Big Non-Stick Macaron Baking Set 30 - Cake Decorating Tips By EverGreen

I have been wanting to make macarons for quite some time. Ever since I had tried my first macaron; a pumpkin spice macaron from Trader Joe's. It has a heavenly treat brought to me by a dear friend when I was 8 months pregnant. So I had been obsessing ever since. Now I could finally embark on my quest. And so I did.The mat is a silicone baking mat. The circles have a gloss appearance compared to the rest of the mat. When I removed it from the packaging it stunk. An not just a little, a lot. But let me say, my sense of smell and hearing make up for my laCK of vision. So I proceeded to soak it in warm water with Dawn dish soap. Washed and dried it, and it was good to go. The package came with 5 tips, a reusable pastry bag, and a coupler. Perfect, all supplies for piping are available. The next thing, find a recipe. Believe it or not, finding a good recipe can be difficult. Not to mention, there are both French and Italian recipes with some being written in metric measure and others in US measurements for amounts.The bag is great, but it will not fit all the macaron batter. It would require two of these bags. The tips are a bit small. I've tried the round tip and the open star tip. Use the round tip to pipe the macaron batter. The other tips work best for piping filling or using for cake/cookie decorating.The sheet helped keep the macarons in a circle and rounded. Granted it was my first time trying out a s'mores macaron recipe, they still baked okay on the mat and came off well. If you notice your macarons are sticking to the mat it could be due to them not being fully baked. I tried to remove mine too early and they started to stick on areas undercooked. The next, and probably most important, is the recipe you are using. Is it a known tried and true recipe or is it one you are attempting without knowing? The other issues that are important are baking temperature and time. It is a good idea to have an internal oven thermometer. Mine fluctuates and it can be off by 40'F at times.Overall, my final product yielded nice macarons. Some were cracked, some slightly stuck to the mat, and my recipe/technique didn't produce a nice obviously visible "foot" on the bottom.Overall I am pleased with the purchase. Decorating supplies plus the mat is nice. Only issue I have is the smell of the mat. It was horid. But I am glad I purchased the mat.Per our request to review and assess the quality and durability of this item in exchange for an unbiased opinion of the item.

Full disclosure - I haven't yet used this to make macarons. I know that's the entire purpose of this kit, but even though I'm an avid baker the idea of making macarons for some reason is intimidating. While I do plan to make them in the future, and I will update my review accordingly, let me tell you the other awesome stuff this kit has to offer.First of all, the pastry bag and tips that come with this are a very high quality. I've been decorating cakes for over 20 years, and this cloth bag is a really great bag. It's not the plastic lined bag that often comes with cake decorating sets. That being said...there's a potential for staining if you use it with food colored icing. It would be the inside of the bag, so it wouldn't really matter...just something to be aware of. The capacity of the bag is really large, which is AWESOME for all things frosting. It comes with 6 different high quality metal decorating tips. These will be great for cake decorating as well as their intended purpose.The silicone baking mat is almost square. The front has the round size markers for the macarons. The back is completely flat, so you could use it for anything that requires a baking mat or non stick surface. I used it today to make oatmeal banana cookies, and it worked every bit as well as my other silicone baking mat. I love the duel purpose!The one con...this set had a really bad smell when I first opened it. It came in a plastic bag, and I couldn't tell if it was the bag or the product that smelled. I put everything in the dishwasher and the smell disappeared. Just something to be aware of when you order.Overall I would recommend this set for not only macaron making, but for the multi-purpose use of all of the accessories that come with it!

I love this idea, however I am apparently not skilled enough at putting the batter on the silicone tray :( I gave up by the last row and just put a streak all the way across, because well, I gave up. I thought I had pictures of my disaster but it seems I only thought I took a picture.That being said other than user errors this product brings to the table exactly why it says it will. I would warn though that the silicon really needs both washed and aired before being used. The smell was rather intense.I'm hoping to try again when I'm having a day with more patience, then hopefully I will have more success filling small little spots that are really close together.I received this product at a discount in exchange for an honest review of the product. I am not affiliated with this company or any of their products in any way. The views expressed here are my own, based on my personal use and experience with the product. Like most people, I rely on product reviews when deciding to purchase something and would never want to give inaccurate information.

I've made macaroons a couple of times in the past and have not tried to make them since. I've always had a problem with them coming out different sizes and cracked which makes them hard to put the two cookies together. This macaroon set made my life easier when trying to make them. I've made a few batches so far and I'm I love with how this set is. All the cookies come out the same size thanks to the indentations in the mat itself which makes the perfect sized macaroon. It was easy to clean afterward. The set also comes with a piping bag and 5 different tips to use. They are not wide or big sized tips, they are on the smaller size which is perfect for the macaroons or for other small detailing. Overall I feel this kit was worth the money spent!