Silicone macaron mats

My cousin Fiona bought me some silicone macaron mats in China and I thought I'd try them out. I was a little sceptical as I've previously tried the Masterclass mini macaron/whoopie pie pan and it was a disaster - the holes are too deep and the macarons can't be removed from the solid metal tray.

I piped the round ones and they seemed fine - it was easy to make them exactly the same size as the tiny grooves keep the batter from spreading.

The funny shaped ones were a little more difficult - in particular, the stars were very difficult (I ended up piping a round then using a toothpick to spread the batter to the edges. This resulted in a really thin star once baked.

I'd read elsewhere that slightly oiling the silicone could help reduce sticking but I was also worried about what the oil would do to the macaron batter. In the end I put some oil on some paper towelling and dabbed a little oil on each mould.

The silicone rim and the oil didn't affect the formation of legs, but I did find them really hard to get off the silicone (even when completely cooled). I ended up with a bit of a hollow shell, which had to be filled with extra ganache (compared to using good quality baking paper).

In the end, I was happy with the shape and they kept their shine and legs. You will need a few mats though to make a batch with a decent number of each shape (I ended up with only 2 stars!).