I made my macarons the same as I always do, but I just couldn’t get them to turn out yesterday. Out of 6 batches, only 3 batches turned out usable, and I still wasn’t super proud of those batches. It was pouring rain all morning so the humidity caused me to have to rest the macarons for 2 hours before they formed a skin. The batter seemed stickier than normal and after it thinned out a bit, it started only getting stickier and thicker as I folded. My meringue was the same as I always do it, so I don’t think that is the issue. I am wondering if my ingredient ratio is off. I use the preppy kitchen recipe, and I’m beginning to wonder if I need to use 130 grams of almond flour instead of 140 grams. The recipe adds extra grams to account for the bigger almond flour pieces that are thrown out when sifting, but lately I haven’t had much to toss out with the Nature Eats brand almond flour.
The macarons looked great halfway through the bake when I rotated the pans, but at the end they would wrinkle on the top and brown on the sides before the bottoms could fully form. I’m using a conventional oven, and the heat source is from the top. It’s a brand new oven yet it only increases and decreases in increments of 25 degrees. I have tried 300°F but the oven runs hot and they brown too quickly. I switched to 275°F and had a little bit better luck. I have tried to place a pan or foil on a rack above the macarons, whether on the rack directly above or multiple racks above, and every time it seemed to trap too much moisture and make the shells soft. When I move my macarons closer to the heat source, they brown before the bottoms form, when I move them farther away from the heat source and bake for longer, the bottoms form but they still brown on the edges and the tops wrinkle. They take over 20 minutes the bake and I am using a macaron silpat on a light gold tray. Even the macarons the macarons that turned out okay had a shell that was more delicate than normal.
I feel like I’ve tried everything – I literally baked 12 trays yesterday. If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it! I have included some pictures of one of the failed batches.
by hi_i_have_question