While sometimes called a French macaron, these tasty treats in fact originated in Italy. A sweetened meringue-like confection, macarons are mainly made mixing icing sugar, egg whites, almond meal, and granulated sugar. A wide variety of different food colourings are also added giving them their attractive appearance at afternoon teas held up and down the country.
Baking macarons can be a tricky task, so if you’re a perfectionist, prepare for a real labour of love. One essential part of the process when making a flawless French or English macaron is having a non-stick surface that’s heat-resistant that you can pipe your mixture onto.
Conventionally, this involves placing a sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray, but is this the only option available? In the following sections, we’ll explore why parchment paper is ideal compared to other materials used for baking and maybe discover an alternative you may not have considered.
Understanding parchment paper
Baking parchment is an exceptional option when making macarons in your oven as it is silicone treated giving it non-stick properties. The silicone also enables it to resist high heats like the 163°C temperature setting required for baking macarons. Don’t be confused by other papers and foils, they are not suitable for your recipe. Wax paper is not the same as parchment paper and will ignite in your oven while macaron shells will wind up sticking to aluminium foil sheets.
After even better results?
While not the traditional method, silicone baking mats can be well-suited to those who pride themselves on perfect macarons. With the same properties as parchment paper, these non-stick and heat-safe mats additionally offer a template design that allows you to make macarons of identical size.
Baked with love
If you’re keen to make some sweet treats like macarons while waiting for lockdown to lift, why not browse our selection of <a href="https://britainlovesbaking.com/collections/small-cake-baking-box">baking boxes</a>. You’ll find our different sets include all kinds of delicious ingredients and ship from right here in the UK. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, there’s never been a better time for a gift baked with love by you.
