My meringue whips up great, and then comes the macaronage; every time I start folding in the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture, it always turns out WAY too thick and it keeps getting thicker as I fold it in even more! I don’t understand.. at first, I thought it’s because my almond flour is old (it was over 2 years expired), but I just bought Kirkland almond flour and this is STILL HAPPENING!! I’m on the verge of giving up, I’ve switched between two recipes (Mimi’s macarons and Michelle’s macarons, which I’m watching her video tutorial as I go) and this NEVER fails to happen. Should I whip up some more meringue and add it in? Is this salvageable?
by yAyeetgonnadelete
8 Comments
I forgot to mention that when I first fold in the almond flour mixture, it turns out not that thick but folding it prompts it to become thicker and thicker.. the temperature in my house is also at 24° because the AC is on when I previously have done these when it was hotter and humid. I also sifted the almond flour + powdered sugar in case that has anything to do with it.
First things first—are you measuring by weight or volume?
My first guess is that the ingredient ratios are off, but you replied to someone else that you weighed them. Are you weighing your egg whites too? I’m not familiar with the recipes you tried but if it’s been the same issue across two recipes then it might be a meringue issue or the way you’re doing your macaronage.
that happened to me when i used cocoa powder on my shells
are you doing the swiss method? this is what happens to me on swiss method when i over heat my egg whites for too long on a bain marie . a lot of recipes have you cooking egg whites to a certain temp. i find depending on the weather and humidity it can take short time or long time. the truth is you dont need to cook it till any specific temp. you only need to “bain marie” it till the sugar is melted and once melted you are done. stick your finger in the egg whites and when you rub two fingers together and dont feel sugar grit you are ready to whip snd take it iff the heat
Do you overprocess your almond flour. You should only be doing a few pulses. Otherwise oils are released from the almonds, which ruins macarons.
Powdered sugar has starch in it to keep it loose, which is a thickener. It gets thicker when hydrated. If you tried two recipes and used new almond flour, perhaps try new powdered sugar too. I had noticed uneven distribution of starch and sugar before when I got to the bottom of the bag.
I’ve had very good luck with Camila of Pies and Tacos Chocolate Macarons. She states that the fat content in Hershey’s cocoa powder works the best. Plus the amount of grams that works best. She has a good posting on troublesome chocolate macarons. Her videos are very good too.
[Chocolate Macarons ](https://www.piesandtacos.com/chocolate-macarons/)
[Pies and Tacos](https://www.piesandtacos.com/)