Macarons: So many feet, time to buy some shoes!

OUI! I did it!!! I finally succeeded in making a batch of Macarons. Let me start by telling you kids about these little snooty French beauties I've been obsessing over for the past several months - they caused me to go into a deep blog-depression wherein a dire stalemate reared its ugly head. I don't even know how many batches I made, and I really should have taken the time to record my failures so I could report back, but guess what - HA! Failure is not someone I like to call my friend. In fact, I like to sweep failure under the Persian carpet any time possible. If you're curious, this is what under-baked failure looks like. I've censored out the actual decapitation. Taiwanese interpretation of a macaron being sold at a night market. How precious. Ms. Antoinette would weep.

Macarons:

1. No, I haven't been spelling it wrong. Macaroons are the coconut flake cookies that are chewy...Macarons on the other hand, I cannot pronounce, but I do know that they are delicate little French cookies that sandwich a swirl of vanilla butter-cream, chocolate ganache, matcha cream...the possibilities are endless.
2. Ingredients are super simple: egg whites, powdered sugar (preferably without starch), granulated sugar, finely ground almonds.
3. Meringue + Sugar and Almond + mad mixing skills that would scare the Wranglers off SamRonson (aka macaronage) + an intimate relationship with your oven (don't underestimate the power of oven lovin', my friends) = macarons
4. You want feet. Feet. FEEEEEEEEETSS! Feet are the frilly lacy bottoms that you see surrounding the bottom of each Macaron cap. If you've successfully mixed together the batter, at around 4-5 minutes in the oven, you'll begin to see the glossy cap rise up to reveal the feet. Now, to be clear, I've had feet since my very first batch - unfortunately, the caps would end up sinking in the center, or the feet would be brutally decapitated when I tried to lift the cookies off the sheet. No need for a guillotine in my kitchen...An example of perfect feet, made by Junglefrog:
5. Do as much reading as possible before you begin. Syrup and Tang was wonderfully detailed, many people recommend David Lebovitz though I personally didn't find him all that helpful - maybe he was too professional-sounding? I bought a book called I "heart" Macarons written by Hisako Ogita. Complete and utter eye candy. Was it helpful? No. But that might be due to my very minimal macaron Chinese lexicon.
6. Watch videos. One of the crucial parts of macaron making is the "macaronage" part. That involves mixing together the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture together with the meringue. There is a technique, so it helps a great deal if you can watch a professional do it on youtube or something. Some suggestions: FrenchfoodTV, Chefnini78
7. There are two basic methods and the part that varies is in the meringue. The basic recipe is with a regular whipped egg-white meringue. The more stable recipe (with which I ended up succeeding with!!!) uses an Italian meringue. This is made by pouring in boiling sugar syrup into the plain meringue while it is still mixing in the mixer - more on this later.
   
8. Sift, oh my gosh sift like there is no tomorrow. These are very unforgiving desserts.

I guess I should get on with the recipe...there are a million other tips I can be offering at this point but most importantly - become obsessed. But let's be honest...I'd take a Chocolate Chip Cookie over a bedazzled macaron any day.

Basic Proportions for a macarons au sucre cuit (Italian meringue method):

Ingredient		Amount		Example	(with eggwhite=50 gm)
Almond meal		1.35 x eggwhite		1.35 x 50 =	67 gm
Icing sugar		1.35 x eggwhite		1.35 x 50 =	67 gm
Sugar		1.35 x eggwhite		1.35 x 50 =	67 gm
Water		0.33 x eggwhite		0.33 x 50 =	16 gm
Egg white					50 gm

The great thing about this is, you can alter the measurements according to how much egg white you happen to have.

1. Measure out all of the ingredients. ALWAYS use an electronic scale to make the measurements.
2. Use a food processor to grind together the almond meal and powdered sugar. Don't get too crazy with it - if you mix for too long, you'll most likely end up with Almond butter, which isn't all that bad!
3. Sift two to three times and then place the powder mixture into a large bowl.
4. Measure half of the egg white and set aside. The other half should go into another CLEAN mixing bowl. Whenever you make meringue, it is essential to have a plastic or brushed metal bowl that is completely oil-free and water free, otherwise the meringue won't be able to get going.
   
5. You'll need a candy thermometer for this next part. Simmer the water and granulated sugar for a few minutes. Try not to stir the syrup, once or twice is fine.
   
6. As the syrup is making it up to 118C, swivel around to your egg whites in the mixing bowl and begin to beat the life out of it. Some recipes suggest that you start out slow to break up the connecting parts of the egg white, and then move up to high. By the time you have "stiff peaks", your syrup should be at around 118C.
   
7. Turn the speed of the mixer down to low and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the meringue. Yay! Scrambled egg whites! That's what I thought I would get...and there just might be some tiny scrambled egg pieces in my final product...Anyway, as soon as all of the syrup is in the meringue, turn the mixer back up to high speed. Mix for a few minutes until the meringue is warm to touch. You should have a glossy mixture now. If you want to add color, now would be the time.
   
8. Pour the other half of the egg white that you had set aside into the dry mixture. Don't worry, I really did just tell you to do that. I'm really not too sure why those were the instructions, but when it comes to macarons, I bow my head and obey.
   
9. Use a plastic spatula to spoon the meringue into the dry mixture.
10. Show me your macaronage magic (watch videos for tips on mixing)
11. It is so important that you don't over mix or under mix. It's tough, but you want to get it so the batter flows like magma.
    
12. If you have a piping bag, fill it up with the batter. If not, cut a small hole in the corner of a plastic ziplock bag and use that as your piping bag! For easy batter-filling, try placing the bag in a tall drinking glass. It will hold up the bag for you while you spoon in the batter. Keeps things clean and simple.
    
13. Pipe 2-3 cm circles. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I drew circles on the bottom side of the parchment paper so I could get similar sized macarons.
    
14. Time to wait...after you pipe macarons, it is best to let them sit for 20 min - 2 hours. A shell will form during this time, this helps with keeping the macarons crack-free (haha) as well as shiny. You can gently touch the tops of the batter to test the dryness.
    
15. While waiting, pre-heat the oven (regular, not convection) to 160C.
    
16. Place macarons in the oven for 13-14 minutes. Unlike all other cookies, they shouldn't have to brown for you to tell that the are done!! After around 4-5 minutes of bake time, you'll begin to see the feet! This is really the best part. Try hard not to open the oven at all - I found that as soon as I opened the oven door, cool air was pushed into the oven and the feet that had gained a lot of height ended up deflating.
    

What's with the empty macaron shells you ask? I will fill them soon after I finally set my heart on a luscious filling. And the "nipple" (yes, really) on top? Still trying to perfect the smooth finish. Not mixed enough to a magma-like consistancy is my best Dr. House diagnosis.