Basic Macaron Shell Recipe


Makes about 50 macarons

300g finely sifted almond meal (see note)
300g sifted pure icing sugar
110g aged egg whites (egg whites left out on the bench uncovered for 3 or 4 days)
300g caster sugar
75g water
110g egg whites extra, at room temperature (don't have to be aged)
Few drops of food colouring (optional)

Note: I use my hands to press the almond meal through a splatter guard as I can't find a fine enough sieve.  Sift it first, and then weigh to see if you have enough.  You'll end up having to discard any almond meal that's too course for the sieve.



Line four trays with baking paper.  Combine the sifted almond meal and icing sugar in a large bowl.  Put the aged egg whites into a mixer bowl.  Combine caster sugar and water in a saucepan and carefully mix so all the sugar is wet.  Try not to leave too much sugar on the sides of the saucepan - use a spatula to push the sugar back down to the bottom.  This will prevent the sugar crystalising.  Turn the mixer onto low speed.  Heat up the sugar on low heat until it's dissolved (rub some water between your fingers.  If you can feel the granules, the sugar hasn't dissolved.)  Increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil.  As the sugar is boiling, add the food colouring (if using).  Adding it here allows the water to evaporate out.  If you are using powdered colouring, mix it into the dry ingredients instead.  
Continue boiling the sugar until it reaches 118oC.  Pour the sugar into the mixer.  Pour it down the side of the bowl, rather than in the middle, to prevent spun sugar.  Increase the mixer to high speed and whisk for 7 minutes.  Meanwhile, use a spatula to combine the extra egg whites with the dry ingredients to create a thick paste.  When the egg whites are thick and glossy, mix a bit at a time into the almond paste.  Once all the egg white has been incorporated into the paste, continue working the mixture with a spatula.  Be careful not to overwork the batter - it's ready when you can lift the spatula out of the bowl and the batter slowly falls off. 

Using a piping bag with a 12mm nozzle, pipe 3cm circles of batter onto prepared trays (I like to use a template that I slide under the baking paper).  Turn on the oven to 135oC (I have a fan-forced oven so I only heat it up to 130oC.  All ovens are different, so you just have to figure out what works for you.  Wait 20 minutes and see if the batter has formed a skin (gently touch one of the macarons - if the mixture feels sticky, leave it for another ten minutes.)  Bake for 16 minutes.  I like to just bake one tray at a time because my oven is a bit dodgy, but other ovens may happily take more than one tray - you just have to experiment.

Remove trays from the oven and sit for 2 minutes.  Try removing a macaron with a spatula. If it is sticking to the paper, put the tray back in the oven for 2 minutes then try again.  Allow macarons to cool completely, then pair them together with shells of similar size.

Use a piping bag to fill shells with a ganache/buttercream/jelly/filling of your choice.  Be creative!

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