How to make macarons

Remember that it may not work the first time you try, depending on your oven, weather and quality of ingredients. This was my 2nd try at it and it still had flaws. Practice makes perfect!

Separate your egg whites when cold from the fridge. Every single thing it touches must be fat free, grease free, perfectly clean and dry. MUST BE DRY!!!

The egg whites must age for some time to lose water content. (Remember the three enemies of egg whites: water, oil and some times heat.) Loosely cover egg whites with cling wrap and place in fridge...

...or place under a cloche (pronounced closh for reference) at room temperature. If where you live is hot, they may go off at room temp. so go for the fridge.

Place a cloth on top to block out the sun

Almond meal

Icing/powdered/confectioner's sugar

White/superfine/caster sugar

You can prepare the almond meal and icing sugar on Day 1 or Day 2. I did it on day 1.

Measure out almond meal...

...sugar (trust me, there is sugar in there)...

...and icing sugar in separate bowls. Keep both sugars separate, that was my mistake last time I made macarons.

Sift almond meal. I sifted it into the weighing bowl and transferred it into the original bowl.

Sift icing sugar

Both sifted!

Bigger bowl (mine was kinda oversized)

Food processor or blender. If you are in a push for time you may omit this step, but it may be crucial in the end.

I added 3 spoons of almond meal and 4 of icing sugar.

Another boring picture

Icing sugar

There! Layering it will end in better distribution

Top on and...

Whizz it up!

Done! It took a few batches for me. Note: almond meal and icing sugar is addictive. Do not eat more than 2 spoons. ;)

🌞Wait overnight...🌝

Take egg whites out 5 hours before making

Perfectly clean, dry, grease free bowl

Same for beaters.

Pick a relatively large round tip... not super big tho

EDIT: The tip shown previously is too small. Above is the right width, about 1.5 cm

Anyway, twist the bottom of the piping bag to stop mixture leaking out later (yes yes, I know, there's a tip on the coupler... but the batter ended up quite thick)

Flip top over

Pop into a tall glass/container

Line baking tray with parchment/grease proof paper. You can draw circles on the underside if you want a template for piping.

Room temp. egg whites

Beat until white and frothy. Gradually add sugar (NOT icing sugar) and beat on medium speed. When all sugar is dissolved, beat on HIGH speed until stiff peaks appear...

Like this! It must be quite stiff and not collapse when you turn the beater horizontally.

Add 1/3 of the dry mix

Gently fold until JUST incorporated.

Add food colouring and flavouring if you want.

Add another third of the dry mix and scrape down the sides of the bowl

Fold gently

Add remaining third

Fold

Fill piping bag (yes yes, I know it looks like guacamole)

Pipe. There is enough batter to pipe two trays but I couldn't find my second tray until I finished piping (and opened the oven)😖... Leave to dry the top for half and hour.

With 15 min left of drying time, preheat oven to 150°C (convention) or 130°C (convection/fan forced)

After 30 min of drying, gently touch the surface of a macaron. If nothing sticks to your finger, it is ready to bake.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 min. Keep an eye on them and don't let them get brown. Tap the top of a macaron with a wooden stick to test if it's dry. If hollow sounding, it is done.

Cool macarons in tray for 5 minutes. Peel off paper when warm. When cooled COMPLETELY on a wire rack, pipe filling on. You can use buttercream, jam, Nutella or anything you want.

Gently place a similar sized macaron on top

More macarons

Enjoy!!☺️😉