Macaron 101 - What's in a Macaron?

Close-up of a Pumpkin Spice Macaron.

Macarons are a delicate looking French dessert that I, like many, are enthusiastic about. I've loved macarons ever since I laid eyes on them, to the point that I wanted to make them myself at home. Fast forward past many macawrongs and after some successful macarons later, I've found a recipe that works. This post along with the subsequent two posts will be about the macaron making process and tips.

These macarons were created as my fall macaron flavour - pumpkin spice buttercream!

Equipment for Making Macarons at Home

First off to making macarons successfully at home you will need the following equipment:

• A kitchen scale  (Crucial for measuring to the exam gram.)
• Food processor (For finely processing the almond meal and icing sugar.)
• Fine mesh sifter
• At least 2 Heavy commercial jelly roll pans (43 x 31 x 3 cm) (Helps to prevent macaron shells from burning.) 
• Stand mixer (A hand mixer can also be used.)
• Piping bags
• Large round piping tip (I use a Wilton 1A tip.)
• Parchment paper or Silicon Mats (at least 3 silicon mats for a batch of macarons)
• Toothpicks

Ingredients for Making Macarons at Home

Materials for making macarons at home: mixer, piping tip, and piping bag.

This will make about 40 macarons (approximately 80 shells depending on size).

• 100g Aged Egg Whites (2-3 days in airtight container at room temperature.)
• 225g Powdered Sugar (Also known as icing sugar.)
• 125g Almond Meal
• 5g Dehydrated Egg White Powder (Also known as albumen.)
• 28g Extra Fine Sugar (I often make my own by processing granulated sugar in the food processor.)
• Gel food colouring (Using gel food colouring is better as it does not add any extra liquid to the macarons.)

Tips for Making Macarons

So, you are probably wondering why the ingredients need to be measured to the exact gram with the kitchen scale. One key factor to making a successful macaron is to keep the proportions the same every time you make macarons. By keeping all ingredients exactly the same, it will be easier to trouble shoot when your macarons become a macawrong. I have found that aging egg whites from real eggs helps with the creation of the meringue. Storing the almond meal in the fridge prior to using it to bake macarons is better as it prevents the almond meal from going rancid. I usually take the almond meal out and let it come to room temperature before using it to make macarons.

Lastly, using albumen (powdered egg whites) helps to stabilize your meringue. The albumen blended with some extra fine sugar is added while the egg whites are forming the meringue.

What to Look for in a Macaron

Now that we've covered the equipment and ingredients that are needed for making macarons, we are ready for the next step! Check back for my next post on making the macaron shells. In the meantime, what is your favourite macaron flavour? Leave a comment below!

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