DeBords' recipe using almond flour.

3 1/3 c. almond flour
2 2/3 c. sugar
4 whites
2 tsp. almond extract or less to taste

I garnish with almond slice on top, bake at 375.

By W.DeBord on Saturday, April 15, 2000 - 02:52 pm: Edit

I used to use the classic type of recipe with almond paste as Gerard mentions. I've just recently changed. Man, the old way is killer on your wrist and arm, try to do some fine decorating after piping macaroons, no way.
Also noticed that the people I bake for are more familar with the almond flour type, better recieved.

P.S. I use the almond flour for my tant pour tant and it works great! No recipe problems, no sifting or playing with the cusinart.

By momoreg on Saturday, April 15, 2000 - 06:10 pm: Edit

Wow, your recipe has a lot more almond. I'd like to see how it differs from Pam's recipe. I really want one that doesn't run and has a nice shiny domed shape. Also, have you tried sticking them with the water technique?

By W.DeBord on Saturday, April 15, 2000 - 08:14 pm: Edit

"tried sticking them with the water technique" Meaning touching the tops to smooth before baking or under the paper to release after baking?

Mine is a no fuss recipe: scoop, top with almond, bake. It does flatten slighty, it's not the type for sticking two together. It does not stick to paper, when baked it's more of crackily looking, not shiny, Not round domed. You don't need to dry them before baking,no sugar sprinkled on top, no fuss period. I like the mouth feel not too chewie or almond pastie and the flavor doesn't overwhelm your taste buds like almond paste can.

By momoreg on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 09:02 am: Edit

I meant under the paper. Anyway, I know what you mean about the overwhelming (perfumy)flavor of almond paste. I usually prefer the taste of toasted almonds.

By jeee2 on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 03:16 pm: Edit

Maybe we should try to get the almond paste makers to use less bitter alm oil, its sickly.
I can barely eat half a macaroon before it gets to me.

By W.DeBord on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 04:15 pm: Edit

tj how do you like to hold your extra macaroons? Freeze or just refridgerate? How long have you kept them in the cooler with-out loosing quality? Sometimes it seems the macaroons made with paste become stronger in the cooler (anyone else notice that?) than when left out.

I mean unfilled macaroons. Freezing depends on the filling sometimes.

By Pam (Pam) on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 06:31 pm: Edit

w.debord, I've not froze macaroons with the paste,but the almond flour ones we always stored in the frezer for weeks. We filled them & then froze the ganache filled ones too. We served them as part of a complimentary petits fours every table got, so we made alot at a time. They last as long as they're kept dry. They are different than the paste ones,it has a totaly differnt texture,more like a baked meringue. Just a guess but the paste ones may get chewier in the freezer, may be a good new taste.

By momoreg on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 07:50 pm: Edit

It's not a problem to freeze any macaroons. I have to do it all the time, and even the filled ones hold up well.

By tj on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 10:26 pm: Edit

back to my recipe,
the apricot jelly has no flavor effect, it is in the recipe for keeping the macarons moist and fresh longer.you need to use jelly cause preserve will have unwanted lumps of fruit and is not as smooth as jelly for this purpose.the key is to get the almond finely grounded tp flour.if you use a food prossesor, sift the almonds, then put the larger pieces back in the prossesor with some of the powder sugar from the recipe, and prosses again .this will help get all the almonds finely grounded.then i recomend drying the almond+p.sugar mix in a slow oven or proof box with out the humidity.this helps getting a very smooth macarons that are nicely domed and have a very fine texture.

By Yankee on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 10:51 pm: Edit

tj, I wish I had your grinder. Anything less than a razor sharp robo coup blade ended in a mess. Either the nuts get oily or the TPT isn't ground fine enough.

What ratio of nuts to flour were you using for your almond flour? Did you toast the almonds? Did the almonds have skin on, or were they blanched? Ever left the whites out for few days before preping the mix?

All those little things...

Thanks

By tj on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 10:58 pm: Edit

you should know that there are several types of macarons in france. the one i posted is the parisien or somtimes called gerbet macarons (after the pastry chef who invented them). the heavy rich kind with alot of almonds or almond paste is called macarons d`amiens or sometimes they are called macarons hollandais,and there is the macarons de nancy,macarone fins and hazelnot flour macarons known as macarons aux avelines.etc.....all have differences in the recipe as far as ratios of almond/sugar/egg whites.which will change the texture and look of the macarons.every region has its own type .

