Roan Harvey Ingredients:

Delectable Cookie:
● 3 large eggs

French ● 1 ½ (140g) cup blanched almond

flour
● ½ (90g) cup white sugar

Macarons ●
●
1 cup (130g) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
● ¼ tsp cream of tartar
Buttercream:
● 1 cup unsalted butter
● 5 egg yolks
● ½ cup granulated sugar
● 1 tsp vanilla extract
● 3 tbsp water
● ¼ tsp salt

Preparation:
Cookie:
● Sift confectioners sugar and almond
flour together (I changed the amount
of times I did this for my experiment)
● Whisk the egg whites from 3 eggs in a
clean bowl. When the egg white is
starting to foam, slowly add cream of
tartar and granulated sugar
● Add food coloring and vanilla extract
and continue mixing until stiff peaks
form (You can turn the bowl over and
Total time: 40 min to 1 hour
nothing will fall out)
Serves: 36 cookies ● Fold ⅓ of the dry ingredients into the
Tools: meringue and then 1 spoonful at a
time add the rest of the dry
● Sifter ingredients
● Electric mixer ● Pipe one inch blobs onto parchment
● Baking sheet paper and allow to sit at room
● Plain round tip temperature for 40 min before baking
● Mixing bowls, Measuring spoons ● Bake at 300° F for 12 to 15 minutes
● Spatula and allow to cool
Personal Commentary: Buttercream:

French macarons are very delicate, making ● Combine sugar and water into a
them one of the most difficult cookies to bake saucepan, heat over low until sugar
successfully. Macarons rely heavily on a dissolves and then bring to a boil
specific ratio of ingredients. You need to be ● In a separate bowl beat egg yolks with
careful to make sure you have the right a stand mixer until thick
amount of blanched almond flour, ● When sugar mixture reaches 240° F
confectioners sugar, and meringue. Otherwise slowly pour it into the egg yolk
you will end up with a cookie that is either mixture
too thick or too runny - meaning it will not ● Mix this mixture until it reaches room
rise correctly when baked. I have been temperature
obsessed with macarons from a very young ● Add the room temperature butter,
age. The first time I went to Paris and tried vanilla extract, and salt and mix until
one of these delectable cookies, I was hooked! creamy
But after I returned to Durango I realized ● Add food coloring if desired
making these cookies were harder than
expected.
Process Photos:
Because these cookies are so difficult, I came
up with a few tips to help you make perfect (Photso below shows the egg whites and
macarons! sugar being whipped and the flour being
● Make sure your ingredients are sifted)
measured accurately. (Use a scale to
get the perfect measurements if
needed)
● Sift the dry ingredients multiple times
(at least 3), you want the smoothest
batter possible. I learned this through
my experiment.
● Make sure you mix your egg whites
very well and take your time! You
want very stiff peaks.
● Letting your cookies rest for 40
minutes before baking is a crucial
step. It will make for a successful bake

