Praline Macarons
Hey food lovers!
The end of the year is approaching and I wanted to share another macaron recipe with you this year.
So here are my praline macarons. ;o) With a French meringue this time.
Do you know the difference between French and Italian meringue?
Italian meringue = sugar syrup heated to 118°C incorporated into foamy egg whites
French meringue = egg whites whipped with sugar added gradually (no need to make a syrup)
The pros and cons?
Italian meringue
Pros
- Doesn't fall as quickly as the French version, so easier to macaroon
- No need to let it crust for 30 minutes
- An ultra-smooth finish on top
Cons
- Very temperamental (I have more failures with this version than with the French one)
- The sugar syrup stresses a lot of people out
- Less crunchy on the outside, more fragile shell
French meringue
Pros
- Easier because there's no sugar syrup.
- Easier for macaron beginners, less temperamental and fewer failures
- A crunchy shell on the outside and soft on the inside
Cons
- The macaroning is more sensitive, the batter falls faster
- Slightly more grainy finish on top
I'll be honest, I always made my macarons with Italian meringue out of habit, or maybe because I'd seen more positive comments about it... Well, I'm changing my mind as of today!
I found the French meringue faster and easier to work with. The result is great and I had zero failures. And the texture... Just perfection! Everything I love! ;o) I made this recipe 4 times and each time I got the same result.
So here is the recipe!
To make 35 macarons (70 shells), you will need:
For the shells:
- 150gr of extra fine almond flour
- 150gr of icing sugar (from Coop)
- 120gr of egg whites (2 to 3 eggs) laid at least 10 days ago
- 120gr of caster sugar
- Chocolate food colouring
For the ganache:
- 50gr of hazelnut praline
- 125gr of heavy cream
- 125gr of milk chocolate
We'll start by making our ganache, so it has enough time to set in the fridge.
In a saucepan, pour 50gr of hazelnut praline with 125gr of heavy cream.
Mix with a whisk and bring the mixture to a boil.
Place 125gr of milk chocolate pistoles in a large glass bowl. Set aside.
Once the praline cream boils, immediately remove it from the heat and pour it in 3 additions over your chocolate.
Mix gently with a whisk or spatula.
Once the ganache is smooth and homogeneous, as in photo N°2, place a piece of cling film directly on the surface. Press it right against the ganache so it doesn't form a crust.
Then place this ganache in the fridge for at least 2h or even overnight. You can even prepare it 1-2 days in advance without any problem. ;o)
Now let's get started on our macarons!
Start by pouring 150gr of almond flour and 150gr of icing sugar into a large bowl.
Mix the two ingredients together with a spatula.
Almond flour: It must be extra fine. You cannot use the one from Migros or Coop as it is too coarse.
Icing sugar: Choose the one from Coop which is ultra fine compared to the Migros one.
Quick tip:
Blend your almond flour together with your icing sugar (always both at the same time) to get an even finer texture.
I use a simple blender attachment on my Bamix.
Set the icing sugar-almond mixture aside.
In a mixing bowl, pour 120gr of egg whites with 20gr of caster sugar.
Very important! Your eggs should be 10 days old or have been cracked and stored in a tupperware in the fridge for 2-3 days to age them. This makes all the difference.
Whip your egg whites at medium speed until they are foamy. It is important to whip the whites at medium speed and not at high speed.
Once the egg whites are foamy, add the sugar little by little.
Add some sugar, whip for 1 or 2 minutes, add more sugar, whip... etc. In total you will have added the 120gr of sugar (20 at the beginning plus the rest).
Whip your meringue until you get a nice bird's beak, as in photo N°3. The meringue must be nice and firm! This is important for the next steps. If it is too runny, everything will collapse when macaroning.
Add the gel food colouring of your choice. I opted for the chocolate colour to get slightly beige shells.
Gel food colouring does not alter the texture and works very well for macaron shells. ;o) It is 10x more pigmented than liquid colourings.
Whip the mixture for 10 seconds. Then remove the whisk.
Pour your tant pour tant (almond-icing sugar mixture) over your meringue and mix with the flat beater (K beater) for 30 seconds at speed 1.
It is extremely important to mix at speed N°1! If you mix too fast, your meringue will collapse! And make sure to use the flat beater and not the whisk. ;o)
You could do it by hand, or rather with a spatula, but I find the result is much better with the flat beater.
This is what it should look like once mixed with the flat beater.
Finish by mixing with a spatula. Or more precisely, macaroon your mixture to achieve a beautiful texture.
Your batter is ready when you get a ribbon. So when you lift the spatula, your macaron batter should fall from the spatula in a ribbon without being runny.
If you don't macaroon enough, you'll get macarons with grainy bumps.
But if you macaroon too much, you'll get macarons that aren't round, with a foot that collapses in the middle of baking.
For me, my batter is ready when it starts to shine and forms a ribbon. ;o)
Pour your macaron batter into a 40 cm piping bag fitted with an 8 mm round nozzle.
Print the macaron templates: TEMPLATE
My circles are 3.5 cm in diameter which gives me macarons of 4.5-5 cm once baked. ;o)
What is important is to leave plenty of space between the macarons so that baking is optimal. If you place them too close together, you will have losses as some will crack.
