/ck/ - Food & Cooking

On what anon, you just posted a picture of air

>>12808653
Pretty Patties, of course. :)

Arent macaroons just a smear of coconut or almond paste baked until dry?

>>12808650
learn to make them yourself, no downsides
>cheaper - can make a dozen for less than $10 in ingredient costs
>learn a cool skill that people covet
>impress your coworkers and family
>make them as gifts for other people that look like big luxury purchases but really you just spent a bit of time and a couple bucks
>make any flavor you can imagine
don't let your dreams be memes anon

>>12808661
brainlet detected

>>12808662
I watched a few youtube videos on how to do it and was intimidated with some of the steps, but I'm going to man up and make the tasty treats soon

>>12808668
It was the best thing I ever learned to do.
I am currently considering the costs of renting a commercial kitchen and getting a license to make these and sell them, because after lots of practice (throwing away dozens of fucked up batches) I actually got quite good and understand them now, and people will pay through the nose for 'em.
It would basically have to become a full time job for me, though, and I just don't know if there's THAT volume of market in my city. Like I said, weighing costs. Until then, it's my go-to Christmas present for literally everyone I know.

>>12808668
Just make sure to buy a scale and prepare to have quite a number of failures. They're tricky bastards but oh so satisfying when you get them down.

>>12808687
What is hard about it

>>12808807
There are a lot of mostly timing-related elements.
You want to beat the meringue to totally stiff peaks, but not overbeat it so that it becomes dry and breaks. If the meringue is not stiff enough your macarons will be wet inside. If they are too dry, your macarons will come out grainy and lumpy and the macaronage will be difficult.
You want to beat some of the air out of the meringue & almond flour during the macaronage process, but not too much. Too much air left in makes hollow macaron shells. Too much air taken out results in a batter so liquidy you can't pipe or bake it.
You want to let the macaron shells age to get smooth on top. Baking them before they dry will make them lumpy.
You'll also want to make sure you age your egg whites for 24 hours before you start.
The oven can be very tricky. If your oven runs at all hotter or cooler than it says, you'll either end up with flat/wet macs or cracked and hollow ones. My oven is a little crazy, so I've developed a method specifically for my oven, where it's hotter when I first put them in and then I turn the temp down after seven minutes, and bake them with a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it cracked so they do not brown.

Really fragile and particular little fucks, but so tasty.

>>12808673
Going to save you a lot of hassle with a high risk business, Anon.
>1. See if your city does startup incubation. This is typically a 1-6 month free rent sort of deal that requires licensing as a business and applying with the city commission.
>2. See if there's a church bakery/kitchen that you can rent space from.
>3. Boom, bake there, stock them at the marketfront.

>>12809133
I definitely do not want a brick and mortar store. I was looking into doing basically "catering" or by order only, especially during the holidays up to Valentine's Day. Perhaps I could make better use during the summer when there are farmer's markets to use as advertising.
There are commercial kitchen rentals in my city, but in order to justify the time and costs I would need to have a very steady bit of business, at least seven dozen macarons per week. I'm not very personable, so I don't know if it would work out for me that way.

>>12808668
The only difficult part is finding your exact oven settings. Baking is the only step where you need to be very exact. The rest of the process is easy as long as you respect the quantities.
For the indirect method just follow:
>Pulverize and sift almond powder and glass sugar
>Add egg-whites and create a paste, add gel-pigment if you want to
>Make an Italian merengue
>Mix it into the paste until well homogenized while being careful not to knock too much air out of the mixture
>Pipe into desired silicone sheet on a baking tray
>Bang the tray on the table
>Leave to rest for 20min
>Bake 15-17min (this is where most of your trial and error will come from)
>Leave to cool down completely
>Assemble
There is a degree of practice needed, but once you get the hand of it they are a easy and high-production cookie. Most of your concerns should be on the ganage.

>>12809320
>Italian meringue
>adding whites to the almond before meringue
>only resting 20 minutes
Lots of bad advice here.

>>12809320
And a few tips
>Pipe completely vertical to the tray, if you do it even with a slight angle they will grow to a side, similar to a soufflé
>They must never be dry, hollow and crumbly, whoever said that an overcooked macaroon is better than an undercooked one should get shot
>If their middle sticks to the tray they needed 1-2min more in the oven
>If they are hollow but chewy you over-beated the mixture
>the more finely ground your almond and sugar mixture is the better-looking the final product be, if you have a food processor then use it even if they almost are already grounded

Anyways, learn to make éclairs, they are going to be the next meme-pastry, macaroons are so passé

>>12809337
There are two methods; direct and indirect. Indirect is better for beginners as it helps to prevent over-mixing since a paste is easer to mix with a merengue and an Italian merengue is much more stable than a french one.
And my chef does not rest his macaroons, yet they end up perfect every time

>>12809353
>saying "macaroons"
opinion instantly discarded, you fucking backyard yokel

Why the hell would you want someone to practice doing it the wrong fucking way? Training wheels/"easy quick" recipes are for pussies. Practice the right way or don't bother making complicated French desserts, just buy some break and bake cookie dough at the grocery store.

Italian meringue is "easier"/more stable but makes an ugly, puffy, marred cookie.