first attempt, huge fail
hi!! i was so excited to make these, especially since the baker in the video said this recipe never failed her. and i didn’t seem to be too complicated or to have so many weird/extra steps.
these are my first-ever macarons, and obviously something went wrong 😭 they cracked all over, spread quite flat, stuck badly to the parchment paper, and developed no feet. the texture also looks very grainy.
recipe i followed (scaled down to one egg white):
33 g egg white
40 g almond flour
40 g icing sugar
7 g unsweetened cocoa powder
40 g granulated sugar
mixed the almond flour, icing sugar and cocoa powder, then sifted everything together.
tried whipping the egg white in my stand mixer, but it barely whipped such a small quantity, even after 10 minutes. switched to a handheld electric mixer and eventually got a foam/meringue.
gradually added the granulated sugar and whipped until the meringue looked reasonably firm and glossy.
folded in the dry ingredients by hand using a spatula. tried macaronage, scraping and pressing the batter against the sides of the bowl, but it never really reached the smooth, flowing ribbon stage. it stayed somewhere between a blob and a thick ribbon, although it did slowly settle.
piped the shells onto parchment paper, tapped the tray, and baked at 150°C conventional heat for around 25 minutes.
what i suspect:
could my almond flour have been too coarse? although I sifted it, the batter still looked very grainy. i wonder whether i should grind it more finely next time.
could my meringue have been insufficiently whipped because of the tiny quantity?
Did i under-macaronage or over-macaronage? the batter never reached the ribbon consistency shown in tutorials, and i couldn’t tell when to stop.
Could the oven temperature or insufficient resting time explain the cracks and lack of feet?
Is sticking to parchment paper normal before the shells have cooled completely?
I’d really appreciate advice on what most likely went wrong and what I should change for my next attempt. I know macarons are tricky, but the recipe video claimed they were practically foolproof, so I’m a little humbled right now 😂
video here : https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdCrX1Mn/