Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/4” diameter tip. Set aside.
Place a bowl over a pan with barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water. Add the sugar and egg whites to the bowl.
Don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
Sometimes you may find that the consistency of the buttercream is already perfect and doesn’t need any more liquid. If the buttercream seems too runny, add more sifted powdered sugar until you obtain a firm, but smooth and creamy consistency.
Egg White Powder: Notice that I am not using any egg white powder in today’s recipe, and if you watch my videos you will see that recently I have been using it every time I make macarons. However, the weather has been quite dry where I am, and since I am also adding strawberry powder to the shells I decided to skip the egg white powder in today’s recipe.
Freeze dried strawberry powder: Weigh the powder after sifting it, not before. Any large chunks should be discarded, so you might have to process more than just 5 grams of freeze dried strawberries to obtain 5 grams of powder.
Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring, not liquid, as it will affect the batter, and it will destroy the protein bonds in the meringue that form the structure of the macarons.
Vinegar: Before starting make sure to wipe down the bowls, whisks, silicone mats and everything you are going to use with vinegar, to avoid any grease particles of coming into contact with the meringue and batter.
Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy.
Macaron amount: It will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.
Baking time/temperature: Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray. Read more about how to figure out your oven here.
Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.
Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.
Troubleshooting: Please visit this article for troubleshooting tips.