By tj on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 11:06 pm: Edit

i never ever use almond with skin for any purpose in baking,i just dont like it personaly.egg whites should be older (no very fresh ones).if you seperate your own, let the white sit for atleast 1 day.it helps brake the albumen so its not strandy for this recipe.its a shame that no one have a wheele grinder here. it realy is a marvelouse simple machine that has so many advantages over a prossesor.i think you should all start asking about it, maybe they will start selling them here.its not an expensive machine,but its heavy.
if the nuts get oily, grind them with some of the powdered sugar in the recipe, this will help keep the mixture dryer longer in the prossesor but eventualy it will start to become a praline paste if you are not carefull.
when i make tpt ,i dry my almonds in the oven ,250 f, for 10-15 min.without coloration.this helps unlock the almond flavor and help making a finer powder out of them.

By tj on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 11:12 pm: Edit

for TPT there is only one ration.it comes from the name "tant pour tant" or as much as, or equal parts of... 1:1 .
in my recipe i use tpt almond/powder sugar, plus extra powder sugar mixed in with the tpt.

By tj on Sunday, April 16, 2000 - 11:21 pm: Edit

as far as w.debord question on shelf life,
macarons only last a few days , or up to a week in an air tight container.they can be frozen but only in an air tight continer cause they can easyly pick odors in the freezer.the problem is with the size .the smaller the baked product the faster it will stale.or loose moisture.so large macarons will last maybe a few days longer at best.but most people preffer the small size macarons ,so you need to make them avery 2 or 3 days.just like regular cookies.i sometimes use macarons as a base for my cakes, i pipe a large disk of the batter on silpat ,like a meringue disk, and use it as a layer in a cake.one of the best layers for a cake ever....try it...and in different flavours too....

By W.DeBord on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 08:08 am: Edit

tj I have used macaroon layers in my cakes also. A large PROBLEM I have at my job is everything (except afew centerpiece items) must be pre-sliced before I put it out on a buffet. So the problem I'm leading to is, I have NOT found a macaroon recipe that is suitable in my "preslice" situation. (Off subject: this is also a problem with meringues, I can't use them very much).

Could you guide me with a recipe or provide some advice on how to over come the slicing issue?

One recipe I made was basicly a giant coconut macaroon layered with ganache. Not a chance in this world you'd know what it was after preslicing. Other than that I've been o.k. using the macaroon (non-coconut macaroon) as a layer it's just VERY sticky UNCLEAN cut through at the macaroon layer. Freezing the macaroon layer works some what, great if the layer is on the bottom of the torte, but sometimes I'd like to repeat it through out the cake and can't. Any advice?

By tj on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 10:22 am: Edit

macarons layers will be sticky, may be not a good choice for a pre slice aplications.how about individualy made servings?
its quite fast piping 2 or 3 inch disks of macarons and layering them with different fillings...
the one good way to cut sheets of cake that have crisp meringue layers in it is to use a wire guitar cutter.but it is also a rare piece of equipment in the usa.although you can buy it here.you use the spacing of the wires you want.put the sheet cake on the base of the wire cutter.cut in one direction.lift with a large tray that comes with this cutter.place in the other direction and run the wire frame again.you will have perfect squares or rectangels of cake.no mess.

By Gerard (Gerard) on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 10:54 am: Edit

W.DeBord,

Have you tried using japonaise almond meringue instead of macaroon? its very tender and cuts clean with no fuss.
For plain meringue either do the indiv or break the meringue and fold into cream, use same as a cream layer in a cake, it gives nice texture.

By Yankee on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 02:01 pm: Edit

Why not garish the outside of the cake with a few beautiful macaroons instead of burying them inside?

We used to use japonaise as a cake base and paint the top with coating chocolate to keep it crispy. We also layered cakes with a large piece of florantine, it was buried between soft ganache near the bottom so it was easy to put a knife through.

PS tj, almond flour 1:1, same as TPT, yes?

By tj on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 04:10 pm: Edit

you got it yankee...
by the way ,all the soft meringue layers will ,of course, work fine for cutting, japonaise, succes,progres,dacquoises all are based on nuts or almonds + egg whites/sugar and/or starch and somtimes milk.the only thing is non of them have the texture,flavore and mouth feel of macarons.

By W.DeBord on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 06:54 pm: Edit

Yes, I've used almond meringue. I still use meringue product in ala carte and banquet desserts I just avoid them for buffets usually. I will use meringue as garnish on a cake. There are some newer books showing alot of that lately.

