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I got so inspired by the fabulous tutorial that Linda from Call Me Cupcake made for CakeJournal last week. Yesterday I made some delicious macarons with swiss meringue buttercream filling. Up until then I had tried two different macaron recipes and I must say that I think Linda’s is by far the best. In addition to a great recipe her step by step instructions was very easy to follow so I felt really safe, when I threw myself into the macaron making.
I still need to learn more about the coloring of the macarons though. As I was aiming for a nice spring green color (used almost a whole pot of my favourite powdered food color) but ended up with a rather pale green instead. So any good advise will be much appreciated.
Piping the macarons was one of the parts where I had forgot how tricky this acctually is. It takes a little practice piping the perfect round macaron. I did manage to get the hang of it after the first baking sheet. My second one was much better and overall I am extremely happy with my result.
I have filled my macarons with swiss meringue buttercreme. The feeling of biting into the crisp and chewey macaron is just devine. I would love to hear if you have tried the macarons and please share any good tips that you have.
Happy Caking!
Louise
Good to see real expertise on display. Your contirtbiuon is most welcome.
I am not a fantastic cook or cake decorator, but I do like Macarons. I use my cookie gun as if I was icing something, but without the nozzle. I use two presses of the gun, and get a nice sized, reasonably (for me, anyway) circle.
I love making them I just did a batch for my daughter’s school teacher. We don’t have a store to buy them in Omaha
Maybe you could place them lower in your oven? Or use 2 baking trays. You could also lower the temperature a bit and bake for a little longer. I have read that I lot of mac bakers recommend that you place a oven thermometer in your oven to see if your oven heat correctly.
I really like Jill Colona’s recipe, you can find loads of tips at http://www.madaboutmacarons.com
Of course you can’t press them too much when sandwich together with filling, but after that I think they are quite sturdy. They are even better after 1-2 days in the refrigerator, then they are very chewy and so delicious. You can freeze the shells without filling. Filled mac’s can be stored for 5-6 days in the refrigerator
Of course you can’t press them too much when sandwich together with filling, but after that I think they are quite sturdy. They are even better after 1-2 days in the refrigerator, then they are very chewy and so delicious. You can freeze the shells without filling. Filled mac’s can be stored for 5-6 days in the refrigerator
Hy,for all macaron makers I found a macaron piping template which you put under the baking sheet and hopefully don’t forget to remove before baking 😉
http://marvwoodhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/zwcok-maccir1-3p8.pdf
thanks Luoise for your wonderful website
Thank you Isa. I’m sure this will be helpful.
I think they look a beautiful colour and I am willing to eat them all for you if necessary 😉
So lovely! I love this greeen colour!
In regards to your coloring, using gel colors is the best if you want a vibrant color. It doesn’t effect the mixture and it gives you a much more intense color with a lot less food coloring. These look gorgeous!
When I made macarons they all had little peaks on the top after piping them out. Any tips on how to get rid of the the little peaks? Thanks!
Without being the no.1 expert on macarons 😉 I think that your batter is under-mixed. Try and place a dollop of macaron batter on some parchment paper to see how it flattens. This really helped me.
Thank you sweetie 🙂 I will try and add gel to the meringue next time.
I would so love to try a true Laduree Macaron one day.
Do try, they look complicated but they are not. They first time just making them plain without any color. You’ll soon get addicted 🙂
I so need to get some Pistachios, would love to make Pistachio Macarons. Thank you for the tips on coloring.
They look great, the green colour too!
Love the Pastel Mint Color 🙂 I think it looks perfectly spring from the photos 🙂 Just wanted to give you a quick note 🙂 been sick lately… will email you soon! 🙂
I wish you a speedy recovery.
All I can say is “YUMMY”
Wow, fantastic photos again (and a great blog post too).
I make macarons using a different method it is the one where you make sugar syrup very similar to the swiss meringue buttercream. I know a few people pop the gel into the sugar/water mixture to evaporate off any extra water from the gel but I have never had a significant problem adding it in with the dry ingredients and I barely use any. I quite like this pretty pale green colour.
I actually made macarons for the very first time over the weekend after seeing the tutorial here last week! I had wanted to try them for ages but was always too afraid but they actually turned out to be much easier than I expected and I was so pleased with the results 🙂 I used gel food colouring in mine and made an amaretto butter cream
Quick phone snap of them here ^^
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/182977_10150092736046603_551996602_6938285_4172031_n.jpg
I definitely won’t be hesitating to make them again!
Hi Becky,
They look great 🙂
I used her recipe and macarons for the first time and filled them with ganache. They came out perfect. It was a great tutorial. Thanks.
Happy to hear that! 🙂
The macarons are very beautiful. I would have to use gel colouring too. Wonder if that would affect them badly?
I make macarons all the time using Wilton Gel paste and they turn out perfectly although I use the method whereby you make a sugar syrup.
Where is the recipe?
I love to try and make them as pretty as you did =)
If you click the link “the fabulous tutorial” in this post you will get to the step by step instructions and recipe.
These look divine! Just wondering if I could use gel foodcoloring instead of powdered. We don’t have powdered food coloring available where I live and would have to order it online. Would the gel ruin the texture or overall outcome of the macarons? Thanks!
I think foodcoloring as paste will work better here. It’s more intense and the little amount of color that is needed will not have any effect on the recipe.