I recently got myself the english version of Pierre Herme's macaron book and I couldn't wait to try out the recipes! The first four tries were flops. The feet always ended up being frills and after a bit of research, I realized that my oven temperature was too high. So I brought it down and ta-daah~ beautiful-looking macarons! The green ones, that is.
I had to punctuate my excitement when I found out that the shells were hollow. I wanted to scream and tear my eyes out because after 5 batches of macarons in 4 days and not a single one turned out completely successful, well how can you not? I attribute the hollowness to a temperature that's too low but if I raise the temperature, the foot will splay out again! I'm really in a fix here...
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I couldn't bear to throw the failed batches away so I filled the better looking ones anyway. The most perfect looking ones- the green- got a pistachio white chocolate ganache and the white ones were supposed to be filled with a pistachio cinnamon ganache and a kirsch cherry. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about the cherry until I'd pressed the two halves together so I guess I would have take a bite of the macaron, then a cherry. Aargh! How much do I want to ruin this for myself?
The pink ones, which look like frisbees to me, had a dollop of strawberry jam as the filling. I'd always preferred fruity fillings with macarons rather than ganache because macarons are mostly made of almonds and almonds go well with bright clean tastes. And also because I couldn't be bothered to fork out so much effort for failed macarons.
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Oh guess what. I left the pink ones in the fridge for too long so now they're all soft and soggy. Bleh. I totally forgot that jam-filled macarons mature a lot faster.
Right now, I'm baking at a temperature of 135C so I'm going to try to up the temperature to 150C to see if that hollow problem goes away. Wish me luck!
Those aren't bad for an amateur!
ReplyDeleteAre you using room temperature egg whites? It looks like you might be turning the batter too many times as well. It can make the macarons spread a lot more so the feet get all screwed up and the insides are more hollow. Also, are you letting them sit out so that skins form before putting them in the oven?
My guess is your problem is less with oven temperature (I always cook mine at 150, or around there...but it depends on the oven I'm using) and more with the amount your folding your batter. Best of luck!
Hey, your macarons are kind of deformed. Would you like to bake together sometime? I can't promise to fix the problem but I can definitely give some input.
ReplyDeleteHello! Thank you for your offer as I read your blog and your macarons are really gorgeous! But I have already since figured out my mistakes:)
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