Annoyed with Hollow Macarons

[morphone]

I've been making macarons, and they've been turning out pretty well, thought the most recent batches have been hollow - they have a nice crisp outer shell and a nice foot, but between the shell and foot is just empty space. They taste great and seem perfect in every other way.

Any idea why this is happening? This happened across the board, for both the larger and smaller shells that I piped out.

[JaneEYB]

I recently got a very cute book Les Petits Macarons and made their chocolate macarons very successfully. They have a video on their website that I found useful for things like macaronnage http://lespetitsmacarons.com/Video.html. I used their Italian meringue method and had no problem with hollowness though the batter was rather thinner than they suggested so it was hard to control the size. But the texture and taste was great.

[jonfan]

Apologies for resurrecting a long dormant thread .. but morphone, did you find a solution for this? I"ve been trying to make macarons lately and have exactly the same problem. They have nice feet and taste great and are perfect in every other way except for the hollow space. I've tried aging the egg whites, leaving the piped cookies out to dry, lowered the oven temperature to cook for a longer time (but that just made the shell too crisp).
I suspect it is the macaronage but this happens whether I undermix or overmix the batter :(

[Emme]

are you using a French or Italian meringue method?
my inclination is to say you're undermixing and underbaking. it's fine for them to get crisp. sandwich them with a syrup and a filling. they'll absorb moisture over a couple of days and perfect and ready to eat within 24-48 hours.

[morphone]

Just made a second batch - they were still hollow, but less so. What gives??

[morphone]

I wonder if I'm either whipping the egg whites too much/not enough before mixing in the almond flour and powdered sugar. Also wondering if maybe the powdered sugar has cornstarch in it? Don't have the box so I can't tell for sure.

[greygarious]

For moral support: http://confectionsofamasterbaker.blog...

[morphone]

Thanks :)

[jenhen2]

That used to happen to me when I piped in swirls. Now, when I make them, I don't swirl but rather put the tip of the pipe on the parchment, sweeze and lift straight up to make a sort of tower. That keeps me from missing the middle which sometimes happened when I went in a circle. Does that make sense? Anyway, since then I haven't had that problem.

[morphone]

Really? I'll have to try that. I don't remember if I swirled them or not - I do remember that the batter was running out of the tip pretty quickly, so I was in a hurry to pipe them.

What is the ideal consistency of macaron batter? How thin should it be?

[jaykayen]

if your baking sheets aren't heavy duty, you might consider double-stacking them.

[morphone]

I had double-stacked them. :(