Macarons

I found this book to be very informative on how to make macarons as well as provide many ideas, some more on the exotic end, on what to fill them with. Don't be deterred from buying this book thinking it's too exotic since the classics are also included. In the end macarons are about expressing your individuality and your personal taste, Pierre Herme is an inspiration and will trigger you to have your own ideas on what to fill them with. I highly recommend buying this book if you are serious about your macarons.

Well ......... I should have just gone ahead and bought this book long long time ago. It would have saved me a lot of time, energy and wasted ingredients. I am no newbie when it comes to baking, but no matter what I did, nothing worked. I followed million different recipes online, YouTube recipes etc. and they all very conveniently “forget” and skip over some crustal steps and details that make ALL the difference. This book is very well constructed with very clear and simple-to-follow instruction. I have, at no point, had any trouble understanding the instructions and as long as you follow everything to the letter, you will succeed in making these little cookies. Just a quick warning for those who wish to bake Macarons with whatever they already have scattered about in their cupboards ....... it won’t work with this particular book. There are some ingredients in here that require a little effort to get, which I personally see as an exciting challenge and a chance to discover new flavours. If you love baking and don’t have a problem doing some searching, you’ll love the results. I will be buying the second book as well, as I am well impressed by everything I found in this one. I definitely recommend ^^

Having used this book for almost 3 years, there are few things to bear in mind. I found using 300g ground almonds, 300g icing sugar and 300g caster sugar produced too much quantity of the same colour, so I tend to use the same quantity and split into 2. Do not use less than the 110g egg white called for to mix the colouring otherwise the batter will be too stiff and you will not have a smooth surface, plus your shell will all have peaks, which makes your macarons a nuisance to stack (I used 150g egg white). If you use this book a lot, I think it is good to deviate from the recipes, to see the results that are produced. It all helps to produce the perfect macarons. For example instead of the 180C that pierre recommends, I bake all mine at 150C for 11 minutes and they turn out perfect. Lately I have used 300g ground almonds, 300g icing sugar and 300g caster sugar to make 3 different Macaron flavours, hence think outside the box and make 3, possibly 4 different colours / flavours of Macarons as illustrated in the image below. The green macarons are Matcha tea, orange are Orange flavour and the brown ones are Coffee. I love what Pierre Herme has done with this book. I am not sure that the aim is to copy what he has done, but to get you thinking on how to create your own Macarons, try to copy Pierre and you will be frustrated because many of the ingredients are not easy to come by. My first batch of Macarons I made were Coconut Macarons which involved using Coconut natural extract in the shell and Coconut oil and more coconut extract in the filing. It was divine for my first trial. I bought my ground almonds from Sainsbury's and it was not finely grounded, after sifting the almonds only 100g of the 200g was finely grounded. In the end I decided it will be a waste to throw 100g away and that had an impact on the presentation of the shell. It was not smooth at all, but it tasted good. I now buy my ground almond from Costco, as it is more finely grounded, and comes in a 1.36Kg bag (No longer available). Waitrose's quality is also good, but is quite expensive. The book is inspirational and highly recommended for anyone who is patient and skilled to produce these delicate munchies.

I bought this book after lots of dithering, but I'm so glad I did. Macarons is divided up into sections, with a little intro to Pierre Herme at the front, followed by a detailed description of macaron-making, alongside clear photographs. The recipes are divided up into Classics, Fetish Flavours, Signature, Made-to-Order and Exceptions. The macarons turn out beautifully, and are delicious. The book has a few smaller issues to note. One is that for my oven, 180˚C is far too hot, and I have reduced it to 160˚C and made them much more successfully this way. Another point is that many of the ingredients are hard to source in the UK, for example trablit coffee extract, cacao pate, valrhona....Nevertheless, this is a minor issue - many of these ingredients can be easily substituted with easier-to-find alternatives. Overall, Macarons is an excellent guide and I will be baking with gusto from this book, for years to come!

I have been trying to make the perfect macaron for ages. At last a book that is spot on! Yes there is a 33 step method but if you know anything about baking you will fly through these. Though what is great are those little tips that make all the difference (the ones everyone else seems to leave out). Also it's got a fantastic array of flavours. Only worry now is my waistline! Thanks Pierre for sharing your secrets.

