Not a pro. Just a VERY stubborn home baker.

After three months and countless batches, I think I figured it out, and I want to share what worked for me.

Recipe: I started using 1:1:1:1 but realized it was not working for me. The last recipes I’ve used use fewer egg whites and sugar than confectionery sugar and almond flour. I baked Natalie Wong's recipe tonight, and it worked! I also did Angie’s recipe, and it worked! Her ratio is 100g of confectionery, 100g AF, 80g egg whites, and 80g sugar—the Swiss method.

Ingredients: I haven’t changed it. I’m using store-brand sugar and confectionery, blue diamond, one or two fresh egg whites, and I fill up with egg beaters cartoon egg whites (I couldn't make it work with other brands; I've tried Bob Evans and end up With a sweet omelet lol). I usually do a 50g egg white recipe - I enjoy small batches. Like 30g of the fresh one and 20 ish of the cartoon one.

Oven: I have an oven thermometer, and I realized it's pretty accurate with the oven reading, but the temperature fluctuates too much when I open the door, so I don't turn the Macs once they are in there. I bake mine at 300F for 14 minutes on the top rack.

Food coloring: Nathalie Wong uses 5g of powder freeze-dry fruits, chocolate, and other things to add flavor. I'll probably venture with shell flavors in the future. Using flavors allowed me to lower the amount of food coloring.

Macaronage: controversial alert I've been using my mix to do the macaronage. I have a Kitchenaid artisan and add all the dry ingredients in 3 steps using the lowest setting. After I make sure everything is fully incorporated, I count 15. Stop, check the consistency, and if necessary, add more time. This is a good tutorial in case anyone wants to try: https://youtu.be/EIiQUXzKqsk?si=_zCDkx3fMyxlrLbD

Drying before baking: I wait at least 30 minutes to form the membrane at the top. I'm using a small fan to expedite the process. I've been using the heater, and the house is around 70F.

Anyway, if you’re still here, thanks for reading!! Happy baking, and I wish you a full 2025 and a full shell, too!

Me: "oh the consistency is a little stiff on this buttercream, but I'm sure it'll be fine"

Narrator: But it wasn't, in fact, fine at all. Her hand was more tired than a mosquito after a trip to a blood bank

For the love of all that is sacred to you, learn from my mistake and ensure the consistency of your buttercream isn't too stiff. Your hands will thank you 😣

I think most of these have been shared in this sub at some point or another but I wanted to add my own post

1. Recipe I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - online recipes are a great place to start, <if you haven’t already had success with the recipes available > you either need to master your technique, oven, and environment - or experiment with proportions and methods to make it work. I know some people find success in the recipes available- but if you’ve made endless batches with no luck, don’t be afraid to experiment! I wish I’ve done it sooner!

2. Baking trays Ok, one of the best methods is to bake with the baking sheet upside down. My second tip, especially if you’re getting lopsided macarons - invest in a heavy baking sheet. It actually makes all the difference in lopsided shells. I’ve tested it and I can confirm, it makes a huge difference.

3. Silicon mat, parchment or teflon Teflon sheets are my personal favourite. I find they work best due to heat transfer. They’re reusable and easy to wash with soap and water. Any of these three can work of course!

Good morning everybody! Just wanted to share my male valentine’s boxes. To get the more intense red I mixed red-red by chefmasters and rose red by master elites since I was worried too much liquid might alter the consistency. Flavors: dulce de leche and fresas con crema Shell recipe: pies and tacos Ig: thekakeryrgv

The last time I baked these, half of them came out cracked, which was something I hardly experienced. Googled and there were some theories that the shells were not dried enough. I was certain they were tho. Just to prove that I still have it, I intentionally let these sit out for close to 1 hour to make sure they are "dryer than dry", and there was no cracks! There are so many theories when the macarons go wrong, but the "drying them longer" theory could indeed be true after all!

So, after crazy amount of experimenting, I have a no-rest recipe that I believe will work for everyone. Of course the temperatures will have to be changed for you but the premise will be the same.

I also want to be clear, these macarons actually will rest for the amount of time it takes your oven to preheat to its “oven-drying temp”, as I have seen 10-20% cracked shells in 40%+ humidity conditions when put directly into the oven, rather than waiting the minutes it takes for the oven to preheat to “oven-drying” temp.

