My Macaron Journey of Imperfection

Military-themed macarons! Chocolate shelled macarons with Nutella buttercream & cream cheese frosting! 

Hello! So I've read TONS of blogs about making different types of macarons and I even watched several Youtube videos. The thing is... not every recipe will necessarily work for you. I tried two recipes so far... and there are several factors that contribute to my "failed macarons." 

First of all, I live in Florida. In this time of year, IT IS HUMID!! Humidity DOES play a factor!! Why though? Because when you make your meringue, humidity traps moisture inside and makes it harder to achieve "stiff peaks" and makes it runny. Another big factor is your OVEN! Not every oven is created "equal." Depending on your oven, you may have to increase or decrease your temperature the next time you bake it. I learned the hard way. =( 

And YES IT IS TRUE! Everyone says it will take you multiple attempts to perfect a macaron because it is VERY technical!! I was super disappointed the first time, but I gave it a second try and it came out better. It's definitely not perfect, but I'll try to make it again in the future (the ingredients get pricey okay! lol) 

Okay, before I get into more detail of my personal troubleshooting... You HAVE TO understand how to make the basic recipe of a French macaron. 

Here's what I used to make CHOCOLATE MACARON SHELLS: 

Serving size: 12-16 macarons depending on size

Meringue:

2 egg whites, ROOM TEMPERATURE

1/4 cup of sugar 

Pinch of salt 

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

*Optional: food coloring of choice* 

Dry batter:

1 cup powdered sugar 

3/4 cup almond flour 

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

Prepare the batter-

1) Sift the dry ingredients together several times in a bowl. 

2) In a separate (bigger) bowl, beat the room temperature egg whites until foamy on medium-low speed. 

3) Add in a pinch of salt and the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form (it may take a few minutes... between 5-8) 

4) When soft peaks have formed, gradually add in your 1/4 cup of sugar while beating on medium-high speed. 

5) Continue beating until stiff peaks form. This means when you attempt to flip the bowl upside down, the meringue will not slip and slide. It stays put. It may take another 3-5minutes, do NOT overbeat the egg whites though. 

6) Add in your food coloring if desired just so it is well blended. Again, do NOT overbeat. 

*Note: the cocoa powder is brown so food coloring WILL combine with the brown. Blue food coloring with the dry ingredients will turn a dark green color* 

7) Gradually add in all your dry ingredients into the meringue, about 1/3 at a time while mixing gently. 

--- *NOTE: Mixing means taking your rubber spatula and gently "folding" in the dry ingredients with the meringue starting from 12oclock to 6oclock and repeating in this pattern* --- 

8) THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT!!! You do NOT want to under mix NOR over mix. Your batter should look and seem like molten lava. It will be ribbon-like when it falls from your spatula, but at the same time... It is NOT supposed to be too runny!! (Other people say it takes an AVERAGE of about 50 strokes!) 

Prepare the macaron-

9) Put the batter in a pastry bag with 1/2" hole tip at the end. 

10) Pipe your batter on parchment paper lined on a cookie sheet. You will need to pipe it in 1" circles. Every macaron should be about 1" apart from each other. I was able to fit 14 macarons on my cookie sheet. 

11) After piping all of them, take your cookie sheet and bang it on the countertop a few times to get rid of air bubbles. They will rise to the top. 

12) Preheat your oven to 280'F and let the piped macaron batter sit for 30min - 1 hour, just so that it gets stiff and no longer sticky to the touch. 

13) Bake for 16 minutes. 

*NOTE: Most recipes tell you to bake for 20 minutes on 300'F, but my oven gets waaaay too hot too fast so I had to reduce the temperature and baking time. It MAY be the case for you too. It really depends on your oven. Trial and error.*

14) Cool the macarons before attempting to remove from parchment paper. 

15) Pipe your desired frosting onto one half and sandwich it with another half! 

YOU'RE DONE!! 

Nutella Buttercream Frosting:

- 1/4 cup Nutella 

- 1/2 a stick of unsalted butter (1/4 cup) 

- 1/2 cup of powdered sugar 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

- 4oz cream cheese

- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 of a stick)

- 1 cup of powdered sugar 

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PERSONAL TROUBLESHOOTING:

These were my macarons on my first attempt (it wasn't chocolate flavored). My macarons came out flat at the top and had a hollow inside. 

Flat at the top: This means my meringue did not reach STIFF peaks before mixing my dry ingredients. Also, it can mean that I overbeated my meringue. 

Too crispy on the outside and hollow inside: This means my oven had been too hot so it made my shells look golden brown and overbaked the inside to a gooey texture. 

My second batch of macarons turned out way better than my first attempt. But I still have to figure out the correct temperature and baking time for my oven specifically. 

Good luck friends !!!