My green ones bubbled out the sides, yellow turned out pretty good, and the pink ones rose and got fatter and look bumpy. I used the same recipe for all 3. The only thing I could think of was that the eggs for the yellow were room temp and the others were not. Could the food coloring be impacting them?
by Desperate5389
6 Comments
Also, I did smack the pan 3xs for each. But maybe not hard enough? My husband is scared I’ll break something when I do.
Could be hot spots in the oven, piping inconsistencies (green and yellow ones are more smooth on the top then pink) and different macaronage consistencies?
1. What kind of food coloring are you using?
2. Did the shells all rest for the same amount of time? Were they all baked at the same time in the oven?
3. Did you make one large batch of uncolored batter and then split into three to color, or did you make three distinct sets of meringue and flour+sugar? (It sounds like the second based on you mentioning the different eggs!)
Some variables that seem possible: If three separate batters, different amounts of macaronage (namely undermixing: the pinks look undermixed, as the swirled piped texture in the cookie tops did not smooth out on its own). Oven temp variance if multiple trays get baked. Resting time if trays are staggered. The bumpy texture is often an indication of almond flour needing to be more finely ground, or insufficient moisture (from the meringue) – maybe those particular eggs were smaller? You can sometimes get away with that, but that texture being super visible in the shell would also be also aggravated by undermixing.
Pastry chef here! It’s important to remember to “touch grass” every once in a while. Aesthetically speaking, your macs are perfect. Only you and online people looking for faults will see any “flaws”. A handmade treat made from delicate egg whites are never ever going to look absolutely identical unless they’re made from a machine.
Your size and shape are perfect. So I’m not sure what else you want to improve. You’re a human being there are going to be slight differences.
Truly. These look perfect. I’d be proud to sell them at in my bakery.
Anyway. That’s just my opinion.
To me they look great! But technically speaking it looks like different stages of macaronage, the pinks being slightly under and the greens being perfect. I think your yellow and pink batters just needed a couple of more folds.
Different levels of macaronage and also, piping, I think. But could be a compound of the macaronage and leveling with counter slaps.