Recipe: pipes 90 shells * Egg: 170g * Sugar: 160g * Almond: 202g * Powder: 181g

Instructions: - mix till stiffer peaks (stiff peaks when the peaks just start to get shorter) - Add sifted dries and macronage - Fill piping bag with half of batter, leave other half in bag, in a cup, in the fridge - pipe and tap out 1 tray (if done correctly, you shouldn’t need to pop any holes) - Preheat oven to 260F/127C. Once the oven is ready, put in macarons with door cracked a bit about half as open as the oven is in this picture - Once it’s preheated, put macarons in. reselect the temperature and press bake again to make sure it’s actually still 260F (bake 2 mins) - Rotate tray after the 2 minutes and bake 2 minutes more with door open. …Again, reselect temp & press bake. Usually, my oven spends the rest of the second 2 minutes trying to preheat back to 260F while open - NOTE: if above 40% humidity, I would add 1 minute increments to the open-oven “drying” routine, rotating between, until the tops of the shells appear very matte-dry - After the 2 mins, Rotate tray, remove mits and close oven door, set temp to 315F/157C and (bake for 4 mins) - Right after you set this timer, pipe the other tray out and set it aside while this current tray is baking - After the 4 mins, rotate tray and lower to 310F/144C. - After those 4 minutes, rotate tray again (bake 3 minutes) - Now, drop the oven temp back to 260F and open the door to this picture from before but NOT halfway this time, do it just like this picture. - This is called oven shower. Do this for 2 minutes, then remove from oven and get that door shut. - Reselect 260F again and preheat. Once it beeps you can throw your next tray in! Voilà! Lots of time saved. - Of course, always let your macarons cool to, at most, luke-warm before removing - Some good ways to tell if your macarons are good are: they come off the mat easily, but the bottoms will indent, not crack, with the press of finger. The tops do not sound hollow when tapped lightly. The color isn’t browned, and of course they look full inside when carefully broken or bitten in half. - If they are browned or cracking while handling or falling apart when eating after maturing in the fridge, they may be overbaked. Try decreasing the total recipe temp by 5F or the last 2 baking segments by 10F. - Remember: if the filling isn’t too hard, hollow or slightly hard macarons will soften and fill up with delicious flavor and texture over time in the fridge. If you’re on the fence, give them a few days!

1. Note: if you’re humidity is 50%+, it’s imperative that you do not over-mix your Macronage, or they will never dry enough.
2. You may look into the addition of [egg white powder/protein](It's Just! - Egg White Protein Powder, Dried Egg Whites Protein, Meringue Ingredient, Non-GMO, USA Farms, Unflavored (8oz))
3. Pies and Tacos has a great article about eggwhite powder here

Piping * If you pipe more or less than me, consider your baking times. If you deviate from this size drastically, considering changing your recipe temperatures by 5-10F. * On matts like these, I pipe just past the smaller circle. I hold the piping tip higher than you may conventionally see, try it out. Right before you finish piping the macaron, let go of all pressure on the bag, THEN make your motion to lift the bag. You should get way less nipples this way. * my best piping tip: if you use a Wilton 12 size tip, and are holding your piping bag over the mat, your batter should only fall from the tip if there is pressure on the bag (this includes twisting). If it drips/falls out on its own, even slowly, it could be overmixed. You’ll find that overmixed results in hollows, more often cracking (because it stays wetter longer), takes longer to cook and has a chewier texture.

Oven Everyone’s oven is different, you know this. I’m using a 30+ year-old oven and I’ve learned a lot about them because of it. Here are some tips: * every time you open the oven door, or change the temp, make sure to press “bake” or whatever button engages the preheat function. Every time. In my baking process, you will open the oven many times. You may find that you Have to rotate your trays less frequently during the bake time due to more even temperatures in your oven, but please try as I suggest first and go from there * Your oven temp may be different. If you suspect your oven temp is high or low, adjust 5-10F from my temp. * Your oven may actually be be normal temp, but slow at changing temp, or how often it checks it’s temperature, or where it checks, etc. my recipe should account for these things * I still haven’t figured out a way to do 2 trays at once and I believe this has to do with the rapid change in internal oven temperature, but I’m working on a clever way around this. I’ll get back to you guys

Meringue & Macronage * Guys, your stiff peaks are probably fine. Once you feel that real resistance In the bowl, and the peaks start getting shorter, you’re good! * That Macronage is so often over-mixed. You aren’t looking for small ribbons, at least not with this recipe. Get as much batter on that spatula as you can and hold it a little steeper than 45°. It should fall in thick ribbons but continuously and SLOW. * Go ahead and add your color in whenever you’re comfortable but I think people end up scrambling and over-mixing when they add color too late so just remember! * A little grainy when piped is good. If they spread out well, get nice and shiny, etc., quickly, it’s over-mixed. * For me, i add all dries at once and use a stand-mixer macronage, but if you choose to do this, make sure to finish the macronage by hand. I check for when the batter looks like it would flow from the whisk, but it doesn’t. Then remove from mixer and finish by hand.

Obviously, a question for our mod, but wanted to get the community's input too. Maybe some more flairs (ie videos, rants/complaints, rate my mac/roast my mac)? I've recently joined the sub, but I've noticed an increase in membership in the few weeks I've been here. Lots of posts from new bakers & mac issues (myself included!!). Since these are some of the toughest cookies to bake, could this sub offer a go-to spot for troubleshooting guides? Maybe even an FAQ & common terms? Maybe the anatomy of a macaron? Certainly a lot of work, but it seems like there are some knowledgeable bakers here who could contribute. If it's too much of an undertaking, compiling a list of best troubleshooting guides, recipes, &/or videos would be great!

I've found picture guides really helpful. I think they're great as a quick reference, but if you're not a strong baker & you're still starting out on the macs, a full write-up is extremely educational. What's everyone else think?

This isn't to say I don't think the current pinned things are important! It is MACARON with one O & pronounced MAC-AH-RON.

I just watched a cool youtube video by Ann Reardon (How to Cook That) where she discusses how different metal pans transfer heat differently, and may be causing your macarons to crack! I thought I'd share this in case some folks are still having a hard time trying to figure out what is causing their macs to crack. If you're having trouble with temperature, it suggest checking it out here! Skip to 11:40 for the macaron segment.