First time attempting macarons (followed the recipe from claire saffitz on NYT). I bought an oven thermometer but didnt exactly have a place to put it so i hung it at the bottom.
I had set the oven to ~150degC (about 300F) and baked them in the middle rack. Used a silicon mat for the macarons. I dont have a flat cookie sheet without the sides hence i used a regular tray. I set the oven setting to the one that has heat from top and bottom (without fan on).
During the baking, I read the oven thermometer it was hovering at 120degC so i upped the oven temp to 170. The macarons started growing the feet and then soon after a couple of them cracked and i quickly reduced the oven temp to 120degC. I continued baking them for a total of 22mins at 120degC.
Based on the photos it looks like the baked macaron top somewhat deflated and while the bottom looks underbaked?
How do i prevent the top from cracking while ensuring the macaron bakes completely?
by floralvanilla
3 Comments
Just to add on, i rested the macarons under air conditioning (i live in a very humid climate) for about 45minutes and tested that the top of the macaron was not sticky before baking them.
Did you put cocoa powder in the ingredient by chance?
The max cocoa powder you can add to shells is 10g.
If you have never made macarons before then just stick to plain vanilla until you get a feel for it.
Cocoa powder is notorious for causing wrinkly tops