Serious Efforts: Flat macarons — help
For Valentine's Day I made the bf pistachio macarons, from Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess. I folded everything in carefully, gently put it all into a pastry bag, piped out the little circles, let it sit for 10 minutes to "get a film" as instructed, and baked them. Upon cooking they looked great (no "foot" but we're not looking for perfection here!) and then within minutes were flat as pancakes. The final products looked like pistachio Oreos. They were delicious, just flat!
What did I do wrong? Too much egg beating? Not enough? Did I lose all the air while piping them out? They are essentially meringues and clearly mine had something wrong. (if this helps, the only ingredients in the "cookie" part were ground pistachios, egg white, and powdered sugar—baked at 350 for approx 10 minutes per her recipe). I'm confused and bf wants me to make them again because he loved them, but I'll be so frustrated making the same mistake twice!
Thanks in advance for any help :)
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9 Comments:
i usually bake them at a lower temperature for longer and also leave them out for at least an hour before baking to develop a skin. it's hard to say without a picture, but it sounds like they weren't all the way cooked/oven dried, so they collapse due to the wet egg whites on the inside. were they darker in the middle once they collapsed?
i'll have to check her recipe, but also it helps to turn off the oven and let them sit in there to ensure doneness.
here's the serious eats macaron tutorial: just sub pistachios for almonds:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/10/how-to-make-macarons-recipe.html
dmarina at 10:03PM on 02/17/09
they were indeed darker in the middle, in fact the middle stuck to the parchment paper in some instances. so maybe you are onto something!
megannesta at 10:07PM on 02/17/09
megannesta, I agree with dmarina re: the oven temp. Here's another recipe that I developed for my blog. Bake at 300. http://crumbsonmykeyboard.com/2008/06/02/manolos-and-macarons/
Tara Mataraza Desmond at 10:52PM on 02/17/09
Leave them out for 2 hours. Temp was too high calibrate your oven with a oven thermometer. Use a pinch of cream of tartar for insurance.
JerzeeTomato at 12:14AM on 02/18/09
this is all awesome -- and thanks for the links too. really appreciate all your help! will definitely work on the oven temp, leaving them longer (and turning off the oven) and add a pinch of cream of tartar!!
megannesta at 1:07AM on 02/18/09
FYI, sometimes they stick even when they're done right. once they've cooled, you can moisten the underside of the parchment with a little water & they'll pull right off. good luck!
dmarina at 5:12PM on 02/18/09
I've seen recipes that require you leave the egg whites out over night to warm up so that the egg whites are thicker before you beat them. I'm not sure if that will help.
ag3208 at 9:31PM on 02/18/09
definately have your egg whites at room temp before whipping.
nightmoon at 7:40PM on 02/19/09
@ag3208, that's a classic pierre herme method. actually, in his new book, macaron, he recommends leaving the eggwhites in the fridge for a week before making the macarons, but it's not to make them thicker, it's to make them thinner. if you ever compare fresh eggs with old eggs, you'll notice the whites are much thinner in older eggs.
dmarina at 1:02AM on 02/21/09