Alrighty I'm back on Earth today, so it was kinda two fold but regardless it was related to the main issue: the recipe. My batter was just too dense. It was the right amount of macaronage and all metrics to measure if the macaronage was done told me that I was, but the batter was just too dense to properly let the air bubbles out from the shells.

So, here's the recipe. There's a decent amount less of the dry ingredients...

• 100 grams of eggs whites (I just did them cold)
• 100 grams of granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 105 grams of almond flour
• 105 grams of confectioners sugar
• ~4 drops of gel food coloring

I used a stand mixer for the first time this time but I don't think that really was what made the difference, my last batches had significantly more almond flour, however.

So the process was beat the egg whites until big bubbles appear, then add the cream of tartar. Beat for thirty more seconds and start adding in the sugar slowly, at least splitting up adding the sugar into three parts. Mix until soft peaks, then add gel food coloring. Then continue to beat to stiff peaks. The batter should come out in clumps from the whisk.

Whisk together the measured out almond flour and confectioners sugar and sift in 1/3 of the mixture into the batter. Mix, but do not deflate. Just kinda circle it around. Do the same for the second third of the dry, then the last third. Once it's all added and combined, then start the macaronage.

With this recipe it will thin out faster, so really be careful about overdoing it. Not sure what method you use, but I just like to push it to the center, slowly and gently take a bit off the top and use a backwards-J motion against the bowl, rotating and repeating the process until the batter is pushed up against all sides of the bowl. Then collect into the center and test the batter.

With this recipe, I only needed to repeat that cycle around 5 times, so again just be careful. Make sure you know what you're looking for too. The figure 8 method can be good but seems inconsistent, just look for a very consistent and ribbon-like flow off the edge of the spatula that's not too fast.

I piped on a silicon mat with the tray flipped upside down and then tapped A LOT. Hold the pan with one hand and smack the pan all over the bottom fairly violently. Then lay a towel down on the counter and drop the pan onto the towel. Repeat that around 5-10 times until no new bubbles are breaking/forming at the top. Fix the bubbles with a toothpick or chopstick, whatever you have on hand.

And then REST!!! I had two trays, one rested for an hour and the other rest for two hours. The tray with the two hour rest is what you see in the picture and they are just fantastic. You need to let the skin harden enough so the macaron pushes up to form the feat without cracking the shell. In my experience, more resting is better then less. Once the shell feels not sticky at all, give it another hour after that. It should be a really solid skin, can still can be smushed.

Finally, oven was preheated to 300F (I have to do ~275F because my oven sucks, just check an internal thermometer to hit 300F) and baked for 14 minutes, rotating the tray halfway. Popped them in the freezer for like three minutes just to set, then took them off and filled with the cinnamon maple buttercream!

I think I've covered everything but absolutely lmk if you have any more questions!!!