Macarons: You CAN use store-bought egg whites!

I’ve been toying with this recipe for almost a year now. At first, it was general annoyance at having to wait days, aging egg whites and trying to use up leftover yolks. But after failed attempts, near misses, and almost successes, I became obsessed. There had to be a way to wake up in the morning and just make macarons. It shouldn’t be weather dependent, aging egg-whites dependent, or anything else – just grab your ingredients, use solid techniques, and go.

So let me review. Ever since I started making macarons (it took several attempts to get to my basic recipe, check out The Great Macaron Challenge) I’ve been particular about my egg whites, aging them, loving them. Most macaron recipes will tell you to do the same. If they make mention at all to pasteurized egg whites, they will tell you officially not to use them. I had held to this hard and fast rule myself. The fear? Liquid egg whites don’t have the strength to hold the structure of a meringue, people claimed it would never work.

Undeterred, I used my basic recipe, substituting pasteurized egg whites for aged egg whites and had promising, but not perfect results. So I tried again, and again, and again. Basic flavors, complex flavors, higher baking temps, lower baking temps. I kept plugging away until I cracked it. Until I could make repeatable quality macarons.

Boozy Epicure’s Updated Macaron Recipe

If you are using food coloring*, add it now and fold it gently into the meringue. Once it is incorporated, start adding the almond/powdered sugar mixture. I like to do this in 4 additions. Put some of the mixture in and gently fold together. One trick with macronnage, instead of using the spatula to cut into the mixture and fold, I like to rotate the bowl and scoop from the bottom and fold over itself. I feel like it is more gentle on the meringue.

*A note on food coloring. For several months I was having a very difficult time with my colored shells browning on me. Turns out I was using food coloring that wasn’t heat stable. I changed to the brand Ameri-color and not only does the color hold better, they don’t brown, and since the gels are more concentrated, they didn’t disturb the batter ratios the way other food colorings did.

Once the batter is mixed and coming off your spatula in thick ribbons (whatever you do, don’t over mix!) add it to the piping bag and pipe your macaron shells onto the parchment or silpat with the template underneath. Once they are piped, remove the template, pick up the pan with both hands, and tap it formly on the counter a couple of times to bring up/pop any air bubbles in the piped cookies.

**Preheat your oven to either 300  or 350 degrees F.**

What’s awesome about this recipe is that I had success baking these macs using either my traditional method of 300 F for about 17 minutes, or the Pierre Herme method at 350 for 12 minutes, opening the door to release steam at the 8 and 10 minute mark.

Whichever baking method you prefer, while your oven is preheating, let the shells rest until they have a skin and do not stick to your finger when you touch them. If your batter is correct, this should take 30 minutes or less, no matter how humid it is outside. I’ve found that when my piped shells took longer to get the skin, it was always a sign I had made a mistake, either too much liquid (from food coloring or excess egg white) not stable enough meringue (from under beating egg whites or over-mixing the batter) or recipe proportions wrong. This causes either cracked shells, or thin, crunchy feet, or no feet at all.

From what I’ve read, convection ovens really help you get that meringue cooked and dried out without over browning your shells. I don’t have a convection oven (yet!) to test that theory, but if you are worried about browning, you can also put an empty cookie sheet in the top oven to shield your macs.

When they are done baking, let them cool, then sandwich the shells around the filling of your choice.  Buttercream, chocolate ganache, jam, and caramel make tasty fillings. I tend to pipe the filling as well. These need to rest 24 hours in the fridge so the cookies can mature (freshly baked macs are crunchy, that soft delicate texture comes from the filling softening the shells.) After they’ve matured, eat ’em up! They also do well in the freezer for longer storage.

Silpats vs Parchment

I use both. The silpats give you a little more ruffle in the foot, the parchment macarons tend to be a little taller. I honestly done’t think it makes much difference.

Special Flavors
For most macs, I make the plain shells above with food coloring and rely on the filling to give me flavor.

For the rose macarons above, I made the filling from 2oz of butter, 2oz cream cheese, 1/2 tsp rose water, 2 tsp rose syrup, pinch of salt and 1 tbslp heavy cream all whipped together with powdered sugar to taste.

For pistachio macarons, I replace 40g of the almond flour with pistachio flour (or finely ground raw pistachios) as well as use a bit of green food coloring. For the filling, I use the same 2 oz each butter and cream cheese, 1 tsp finely ground raw pistachios, 1/2 tsp almond extract, pinch of salt, 1 tblsp of heavy cream and powdered sugar to taste.