaks are stiff. Another test to know you have Stiff peaks is when you invert the bowl ( yes the one with the meringue) upside down. It should not fall or flow out. Do it slowly to confirm the same.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

Tips and Tricks

Folding is very crucial technique to make this macaron work. The correct and proper way of doing this would be as follows

- To the meringue, add about 1/3 rd of the almond-sugar mixture. The first 6-7 strokes of mixing is going to be fast. You can do it little hard at this stage to help get rid of the air pockets formed while forming the meringue. The correct way of folding would be to cut the batter in the center, scrap out the bottom most batter and bring it above folding over the top layer – turn the bowl slightly and repeat the process. Doing so this way, will avoid air getting into the meringue while folding. Do this fast and hard for first few strokes and then slowly and gently finish off with the rest of the almond mixture. This Process is called Macaronage and the full process for this recipe takes about 5-8 minutes depending upon your style of foldingor 30 or so strokes!

You know your macaronage is just right when the mixture starts looking smooth and glossy.

It should also look similar to how a hot Magma, lava or cold honey would look like flowing! (Yes these terms are indeed used to describe this stage) You can also test if you have done it right – scoop out a tablespoon of the batter and pour it above the remaining batter in a line.

If this line disappears (Just like magic!!!) at the end of say 30-40 seconds or so – you know you have done it properly!

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

Tips and Tricks

-If you have not mastered the Macaron yet, then I would suggest that you don’t waste time by drawing out circles on the parchment paper (helps to drop correct amount of batter on the sheet). Instead you can download this pattern from here : http://en.mooseabout.com/wp-content/themes/mooseabout/documents/zwcok-maccir1-3p8.pdf and take a print out. You can concentrate more on the technique instead of drawing circles on the paper. Saves time and effort too Works for lazy bums like me too.

-Just place the print out sheet just below your parchment paper

and drop the batter just inside the circle.

-Do the same with rest of the circle – you can of course cut out and add more to this printout to make more in a single batch.After making all the circles, slowly pull out the pattern page from under the parchment.

Set aside for at least 30 minutes. I would recommend 45 minutes as an ideal point though!

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Tips and Tricks

Another possible issue usually faced by many is while removing the macarons from the parchment paper. I did not have a single problem and I did this -

Dampen a kitchen towel and place it flat on the counter. Now take the parchment paper and place it on top. Give it, say 10-15 seconds, and then slowly using a knife edge, lift up the macaron. You might need to do a little slicing action – but trust me, it did not break even a single macaron and 90% of the case, the macarons came out willingly! So much so, that my parchment was reusable! It was that clean!

Yield: 10 dozen. Ami’s note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

My Notes Once you follow these steps, this is the time you play around the Oven temperature and check the correct settings to make your Macarons perfect! It does take some trial and error before you get to that perfect one! I sure will be trying out once again until I get my perfect ones – But at least I wont have to waste my time with the possible minor errors along the way! Hope these tips help you to get Your Perfect Macaron!

Heat the cream in a small saucepan with the corn syrup. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate.

Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter.

Let cool completely before using.

Now using a fork or spoon, spread some chocolate filling on one macaron and then using another piece sandwich it for an amazing treat!

Better luck next time to me – and All the best for all those who are going to try for the first time Hope the tips above help you in dishing out the perfect French Macarons – until then lemme enjoy the ones I made!

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