Macarons. Hours of my life that I'll never get back. Who makes these?

[lia66]

I followed the recipe to the letter and still the bloody things didn't work out. I even sieved my ground almonds.

Tell me your secrets please.

You're a braver woman than I am, I bake A LOT, and experiment with lots of different styles but I'm too scared to give them a try.

I think someone once said the trick was to keep everything really cold. [not at all helpful - sorry]

Your braver than me too. Also good and bake alot but to scared to try these. I believe the trick to them is to get them to pop

I made them once and I blitzed the ground almonds in the food processor for 10 long noisy minutes before starting on the rest of the recipe. They were ok - tasted nice but looked a bit rustic. Made them again about 6 months ago and chucked them. They didn't form the foot and didn't rise. They were a mess.

Hi, I make ALOT Macarons and sell them on farmers markets,

These are my top tips that I always give if anyone asks,

Look at the blog the pink whisk, she's very good at explaining each stage.
Make sure everything you use is very clean,
Don't use fresh eggs.
Make sure when splitting your eggs you don't break the yolk.
When you make your meringue it needs to be stiff.
When you fold your ground almonds and icing sugar mix into the meringue it should come off the spoon in a ribbon.
Pipe them and bang your tray,
Open your oven half way though to let out some of the steam.
Their a bugger to make, it's defo a science getting everything correct, they say that you should never make them on a rainy day as the humidity can make them fail.

Have fun, hope this helps xx

I am going to try these on the weekend for my daughter who requested them. it is the third time i have tried to make them and the last two times they were a nightmare. They looked OK but stuck to the baking paper and had to be removed in pieces. Also I couldn't get the colouring to be evenly distributed because the mix was so thick.

Plus you are supposed to leave them to form a skin before cooking - but how do you know that has happened?

The bake off makes it look easy.

Forming the skin - you know when it is done because if you nudge it gently with the tip of your finger it holds and feels a bit like skin on custard.

The successful batch I did were made on baking parchment which had foil one side and parchment the other. I used baking paper the second time and they stuck. So perhaps the parchment was a better idea.

I went to a macaron class as I had so many disasters, and can do them pretty well though (still a bit hit and miss but a 1000% improvement on previously).

The main tips were:

• Use powdered rather than liquid food colouring and mix it in right at the end with as few folds as possible.
• Once piped out, bash the tray on the worktop a few times as this helps remove any air (apparently).
• Leave the tray in a warm place for at least half an hour to form a skin (it should be tacky to the touch and you will be able to push the little 'nipples' in without mixture ending up on your finger).
• Cook with oven door propped open with a spoon, and leave to completely cool before attempting to remove from the tray.

They are a massive faff, especially if you're trying to do more than one colour, but really impressive and satisfying when you get them right. Also, you'd be surprised at how much better they look once sandwiched together, even the lumpiest and wonkiest ones look better than you'd think.

Very helpful ladies, thank you.

I might get me one of those silicon macaron sheets, I got a freebie from a mag yet but I think I car booted it.

I bake a lot, for money but I can't master these, I will not be defeated by bloody almonds.

The only things I didn't do, were the not fresh eggs thing, that's interesting, I've always got fresh eggs as I bake a lot so I'll get some and leave them to the side for a week.

Also, didn't open the oven door, I'll try again.

Many thanks