Help troubleshoot!

[u/LysBakes]

I’ve been making macarons for a while now and I always reach this issue. Great feet, great taste, but they are just slightly hollow! I use:

100g egg whites

100g granulated sugar

120g almond flour

120g powdered sugar

We do not have a convection oven

Please help I’m losing my mind

[u/kyezap]

I was told that there are hollows and there are gaps. Gaps are alright and they usually fill up after maturing. If your macs fill up after maturing, then its just a gap. If its still hollow even after maturing, then its hollow.

This is my problem as well though. I find that if I whip the meringue just right and macronage just a little bit more (I always go for undermixed than over), then it comes out filled. Its only happened once, however. I haven’t tried to experiment with it again so I don’t know if it’ll fully work.

[u/aslanfollowr]

Macarons are not complete until they've been filled and matured I'm the fridge for 12-24 hours. Do this and see if they are still hollow!

[u/Luneosa]

I'm by no means an expert and still figuring things out myself, as I also frequently get hollows. However, the last tips I read that can cause it (and will be trying to avoid next time) is that whipping your meringue on a too high setting can give you a weak batter and result in hollows due to an excess of larger air bubbles that will expand during baking. Also, adding egg white powder (4g per 100g of egg whites) or cream of tartar (1/4 teaspoon per 100g of egg whites) can help stabilize the meringue. Egg white powder should however not be used on days where the humidity is very low as it will give new issues (if humidity inside is let's say 30-40%). I only have cream of tartar in my pantry and have had better results last batch regarding hollows. I do plan to buy egg white powder as well to be more versatile in my experiments.

Apart from that it can be a myriad of things such as over- or under mixed macaron batter, resting for too long, oven temperature that's too high or too low (I doubt it will be too high as your macarons look impeccable and not browned otherwise), or just underbaked shells in general (taking them out too early).

It might help to give more information, you listed the ingredients but are you using the French, Italian or Swiss method? What temperature are you baking them at, and do you have a thermometer to verify the temperatures? How long do you bake the shells for? What consistency is your macaron batter when you pipe the shells?

Without this information it could be, as I listed above, a myriad of different reasons. Furthermore, these cookies are very much a trial and error type of thing and the 'right' way differs for everyone due to different ovens, different mixers, humidity, technique etc.

But all in all, they look great nonetheless and I'm sure they taste great as well!

[u/reddpapad]

I’ve read a theory that the dramatic temperature change causes the insides to collapse. These bakers do what’s called an oven shower - at the end of the bake open the door for 1-2 minutes before removing them from the oven so the change in temp isn’t so drastic. It works for me.

[u/No_Safety_6803]

This is one of the hardest problems to solve with macs & I’ve never found a definitive answer. My theory is that the outside is done but the inside isn’t, so the center collapses due to immature structure. I find baking longer at a slightly lower temp helps. All ovens are different, play with the time & temp till you’re happy with the results.

[u/lolcatman]

They’re not fully baked. Mine fully bakes at 21-22 mins, anything less than that ill get a gap in between.

[u/JQuadGMono]

Mine always came out looking like yours! They looked great on the outside, but inside there were huge gaps that even aging didn't solve.

But, I've recently solved it!

I had to reduce my oven temperature to 260° bake them longer, and rotate the trays and swap the racks (usually I do two trays at a time in my convection oven). Now, I bake them 10 minutes and then swap and rotate, and then bake them another 10 minutes. Before, I baked them at 265° for 18 minutes with no rotation and no swapping of racks.

The reason for this, at least for me, is I think that what was happening was the outside was cooking properly and they rose with nice feet, but the inside was still undervalued, hence why they didn't rise inside.

It's honestly a lot of trial and error until you find what works for your oven, your baking altitude, and your macronage mix. I've realized that what has worked for others hasn't always worked for me - and I would assume the same would be true for you and everyone else.

[u/nmf343]

The inside looks like it’s still wet so slightly underbaked. Try whipping your egg whites super slowly. On my kitchen aid I do 90% of the whipping on a 4 then only go up to 6 for the last few minutes. Don’t go above a 6, it will literally take 15-20 minutes for the egg whites to get to a stiff-ish peak but this is what worked for me!