# no feet on macaroons!



## vapour (May 3, 2007)

ok, so i've made french macaroons more than i can count. but it seems that i'll have my good macaroon days and bad macaroon days. lately it's been the latter. i dont' know if it's a new oven i have to get used to, but my macaroons have very tiny if at all any feet! once they're filled, they taste great, but not sure what i'm doing wrong.

i use the cooked sugar method, and let them sit out for about 2 hours then bake them. usually if they don't rise within the first 4 minutes of baking, there's not a chance they will at all. sometimes they even dome and crack a bit. (unfortunate i know).

can it be my mixing? it can't be, when i pipe them, they flow nicely and are very shiny. please if anyone can troubleshoot my macaroon problems it would be very much appreciated.


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## harpua (May 4, 2005)

Yeah I breathed macaroons for awhile as well. You said you are using a new oven? That should be the problem... I would lower my oven to about 250-300 and then put them in with door open, but closed enough so the fan would still blow. I would rotate them about 3 times to get them even. I think you just have to get used to it. 

I used to let them sit out for 2 hours, but I read some tips online and got away with about 45 minutes. Just enough to get the tops dry but not the bottoms stuck to the parchment so they will lift. I never used any cooked sugar method.

I have a STRONG understanding in good and bad macaron days, believe me! One rule I followed is that the final batter should just move like thick lava in the bowl. It should never be too thin or thick...

I know you probably have your own recipe, but I wanted to see if I could remember mine 

900 g powdered sugar
500 g almond flour

process until fine

440 g OLD egg whites (I would let them sit out with plastic over it overnight to release some moisture)
125 g gran sugar
salt
flavor/color

whipped soft peaks, not stiff. Fold dry into the whites, pipe into coins, let dry for about 45 mins and bake with the door cracked until they are firm.


Keep the discussion coming; I love to troubleshoot these little guys


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## noamvowell (Oct 30, 2008)

Sort of off topic, but you wanted the macaron discussion to go on, so...
I was short of a food processor and all i could come up with was a small coffee grinder for the almonds and sugar. Whenever i try to ground almonds in there i end up with a paste, rather than a powder. I thought the problem was because there were traces of sugar in the grinder, but removing them didn't always help...
Any suggestions?


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

You have to use a grinder that has a pulsating feature. You simply cant throw them in and let it go. Also place almonds in oven first to dry (not Color) let get cool then pulsate. I dont think a coffee grinder can pulse grind. Almonds must be dry.:lol:


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## vapour (May 3, 2007)

you can try chilling the almonds first.. put them on a sheet pan and in the fridge to harden the fat. then grind them in the grinder. the oils will warm up much slower giving you more time to grind them finer w/o it turning into butter.

are you using whole almonds? i recommend using ground almonds. to get a much finer texture for the macaroon, i would grind the ground almonds with the icing sugar in a thermo mix until its powdery.


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