unsure

variation

4s

smoked

pseudo choc

r&d

over the years a very clear message has been sent to me by the chefs that i have worked with – using food color is bad! our products should reflect their natural color and flavor. this message is strong and clear….. except in one area. macaroons. macaroons come in every color and flavor of the rainbow. pastry shops around the world are lined with vibrant excerpts from the color wheel and the one thing they all have in common is food coloring.

a chef once told me that no matter where you go you will have to learn how to make a macaroon every time you change kitchens. at the time i laughed a little but as i moved on in my career i learned that he was right. every time i changed kitchens i could not make a decent macaroon. after many batches of macaroon are lost that day comes where something clicks and suddenly they are perfect. no definable reason why, they just work, and you don’t question it you just thank the pastry gods and move on with life. it may be a little embarrassing to admit to the whole world but that has been the problem for the past two years. inconsistent macaroons. too thick, too thin, burnt, raw, hallow, cracked, you name it we saw it. as frustrating as it was a good thing did come of it all.

this long time period allowed an idea to incubate while other concepts fed it. macaroons based on a liquid and egg white powder rather than egg whites. this was not a new idea. i have heard other chefs mention it however i have never seen the results. a worn out calculator, a pile of empty red bull cans and about 20 batches of wasted macaroons later the first successful fruit based macaroon has been made. puree + egg white powder + sugar + almond flour = macaroon

the first tests started after a series of failed traditional macaroons. frustrated and defeated i thought it was time to try the ewp idea. needless to say it did not work. if you cannot make a traditional macaroon correctly how can you make the next generation with any chance of success. back to the drawing board. it took about a month and quite a bit more testing of various recipes and baking methods before the traditional macaroons were consistent. in the end it turned out to be an italian meringue based recipe from boiron that gave the best results.

now that we had a solid base recipe it was time to move forward with the ewp concept. first tests were based on the idea that the Italian meringue would be replaced with a fruit meringue made from just puree and ewp. the hope of a quick victory was in sight. an egg white contains about %12 protein and the rest is water. the answer is simple start with the same amount meringue, 500 sugar and 180 whites, but instead we use 180 puree that contains 12% ewp. if success is a poor teacher, school was defiantly in session. this idea did not work, but it did show promise. many variations of protein and puree were tested. some tests were very similar to a traditional macaroon, but they all fell short. i wanted a macaroon that was a real macaroon. it was not working and other projects needed to be done.

a week or two later i was reading through a copy of so good magazine when two words in an article on ice cream stuck out…. soluble solids. it was one of those moments where the light went on and everything made sense. my tests for the macaroon focused on leavening an almond paste with a fruit meringue. this idea was correct but it overlooked something very simple. in all baked goods the amount a product will rise depends on the “weight” of the mix. the macaroons were too heavy. the combination of puree and ewp contained the correct amount of water and protein to make the meringue but it also added fruit solids. by adding more solid matter to the formula it cannot lift as the mix is now heavier.

quite a few more math exercises and recipe tests followed but the answer was this: less almond flour in the paste to balance out the solids and liquid and a slight increase in ewp in the paste (the paste is traditionally sugar, almond flour and egg whites. i did away with the egg whites in this as well and replaced them with puree and ewp).

there have been two batches that were near perfect. one used cherry puree and the other apricot. the fruit flavor is mild but present. i would rather have a red macaroon colored with cherry puree and a slight cherry flavor, than a macaroon that uses colorings to give the illusion of cherry flavor.

a note on baking, i did one batch in a convection oven at 150C for 9 minutes, and a second batch in a deck oven at 200 for 7minutes then 150 with the vent open for 9 minutes. i am not convinced on either technique yet.

here is the recipe. good luck!!!!

fruit based macaroon

almond flour        425g

icing sugar        500g

puree            198g

ewp            28g

sugar            500g

puree            198g

ewp            26g

• blend almond, icing sugar and ewp in a robocoupe to form a paste
• combine puree and ewp, warm slightly in microwave to dissolve ewp
• cook sugar with water to 118C and make Italian meringue with the puree
• fold meringue into paste and mix until shiny and fluid enough to settle
• pipe, let rest for 30 minutes and bake.

Tags: egg white powder, french pastry, macaroon