How to make French Macarons in a Bosch

We have always loved our Bosch, and I know this may be surprising, knowing we have KitchenAids in every color of the rainbow. But the Bosch in our kitchen puts the muscle in our kitchen work. Making breads and all of our smash cookies and so much more.  So it was on one of those occasions when we we looked at the Bosch and thought, “Can we make French Macarons in the Bosch?”

We can, and we did.

The Bosch has a 500 watt motor with a high torque transmission. (Are we talking about a car? Just maybe.)  This can make it tricky when it comes to transferring over whipping times, beating times, and macronage times.

My method for making French macarons has become an easy habit when using the KitchenAids. When we set to master the art of French Macarons on the Bosch we had to take in account a few things.

First:

Bosch has a middle spindle, two whisks, and a motor that we believe could push an average mom up a hill on a skate board. Ok, that might be a stretch, but you get the point: it’s very powerful.

Second:

Two whisks, one middle spindle, how would this effect that times.

So, the first thing we did was to make our regular batch (same ingredient measurements) and we set out to find the whipping pace of the Bosch. To do that, we need to talk a minute about speed comparison. KitchenAid has ten speeds, all with their own pre-set position on the gear shaft. The Bosch is based on a manual speed and four speeds that can mix an easy six loaves of bread worth of dough in one fell swoop.  We started looking at how each of these mixers works: the KitchenAid, on speed 4, beats 26 times in 10 seconds. So based on that, we compared Level 1 speed of the Bosch to the same intervals, keeping in mind the two beaters of Bosch vs. one beater of KitchenAid.

Are you throwing your hands up in the air yet?

The bottom line is, that after trying multiple batches and different intervals this is what we know:

1. The bosch will initially get the egg whites to a solid state faster, but then will have to actually beat longer to get to the finish stage.
2. The lower speed (which will ensure that you don’t overbeat) of the Bosch is higher than the KitchenAid

All of which makes zero sense if you are making this for the first time.  So, let’s skip all this analysis, and begin with a slo-mo video of the Bosch machine in action:

And now we present! The Sweet Mac Shop Classic French Macaron Recipe, adapted for a Bosch.

French Macarons in the Bosch

156 g egg whites
88g granulated sugar
1 tsp clear extract
205 g almond flour
249 powdered sugar

Measure room temp egg whites into bowl of the Bosch, attach the whisk wire beater, and add vanilla.

Set a timer for two minutes.  Beat on Level 1 for two (2) minutes total, using that first minute to slowly add in the granulated sugar.

Set a timer for one minute.  Increase the Bosch speed to Level 2, and continue beating.  After one minute, stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the Bosch bowl, then resume speed and continue beating for another minute.

Set a timer for 90 seconds.  Add the color, then turn up again to Level 3. Stop mixer after 30 seconds to scrape sides. Start again and beat 1 more minute.

This recipe varies from the original by one full minute. Here’s our advice: just like a KitchenAid mixer can vary between mixers, with a slight variation of beats, there might also be a difference from one Bosch mixer to another.  Our advice to beat for one full minute on the last speed (Level 3), and add in the last 30 seconds, 10 seconds at a time.

Measure out the almond flour and the powdered sugar together (using a scale).  Sift them together into a large bowl.

And here’s another difference: spoon the meringue into the dry ingredients, then fold and incorporate as is done in the original Sweet Mac Shop recipe.  Because of the construction of the Bosch with its middle spindle, this was the only true way to achieve the perfect macronage.

We piped as usual, did the No-Rest method and baked on upside down baking sheets for 20 minutes, using the timing of our original recipe.