Welcome to How to Cook That: Making Macarons

To start making macarons, you'll first need to turn your oven on to 150 degrees. If you have a fan-forced oven, it's best to turn it down to 125 degrees Celsius so that the temperature inside the oven is actually 150 degrees. This will ensure that your macarons cook evenly and correctly.

While your oven is warming up, take out your egg whites and granulated sugar and beat them together with an electric mixer for 7-10 minutes until you get a dry, stiff meringue mixture. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure that everything gets well mixed. As you're mixing, sieve the almond meal and icing sugar through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any lumps or large pieces of almonds. You can discard these because if your macarons have too many of them, they won't work.

Once you've got your meringue mixture ready, it's time to add some color. Make sure to use more than you think you need because the color will fade as the macarons cook. If you're making a pale pink macaron, for example, you'll want to add quite a strong pink to get the desired color. Now, take your almond icing sugar mixture and sieve it through a fine-mesh sieve again to remove any lumps.

Now it's time to fold your meringue mixture with the almond icing sugar mixture together. Folding is an important part of making macarons, and you need to do it just right for them to turn out correctly. To start folding, scoop up some of the meringue mixture and pour it onto a clean surface. Take the almond icing sugar mixture and gently fold it into the meringue mixture using a spatula. You'll want to go around the edge of the meringue mixture and then fold it back over the middle to create a smooth, even motion.

As you continue folding, be sure to turn the bowl with each fold to ensure that everything mixes evenly. Keep going until the mixture is just starting to ooze back down the sides of the bowl - not too runny that it oozes flatly, but just enough that when you let some drop off the spatula, it starts to form a small ball. This should take around 30 folds, give or take.

Once you've reached this point, it's time to get your piping bag ready. I like to place my piping bag over a large vase to keep it steady while I work. You can also wrap the edges of the piping bag with tape to prevent any stray mixture from coming out. Now that your piping bag is ready, pour all of your macaron mixture into it.

Before you start piping your macarons, make sure to line your baking tray with quality non-stick baking paper. This will ensure that your macarons don't stick to the pan and come out easily once they're cooked. Take the top of your icing bag, close it, and twist it slightly so that when you apply pressure to the bag, the mixture won't come back out.

Now it's time to pipe your macarons! To start, squeeze some mixture from one side of the piping bag and then tick it back across the top. Repeat this motion until you've filled your entire tray with macarons. Make sure to get both sides of the tray covered evenly, as this will help them cook consistently.

To ensure that your macarons are piped correctly, bang your baking tray three times on the bench after each batch is piped. This helps to create a smooth surface for the next batch of macarons. Once you've finished piping all of your macarons, flip your baking tray over and repeat the process one more time.

Now it's time to bake your macarons! Preheat your oven to 150 degrees (or 125 degrees if you have a fan-forced oven). Bake your macarons for 20 minutes - or longer depending on their color. The coloring can affect how long they take to cook, so make sure to keep an eye on them.

Troubleshooting: What Went Wrong?

If your macarons look lumpy instead of smooth, it's likely because you mixed the ingredients together too much. To fix this, simply add a little more almond meal and icing sugar mixture to try to get a smoother consistency. On the other hand, if your macarons turn out flat like pancakes, you've probably over-mixed them too much. Next time, don't fold the mixture as much.

If your macarons crack, it's likely because you didn't rap (bang) them on the bench enough after piping. This helps to create a smooth surface for the next batch of macarons. To avoid cracking, make sure to tap your baking tray gently with your hand or spatula before placing it in the oven.

Congratulations! You now have perfectly piped and baked macarons that are ready to be filled with buttercream or ganache and enjoyed.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to howtocookthat.net today we are looking at how to make macaronsFor a printable copy of the recipe go to howtocookthat.net the link is in the description below this videoFirst of all turn your oven to 150 degrees. If you have a fan forced oven turn it down to 125 degrees Cthat way the temperature inside the oven isactually 150 which is what you want.Then take you egg whites and your sugarand beat it with an electric mixer for 7-10 minutes until you get a dry stiff meringue mixture.While that is mixing take your almond meal and icing sugar and sieve it through to get out any lumps or large pieces of almonds.and just discard those because if you have too many of those your macarons won't work.Then add your colour to your meringue mixtureYou need to make the colour stronger than you think you will need because the colour tends to fade as the macarons cook.So if you want a pale pink make quite a strong pink.Take your almond icing sugar mixture and again sieve it through to get rid of any little lumps.And then what we are going to do is fold it in to the meringue mixture. At first it seems likethey won't mix together but you need to just keep folding. To fold somethingyou need to go around the edge and then fold it back over the middle.Continue to do this turning the bowl as you go. You will need to do it about30 folds, roughly just to give you an idea.How much you fold it is important in macarons as you will see later when we dotrouble shooting at the end of this video. You need to get it just right.So keep folding until the mixture is juststart to ooze back down. It should not be so runny that it just oozes back flat butit should be runny enoughthat when you let some drop off the spatulait gently and slowly starts to ooze back down into the whole amount.after a little whileOnce you've got to that stage you need ot get your piping bag. I like toput mine over a big vase to hold it still.and just wrap the edges over the vase.Then pour all of your macaron mixture into the icing bag.Next you need to line your trays with quality non-stick baking paper so the macarons don't stickTake the top of your icing bag, close it and then twist it.So that when you apply pressure to the bag the mixture is not coming back out the top.Then to pipe your macarons then what you need to do is just from one side.squeeze out some mixture and then tick it back across the top.just like that so pipe from the side tick it back across the top.and againjust zoom in so you can see that, pipe from the side and then just tick it back acrossthe topContinue to do that until you have filled your whole tray with macarons.Get both sides of your tray and bang it hard on the bench three times,turn your tray around the other way andand bang it another three times.A good guide is you are wanting all those little tick marks to go flat into the macaron.Bake your macarons in the oven for 20 minutesThey may take a bit longer depending on what colour they are. The colouring can effect the timeit takes to cook quite significantlyNow your macaron problems solved. If your look lumpy like this rather than smooth macaroonsits becuase you mixtures under mixedYou have just mixed it in, you need to keep folding until it looks more like this.If your macarons turn out flat a bit more like pancakes like these onesthen you have over-mixed your mixture until it was too runny and it looked like this.Next time don't fold it as much. If your macarons are crackedthen you have not rapped (banged) it on the bench hard enough or enough timesHere I have piped five macarons, rapped it one the benchand then piped three more so that you could see the difference that .haven't been rapped on the bench. And you can see same mixture, same cooking time and they'vecrackedBases sticking to the baking paper like this means you macarons not ready to come out of the oven yet (make sure you use non-stick baking paper)Even if it is like this it is not yet ready.Leave it in until they come offcleanly like this. As I said different colourings can make it take longer to cook.You can fill your macarons with jam and creamor my favourite chocolate ganacheDon't forget to check out some of my other videos, click to subscribeor click like if this video has been good.\n"