As I continue my quest to become a macaron master, I came across many recipes that instruct you to age the egg whites prior to whisking them. What that means is you separate the yolks from the whites, put the whites back into the fridge (covered or uncovered), and then leave them for at least 24 hours. Then, you take the egg whites out and let them sit on the kitchen counter until they reach room temperature before you use them. They say that this process of aging the egg whites is to ensure that your macaron shells develop “feet” when you bake them. Macaron feet are the risen part of the macaron, as shown below.
macaron feet
I’ve tried this process of aging the egg whites, and it did not work out for me at all. It could be due to a number of factors, such as the temperature in my fridge, the oven I’m using, or the way I whisk the eggs. Whatever the reason might be, when I tried aging the egg whites, my macaron shells ended up looking like this:
epic fail
MONSTROUS FEET! ZOMGS! I give myself an E for Effort (or E for Epic fail).
Yeah, that’s not the look I’m going for…
Maybe the egg white aging process works for some people, but I ended up with hideous-looking macaron feet. On the other hand, my macarons look just fine when I simply take the eggs out of the fridge, separate the yolks from the whites, and use the whites immediately.
Have you tried aging your egg whites? How did your macarons turn out?
Delectable Arts 
2013/02/17 at 5:00 pm
i’ve only tried making macarons once and even your failed attempt looks better than mine.
2013/02/18 at 10:38 pm
Aww.. Don’t give up! It took me a while to figure it all out but my persistence paid off. Each time I messed up, I learned something from my failures. Think of your failures as training grounds. 🙂
2013/02/18 at 2:12 pm
I age my egg whites and use them a room temperature and I get feet on my macarons. I usually age my egg whites for around 2 days, if I have the time, but at the very least 24 hours. As you said in your post, it could be a number of factors that have affected the outcome. I think that if you are onto a good thing, stick to it.
2013/02/18 at 10:42 pm
Thanks for your response! Yeah, I guess the aged egg whites do work for other people. They just don’t like me, that’s all. 😉
2013/02/18 at 10:11 pm
I have only tried making macarons once, and I aged the egg whites at room temperature for 3 days… They turned out to be a complete mess. I thought I had really messed something up, but maybe there is hope!! I’ll have to give these another try. Thanks for the post!
2013/02/18 at 10:45 pm
I totally encourage you to try again! I’ve messed up quite badly too, but I learned from all my mistakes. Thanks for your response!
2014/10/25 at 5:40 pm
Thanks for following my blog (hapinesswherever.wordpress.com) 🙂 I’ll be sure to check in here when I want to make macarons 🙂