Get yourself a perforated baking tray and a sheet of baking paper.
It is important to use baking paper sheets without creases. Avoid using sheets that are folded in half.
Pipe your macarons onto your sheet.
Stay straight, about 1 cm from the sheet, press on your piping bag. When you have a nice round shape, stop the pressure and make a small rotating motion to remove your nozzle.
It's a skill that takes practice. Don't worry if the first ones look a bit weird. ;o)
Quick tip: You can stick your baking paper to your tray by placing a little macaron batter underneath before baking. This way, there's no draught during baking. ;o)
Once your macarons are piped, they still have small imperfections.
To make them disappear, tap your perforated tray on your work surface. This way, your macarons will smooth out on top and small air bubbles will rise to the surface.
This is where you'll really see if you've macaroned correctly.
If they spread too much, you've macaroned too much. If they don't move, you haven't macaroned enough. In that case, you can take the batter back, rework it and pipe it again. ;o)
For this recipe, I decided to add caramelised hazelnuts on half of my shells.
Leave your macarons to crust for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 140°C fan-forced, place a rack at the bottom of your oven and open your oven every 5 minutes (open-close immediately) to let all the moisture out of your oven.
After 30 minutes of crusting, place your 1st tray in your oven preheated to 140°C, fan-forced for 12 to 14 minutes.
Simply place your perforated tray on your rack.
Only bake one tray at a time! This way your macarons will all be beautiful and you won't have any losses. ;o)
The baking time will depend on your oven... In mine I bake them for 13-14 minutes but in my old oven, I baked them for 12 minutes.
You will therefore have 4 baking rounds since you'll be making 70 macaron shells and there are 21 spaces per tray.
Take your ganache out of the fridge. Its texture is beautiful! You'll see. ;o)
Fill a piping bag with the 8 mm round nozzle like the one used for piping the macarons.
Then fill your shells with praline ganache.
Personally, I first pair up my shells, then fill them with ganache so that it stays as cool as possible for as long as possible.
And here is the result!
Ultra indulgent macarons. ;o)
Keep them in the fridge, preferably in a macaron box so their texture stays perfect.
Have a great Sunday!
Karin
PS: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.
Watch our recipe in video!
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Comments
Question de Elodie
By: Elodie V. On 2024-12-30Bonjour!
Premier test, j’ai beaucoup trop macaroné (mais c’était quand même très bon ;-)) et là pour mon deuxième test, la première fournée a été à merveille, mais la deuxième j’ai eu des macarons qui ont « monté » que d’un côté. Ils ont la collerette mais pas partout et du coup ils ne sont pas droits et homogènes (mais la coque est bien lisse et pas fissurée…) est-ce simplement du à un pochage pas terrible ou c’est la cuisson? J’ai utilisé la même plaque perforée, elle n’était pas 100% refroidie est-ce que c’est un problème?
Merci d’avance pour vite réponse!
Replied by: Laura On 2024-12-31
Question de Amandine
By: Amandine S. On 2024-12-07Bonjour,
J'aurais aimé savoir quelle est la meilleure manière pour conserver la masse en attendant les différentes cuissons ? Frigo VS air libre
Merci pour vos recettes. C'est toujours une réussite et un délice :)
Replied by: Karin On 2024-12-09
Question de Elodie
By: Elodie M. On 2024-12-02Bonjour,
Si on souhaite les préparer à l'avance, combien de temps se conservent-ils au frais ?
Combien de temps peuvent se conserver les coques sans ganache ?
Merci beaucoup pour vos éclairages.
Salutations
Replied by: Karin On 2024-12-03
Question de Carine
By: Carine R. On 2023-11-11Bonjour ? mes macarons sont tout craquelés, quelle est la cause principale selon vous? J’ai tout fait pareil que vous, le seul truc que j’ai fait et que vous ne montrez pas c’est que j’ai bien tapé plusieurs fois sous ma plaque pour rendre uniforme mes coques et enlever les bulles…est-ce que j’ai fait retomber les blancs du coup? J’ai fait 2 fournées, la première pas assez macaroné donc pleins d’imperfections mais la collerette était là (pas beaucoup tapé vu que c’était trop solide) et la deuxième bien macaroné, j’ai pu enlever les imperfections mais craquelé quand même…désolé du pavé et merci de votre réponse! ?
Replied by: Karin On 2023-11-13
Question de Marie
By: Marie M. On 2023-04-25Bonjour,
J’aimerais faire des macarons aux fraises, pour la ganache pensez-vous que je pourrais remplacer le praliné par de la purée de fraises et faire avec du chocolat blanc?
Merci pour vos conseils et vos recettes!
Bonne journée!
Replied by: Laura On 2023-04-26
Replied by: Marie M. On 2023-04-26
Question de Patrizia
By: Patrizia C. On 2022-10-29Hallo
Ich hab diese nun endlich probiert. Die Anleitung ist extrem ausführlich,jedoch nicht wirklich klar. Die Ganache ist einfach. Aber,muss ich das Eiweiss nur schaumig schlagen oder fest? Mit Schaumig wird meine Masse sehr dünn. Was bedeuted Macaronisieren? Meine verlaufen in alle Richtungen trotz extra Backmatte.
Kannst du mir bitte helfen?