Almost every batch I feel like I end up having a few shells that are droopy from the side. What could be causing this? Also the macarons end up not looking like perfect circles.
by RelativeParsley4238
4 Comments
Dramioneaudiofics
Cracked tops often mean they haven’t rested enough to form a skin on top. I would say these also look a little under macronaged to me due to the texture, but it may be more related to your almond flour. Do you blitz it in a food processor and sift a few times before adding to your meringue?
slightly-convenient
Mine is either a little bit of meringue strung alone in the batter. Or it’s temp. Like a hot spot in the oven.
YellowNitrousDream
When shells have randomly patterned cracking then it’s often the oven being too hot and/or the shells didn’t dry enough before going in.
However, when you find they’re droopy and get a perfect middle crack like shown in the picture, I’ve often found it to be that they were actually dried too long. When your shells dry for too long, part of the batter sticks to your sheet and as the rest of the shell rises in the oven, the stuck part stays glued to the sheet and can’t rise. The foot doesn’t form there. This creates uneven stress along the surface of the shell, and leads to cracking.
Next time you have a shell with such a perfect middle crack like in your picture, look at the edges of the shell perpendicular to the crack— I’ll bet they didn’t rise with the rest of the foot and thus they look droopy at that part of the shell. The droopy part is where it stuck to the sheet from being dried too long.
RelativeParsley4238
I use Kirkland brand almond flour! I was food processing but I felt like that was releasing too much oil so now I just sift. I have played around with oven temps but some batches come out fine and some batches have droopy sides in some of them. I can’t figure it out. The part of drying them too long is confusing too because I live in Texas where it’s humid so I let them dry longer usually 30-45 mins. Do you guys find success in silicone sheets or should I give parchment paper a try?
4 Comments
Cracked tops often mean they haven’t rested enough to form a skin on top. I would say these also look a little under macronaged to me due to the texture, but it may be more related to your almond flour. Do you blitz it in a food processor and sift a few times before adding to your meringue?
Mine is either a little bit of meringue strung alone in the batter. Or it’s temp. Like a hot spot in the oven.
When shells have randomly patterned cracking then it’s often the oven being too hot and/or the shells didn’t dry enough before going in.
However, when you find they’re droopy and get a perfect middle crack like shown in the picture, I’ve often found it to be that they were actually dried too long. When your shells dry for too long, part of the batter sticks to your sheet and as the rest of the shell rises in the oven, the stuck part stays glued to the sheet and can’t rise. The foot doesn’t form there. This creates uneven stress along the surface of the shell, and leads to cracking.
Next time you have a shell with such a perfect middle crack like in your picture, look at the edges of the shell perpendicular to the crack— I’ll bet they didn’t rise with the rest of the foot and thus they look droopy at that part of the shell. The droopy part is where it stuck to the sheet from being dried too long.
I use Kirkland brand almond flour! I was food processing but I felt like that was releasing too much oil so now I just sift. I have played around with oven temps but some batches come out fine and some batches have droopy sides in some of them. I can’t figure it out.
The part of drying them too long is confusing too because I live in Texas where it’s humid so I let them dry longer usually 30-45 mins.
Do you guys find success in silicone sheets or should I give parchment paper a try?