Macarons are considered an expert-level challenge for pastry chefs and baking enthusiasts alike. Achieving a perfect macaron takes great attention to detail. Beginners who have just started making macarons may wonder: what exactly does a perfect macaron look like?
What Is a Macaron?
A macaron is made of small cookies sandwiched together with various fillings, like a tiny sweet hamburger. The shells are made from egg whites whipped with sugar into a meringue, then mixed with ground almonds and icing sugar and baked so the shells rise. Fillings vary, with popular choices including lemon butter, chocolate ganache, buttercream and jam.
The Characteristics of a Good Macaron
First, you need to understand the parts of a macaron. One macaron consists of two cookies, called "shells" (crust), sandwiched with a "filling" (cream). As the shells bake, they rise, and the risen part is called the "feet". This gives each shell one smooth side and one rough side; the rough side, with the feet, is the side joined to the filling. A perfect macaron can be judged by the following characteristics:
- Standing balance: a good macaron is balanced, not tilting too much to one side, and can stand upright on its edge.
- Shells: both top and bottom shells should be smooth, without peaks (caused by poor piping) or cracks (caused by oven heat), and neither too thick nor too thin.
- Shell colour: the colour should be even across the whole shell. When adding colour to the batter, blend it as smoothly as possible before piping it onto the mat.
- Feet: the feet should rise slightly and evenly, with small air pockets in the foot layer. Poor feet have burst, messy air pockets, splayed feet, overly tall feet (rising too much horizontally) or, worst of all, no feet at all.
- Shape: macaron shells should be perfectly round. Beautiful shells depend on piping the batter onto the mat as round as possible.
- Filling and texture: the macaron shouldn't be so crunchy that it's like a biscuit. The interior should be soft and fluffy, with no hollows, holes or cavities when you cut it open.
- Size: macarons made in the same batch should be the same size so they can be arranged neatly. Beginners who want even sizes can use a mat with circle templates to judge spacing and how much batter to pipe for each shell. Macarons sold in shops are generally about 1.5 inches in diameter.
Making macarons, or any kind of bakery product, is a kind of art. The chef or baker must take care at every step and use well-balanced recipes and ingredients to create a perfect treat in appearance, shape and flavour, which is the true measure of baking success.