I never thought I would have the ability to make macarons, as I know how complicated they are to make, but this book is so well written, that I managed it first time. To say that there is attention to detail with the recipes would be an understatement. The recipes are amazing, and the book allows you to make macarons that are as simple or as complicated as you want to.

A really great book showing easy to follow step by step instructions and pictures to make macarons an excellent edition to anyone’s baking repertoire.

This book is great. I hear people comment that why does the recipes say to leave a small amount of the egg in but not stir and that it must be a typo.it's not a typo. There's a reason for this. When you leave a small portion of the whites unbeaten even to the paste portion (Italian or French methods) the final product gives more of a glossy shine on the cookie which is one of it's famous characteristics. So if you want to learn Macarons than learn from the best. The pictures are beautiful full page pictures of the final product. The recipes are clear and easy. Macarons are a tough cookie for any first timers. I did two classes before I understood the cookie and the two methods Italian and French methods. This books uses both. The choclate is French and others are Italian. Ifyou follow exactly the recipes they are great results. If you want the traditional Macarons this book is great,ifyou want some fancier more adventurous ones than its is it as well. The only bad comment i have is that there's a section of the more adventurous Macarons with some ingredients I d t know to much about and I am advance baker, not 2 year qualified but I know pastry well. It's a stunning book and a must for anyone who loves the chef or the Macarons. It's a wonderful gift or a wonderful recipe book. If you've never baked before or not good sit I would not recommend it since the Macarons is a cookie that you have to know the stages it goes through similar to bread, you can trust bake there's how do you know when it's ready. Still a great book. Also I would recommend it to any food photographers or stylists on knowing that's considered latest. These pictures are stunning simple. I've tied 3 recipes and followed them directly with successful results over and over with the same three.

Fantástico libro. En cuanto lo recibí me puse a ver las recetas y me entraron ganas de hacerlas todas. Mucha variedad de recetas y explicaciones claras para obtener muy buenos resultados

Testo in inglese, seccante per una come me alla quale l'italiano basta e avanza. Però in tal caso vale la pena riprendere il dizionario, necessario solo per qualche voce.Per chi veramente ha a cuore imparare a fare in modo impeccabile i macarons, questo è il manuale che deve assolutamente concedersi.I procedimenti per fare come si deve macarons, ganache e farciture alternative sono meticolosamente descritti e illustrati. Se non disponete dei famosi tappetini in silicone (comprateli, diventa tutto più veloce...) avrete modo di vedere come fare il tutto da sè. L'autore fa riferimento alla provenienza di certe materie prime.Ciò non toglie che potete usare le mandorle in polvere e il burro del supermercato sotto casa e un cioccolato diverso dal Valrhona(quest'ultimo però ve lo consiglio, ne vale la pena e potete acquistarlo su [...] risparmiando sulle spese di spedizione).Sarà un po' difficoltoso reperire per es. l'essenza di rosa ad un uso alimentare tuttavia è un ingrediente a cui si può rinunciare.Insomma che siate professionisti o meno, se volete imparare a fare i macarons, questo libro fa al caso vostro.E se la cosa dovesse successivamente intrigarvi, troverete tante idee per colori e abbinamenti audaci e c'è anche la possibilità di sconfinare sul salato. I macarons per tradizione sono colorati e potete consultare il sito [...] per acquistare ottimi coloranti in polvere assolutamente naturali.Insomma motivi per scoraggiarvi dinanzi a questo libro che è veramente professionale, non ne avete.Compratelo o regalatelo, ne sarete orgogliosi!Le foto poi sono grandi, invitanti e ben fatte, sognerete un po', dopo vi dovrete impegnare ma il risultato sarà esaltante! Mi sono trovata stra bene per tutto: grazie amazon !

Das Buch habe ich meinem Mann zum Valentinstag gekauft, da er ein großer Freund ausgefeilter Küche ist. Weil er sich auch schon einige Male an die Kunst des Macaron-Backens herangetraut hat und natürlich überhaupt nicht zufrieden war mit den Ergebnissen, habe ich ihm das Buch von Pierre Hermé bestellt. Das Buch ist, genauso wie die Macarons, die vorgestellt werden, wirklich hochklassig. Nicht zuletzt aufgrund der wunderschönen Macaron-Fotos. Mal sehen, ob er mit den Beschreibungen für die Zubereitung der Macarons etwas anfangen kann. Selbst wenn nicht, das Buch ist einfach ein Augenschmaus.

Muy completo, es la biblia del macarrón