Reduce the aquafaba: Firstly, drain out your chickpeas if you’re using a canned variety, and pour the liquid into a saucepan. Simmer on low heat to reduce the liquid. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look gelatinous. Once you’re done, you can refrigerate any leftovers.
Wash your mixing bowl and whisk: The last thing you want is to work with an unwashed bowl and a whisk with yesterday’s pancake batter and residue. While this tip is a no-brainer, many people forget to clean their equipment thoroughly before baking something.
Therefore, always wash your bowl and whisk thoroughly in hot soapy water, and then dry them off with a paper towel.
Grab your ingredients: Now, it’s time to get everything together. It’s important to have your ingredients on hand, so that you can move quickly when baking.
Preheat the oven: The oven should be on standby, since you’ll be working with sensitive batter. Now, if you’re using silicone mats, the oven needs to be 310 F. Or, with parchment paper, the oven needs to be at 300 F. Having your oven at the wrong temperature can cause a fire hazard, let alone have your macarons come out wrong.
Tackle the fluff: Now, let’s add 75 grams of the reduced aquafaba. Afterwards, mix in the cream of tartar (or vinegar). Adjust your mixer to medium high speed. Once you raise the whisk, the mixture should form little peaks that fall over.
Heat your sugar: Add the granulated sugar to a saucepan with ¼ cup of water. Afterwards, put it on low heat (medium), and don’t stir. As you heat the sugar, you’ll need to make sure that you get a temperature of 245 F. So, use the thermometer to get the sugar up to 245 F.
Tackle the dry ingredients: While waiting on the fluff and sugar, measure 200 grams of powdered sugar, and then do the same with the 200 grams of almond flour. Then, add the dry ingredients through the sieve, and into the mixing bowl.
Mix the sugar and the fluff: Once the sugar’s temperature reaches 245 F, pour it slowly into the continuously-mixing fluff. Keep mixing until the outside of the bowl cools down, and the mixture comes out glossy and sticky.
NOTE: Be careful when handling the bowl. You don’t want to burn yourself. That’s why it’s imperative that you let the bowl cool down.
Make your marzipan: Take the rest of the aquafaba, and pour it in with your dry ingredients. As you combine both bowls, do it slowly. This allows for the aquafaba to blend in well with the other ingredients.
Mix it all up: Once your aquafaba is blended into the mixture, you can then add about half of your meringue to your marzipan. But remember: Don’t grab any candied sugar from the edges or margins as you do so. Keep mixing the batter until you can’t see any chunks left. Leftover chunks can make your macarons turn out rocky or misshaped.
Start the macaronage: Macaronage is when you fold the meringue into your almond mixture. This, in turn, knocks out the air and creates perfect vegan macarons. Add the rest of the meringue into the mix, and tilt the bowl ¾ on its side, which will help fold the mix. Now, using your spatula, scrape the mixture from the bowl. Start along the top of the bowl. Next, go around the bottom. And then, make your way back up the opposite side. Keep doing it until the batter becomes thick. Add your favourite food colouring, if desired. Soon, you’ll be able to draw a figure 8 with the batter. If your figure 8 is easy to do, that means that the batter is ready.
Pipe your shells: Now, you’re ready to make the shells. Here, you’ll use a tall glass to line your piping bag. Once lined up, you can fill the bag. When filled, pipe the mixture perpendicular to your baking tray. Squeeze until you’ve made a diameter-wide circle. Next, immediately ice the macaron.
Pop the bubbles: To get rid of any air bubbles, grab the tray, and smack it firmly against the countertop. Use a toothpick to pop them, if necessary. Don’t worry about how you pop them – the goal is to make your macarons look less “bubbly.”
Allow the skin to form: After ridding your macarons of any bubbles, set the tray on a flat surface. Then, let the tray sit until the shells are no longer shiny or sticky.
Bake your shells: Now, put the macaron shells in the oven for 20 minutes. You should see them form ‘feet’ during the 6- or 7-minute mark. After 20 minutes, they should be dry.
Fill your shells: Once you’ve removed the shells from the oven and let them cool, they should peel off easily from the mat or paper. Then, fill them with whatever you want:Buttercream, Cookie butter, Ganache, OR Your favourite jam (Any flavour!)