Ok, this is nitpicky, but I'm always looking to improve. My batter is coming out slightly "lumpy", but my ribbon is flowing on the runny side. I don't want to overmix, so I just stop, even though it's a bit lumpy. I split my meringue into 3 incorporations, where I try to get a paste consistency the first plit, a batter consistency the second split, and then perfect the macaronage with gentle folds in the third split. (I mainly incorporate by smooshing batter against the bowl, then folding back together.) Sometimes this works very well, others, I get a slightly lumpy batter. They always taste great, and I have full shells, but sometimes they look wonky with the lumps. I've narrowed it down to maybe a few things, but I was wondering if anyone had the same problem and fixed it. TIA!
Potential issues
– underwhipping meringue
– mixing too aggressively (slower?)
– put dry ingredients into meringue instead?
– food coloring? (If you have alternatives, please share!)
– oily almond flour?
I used French method, see recipe below.
100 g egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
80 g caster sugar
3 g egg white powder
(As much as 3/4 t gel if necessary)
125 g almond flour
125 g powdered sugar
by virtual-raggamuffin
3 Comments
Your batter looks fine to me. I do see some air bubbles though – is that what you mean by lumpy? If so, the remedy is to take a cookie scribe or toothpick and gently poke & swirl them, after you’ve banged the pan several times.
do you sift almond and powder sugar a couple of times? that usually prevents any lumps
Normally when making macarons by making a paste with the almond flour, people use an italian meringue because it cooks the eggwhites and results in a much stronger and stable meringue. Using a french meringue for this technique can deflate the meringue very fast and result in the batter turning runny fast before you can get rid of those lumps. So overall, my suggestion is to either make an italian meringue instead or use a french meringue and just add your almond flour and powdered sugar. And on top of that, you could try processing your almond flour and powdered sugar together to get the finest powder and reduce lumps.