-
Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip (I use 0.5” diameter). Set aside.
-
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
-
I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicone mat, or parchment paper.
-
Measure out all of the ingredients.
-
Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
-
Place the egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
-
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water. You don’t want the egg whites to cook.
-
Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
-
With the whisk attachment, start whisking the mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy.
-
Raise the speed to medium-high, or high, depending on the power of the mixer you are using, and whip for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Once the meringue get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
-
Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. The peaks should be shooting straight up, maybe the peaks can have a slight bent at the top, but they shouldn’t be soft, or bending down to the side.
-
Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder into stiff whites.
-
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
-
Add the food coloring at this point. To achieve the bright red color you will need a lot of food coloring.
-
It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
-
First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
-
There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
-
Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
-
If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out a bit, start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
-
Test again.
-
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper or baking mat, transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
-
You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to over mix. It’s always best to under mix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
-
This is a very important part about making macarons. The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
-
Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
-
Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then pull the bag up.
-
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you can, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
-
Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles of air that may have formed on the surface of the macaron shells.
-
Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
-
Pre-heat the oven to 325Fº.
-
Bake one tray at a time.
-
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
-
Bake each tray for a total of 18-20 minutes.
-
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will be coming off the mat easily, and with a completely formed bottom.
-
If you try to move a macaron and it feels jiggly, it needs to keep baking.
-
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
-
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.