My Experiment:
Macarons have always been one of my
favorite cookies. But even though I have
attempted to make these cookies multiple
times I had never been successful until now.
For my project I wanted to experiment with
the amount of times I sifted/stirred the dry
ingredients and if that affected my final
product. My final question is, when making
macarons how will the consistency of the
almond flour, as measured by amount of
sifting, change the texture, rise and overall
success rate of the cookie? My hypothesis was
that the more I sift the flour the better the
overall cookie is going to be.
For my experiment I split my dry ingredients
into 3 different bowls. In the first bowl I didn’t
sift the almond flour and confectioners sugar
at all and just mixed them together with a
spoon. In the second bowl, I sifted the dry
ingredients 1 time. Then in the third bowl I
sifted the dry ingredients 3 times and to make
sure the mixture was as smooth as possible. I
then continued as normal for the rest of the
recipe and did the same exact thing for each
different batch of batter. Throughout this
process I learned that sifting the flour
Results:
My results strongly proved my hypothesis
was correct. The cookies that I didn’t sift or
only sifted once turned out very grainy, didn’t
rise correctly in the oven, and had many
unresolved air bubbles. The cookies that were
sifted 3 times were perfect Macarons. They
rose well and had a smooth texture and color.
I even completed a blind
taste test on family
members and they all
unanimously agreed the
sifted macarons were
better overall.
The Science Behind
Macarons:
As we know macarons
are a very complicated cookie. Every
ingredient needs to have the correct reaction
to form the batter. The most important step is
making the meringue, if you do this
incorrectly you will end up with a runny
cookie that will not rise.
A meringue is mostly made up of egg whites.
Egg whites are made up of 90% water and
10% protein, minerals, and vitamins. The
proteins in the egg white are made up of
single chain polymers called amino acids.
Amino acid chains in protein usually fold up
to create spherical structures. The inside of
the amino acid sphere is hydrophobic and the
outside parts are hydrophilic. When you
whisk the protein and amino acids in the egg
white you add air, creating foam. The whisk
also breaks apart some of the protein clumps,
unfolding and denaturing them.
Denaturing means some of the hydrophobic
amino acids are exposed to the water in the
egg white. As the hydrophobic amino acids try
to get away from the water it causes them to
break apart creating and moving air bubbles.
Proteins then coat the air bubbles and the
amino acids react/link together to form nets
that keep the air bubbles from popping. This
reaction also intensifies when you add cream
of tartar to the meringue because it stabilizes
the bubbles in the foam and prevents the
proteins from sticking together.
 end, made all the difference between a
successful and unsuccessful cookie.
The Science Behind Macarons
Continued: After you have piped your macarons onto a
baking sheet you want them to rest. The
But once you have whipped the egg whites
reason you do this is to allow the tops of the
the meringue is not done yet. You have to add
cookie to harden. This means when baked, the
the sugar to solidify the protein bubbles. A
air in the batter will be released from the
quote from the article Let's Talk Science
bottom of the cookie not the top. This will
explained this concept well, “Food scientists
allow the cookie to rise correctly.
believe that sugar helps more proteins gather
on the surface of the air bubbles, making the The final step when making these cookies is
bubbles even more stable.” This happens to bake them! When heated, the stabilized air
because when you add the sugar to the in the protein/amino acid bubbles that we
meringue it dissolves, and creates a viscous created allow the cookies to rise. Creating the
liquid that stabilizes/holds together the air in perfect “feet” on your macaron and therefore
the meringue. While all of this has been the perfect cookie!
happening on the molecular level it has My Final Cookie:
caused the meringue to form stiff glossy
peaks!
The next step when making macarons is to
add the dry ingredients to the meringue
through a process called “macaronage”, this is
a very crucial step. This is also where my
experiment comes into play. The meringue
mixture must be gently incorporated. This
way the macaron batter becomes glossy,
smooth and flowy.
But when adding the dry ingredients I learned
one of the most important steps is to sift
them. The flour and sugar particles must be
small enough that they don't disturb and
flatten your meringue. I proved this
hypothesis when making my cookies. The
batter that was not sifted, overpowered the
meringue and the amino acid/protein bubbles
that were created in the whisking were
popped and deflated. However the dry
ingredients that I sifted multiple times were
able to break down enough that they mixed
into the meringue without being too heavy
and popping the air bubbles. This step, in the
 Works Cited:

Let's Talk Science. “Meringue: The Science behind a Wonderfully Fluffy Dessert.” Let's Talk
Science, 12 Oct. 2019,
https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/stem-in-context/meringue-science-behind-
a-wonderfully-fluffy-dessert.

Trinh, Jessica. “A Sweet Bite of Science: The Science behind the French Macaron.” The Scope,
Yale, 21 Mar. 2019,
https://medium.com/the-scope-yale-scientific-magazines-online-blog/a-sweet-bite-of-scienc
e-the-science-behind-the-french-macaron-4b448a0dc177.

Bauer, Danielle. “Macaron Science 101.” Macaron Science 101, Cravings of a Food Scientist, 30
May 2020, https://cravingsofafoodscientist.com/2018/09/20/macaron-science-101/.

Kanell, John. “Macaron Recipe.” Preppy Kitchen, 23 Apr. 2020,

https://preppykitchen.com/french-macarons/.

Cooks Illustrated. “Whipping Whites and Sugar: Timing Matters.” Cook's Illustrated,
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/9992-whipping-whites-and-sugar-timing-matter
s.