I do like the thought of incorporating into mousse etc...that's a nice idea. I've done similar with macaroon bits and countless other items, never thought about broken meringue. What would you guess the hold time in the cooler to be? Just a day, if it's not frozen?

By Gerard (Gerard) on Monday, April 17, 2000 - 07:44 pm: Edit

<never thought about broken meringue. What would you guess the hold time in the cooler to be? Just a day, if it's not frozen? <<

Not sure, I always did that at the last minute.
My guess is it would become similar to marshmallow chunks in the whipped cream...which you might like anyway. I did one for a catered dinner using pistaccio meringue chunks in whip' cream on a violet mousse .
Its a good way to utilize scrap meringue bits.

Cheers, Gerard
turning other peoples scraps into hard cash.

By momoreg on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Tj,
I tried your recipe today. They are very close to what I was looking for. The only difference is that yours are better! The apricot changes the texture, as well as the flavor. I decided to sandwich them with more apricot. MAN, they were good. So thank you for solving my dilemma. I want to try W.'s and Pam's recipes tomorrow.

By tj on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 03:51 pm: Edit

thanks,
the apricot was added to solve a problem of shelf life i had a long time ago.it helps retain the moisture well and adds 2 or 3 days to the products shelf life.

By tj on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 03:54 pm: Edit

by the way, for all of you who will celebrate pass over tomorrow, instead of the traditional jewish macarons, take my recipe for almond macaron,and just change from almonds to finely shreded coconut in the recipe.the best and most tender coconut macarons i know.sandwich with chocolate ganache and you have a wonderfull pass over dinner treat.

By momoreg on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 04:21 pm: Edit

Actually, I needed macaroons for that very purpose.

By tj on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 05:30 pm: Edit

dont worry if the coconut makes the mixture seem dryer than usual.its ok.mix the batter very well in slow speed.add the whipped egg whites in two stages,and dont be too careful folding them in.just get a nice moist batter,which will look alittle less runny than the almond mixture.

By momoreg on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 06:53 pm: Edit

Gotcha. I'm sure the flavoring options can go well beyond that.

By W.DeBord on Friday, May 26, 2000 - 08:37 am: Edit

tj I made your macaroon recipe yesterday. The flavor and texture are very nice! I did have a slight problem with the dome, they were a bit flatter than desired. I think I need to cut back a bit on the egg white for a firmer better rounded dome. What do you think? Keep in mind that I have a humidity problem at work.

P.S. I really don't think I over mixed (was very careful)while combining and I'm sure my second whites were nice and stiff also. I didn't dry in the oven my sugar/almond mixture (thought it was dry, maybe I was wrong), do you think that might have been my mistake?

By W.DeBord on Friday, May 26, 2000 - 08:43 am: Edit

Another question tj....when you use coconut in place of the almonds are you using reg. shredded coconut that is sweetened?


Thanks :)!!!!!

By tj on Tuesday, May 30, 2000 - 08:18 pm: Edit

no, i use gounded unsweetened coconut. shreded is to big pieces.
the classis macaron does not have a dome shape, it is actualy like a disk with bubly sides and smooth level top.do you look for a dome like in a jewish coconut macaron?
i will look for a site that have a picture of the macarons i make...

By W.DeBord on Wednesday, May 31, 2000 - 08:29 am: Edit

I definately have some confusion on this issue! Never having tasted anyone elses' macaroons but my own and trying about a dozen different recipes who's pictures all show domed cookies that's what I thought they should look like. The other recipes call for either almond paste or ground almonds which makes a heavy chewie cookie.


I have a chocolate macaroon that is very nice and it does remain domed after baking as do the coconut varietys...but again they have a chewier denser texture than yours.

Your macaroons' taste and texture was by far superior to all the other recipes I've tried! It looked exactly as you described too.

So the answer is...there are a variety of macaroons...what is the goal?

By tj on Wednesday, May 31, 2000 - 02:59 pm: Edit

sure there is a variety of macarons. each area and its own favorites.it just comes down to the fact that a professional pastry chef needs to know them all or most of them .the macaron recipe i use is a very delicate and a very versetile type of batter, and it pleases all macaron lovers .so no body complaines.about the shape, it is not curved in stone that a macaron should or should not have a dome shape.the french pastry chefs actualy work extra hard to get the macaron extreemly uniform in shape, and very very smooth on top, with just a crown of small bubles around the borders.we also bake them small, not bigger than an old 1/2 dollar coin.and we try to make the fillings interesting and original as possible, so you have a good harmony with the taste of the macaron it self...