Easy French Macaron Recipe (Macaroons)
I am often asked why have my macarons failed?! Why are there no feet?! Why have the macaron shells cracked? And which recipe do you use for your macarons? So here it is… french macaron recipe and troubleshooting.
On a recent holiday I found a 200 year old cookbook on my mums bookshelf. It tells that King Henry VIII granted an estate in Leadenhall Street to a Mistress Cornewallies in reward for the fine puddings that she presented to him. Follow these easy steps to make macarons fit for a king. You will aquire such indulgence that is pleasing to the palate and if you’re lucky enough perhaps you too will be granted an estate!
The picture above shows the 200 year old macaron recipe. They called them almond puffs. Personally I prefer to make them using my electric mixer using the recipe below.
French Macaron Recipe Ingredients
4 large egg whites (or 5 small) approx 140g (4.94 ounces)
1/3 cup or 70g (2.47 ounces) caster sugar (also known as superfine sugar)
1 1/2 cups or 230g (8.11 ounces) pure icing sugar. IF you wish to use icing mixture INSTEAD of icing sugar you will need 1 3/4 cups or 275g (9.7 ounces) icing mixture
1 cup or 120g (4.23 ounces) almond meal
2g (0.07 ounces) salt (tiny pinch)
gel food colouring (optional) note too much liquid will make the macarons fail so if it is your first time making them try with no colour until you’ve got the technique sorted.
Macaron Recipe Directions
This recipe makes approximately 40 shells or 20 filled macarons
Preheat the oven to 150C (302 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sift the almond meal and icing sugar and salt together, discarding any almond lumps that are too big to pass through the sieve.
Place egg whites and caster sugar into a bowl and mix with electric mixer until stiff enough to turn the bowl upside down without it falling out. How long this takes will depend on you mixer.
Continue to whip for 1-2 more minutes.
Add gel or powdered food colouring and continue to mix for a further 20 seconds.
Fold the almond & sugar mixture into the egg whites. This is the most important step and where most first time macaron bakers have trouble.
It should take roughly 30-50 folds using a rubber spatula but obviously this will vary depending on your folding technique. The mixture should be smooth and a very viscous, not runny. Watch the video to see what you are going for. Over-mix and your macarons will be flat and have no foot, under mix and they will not be smooth on top. See the macaron troubleshooting post for examples.
Pipe onto trays lined with baking paper, rap trays on the bench firmly (this prevents cracking) and then bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Make sure you are using NON-stick baking paper or they will stick. Check if the macarons are done by quickly opening the oven and slightly pressing on top of one – if it squishes down slightly it’s not yet ready, close the oven so the oven temp doesn’t change. Taking them out of the oven too soon will mean the insides will drop and you’ll have hollow shells.
PLEASE make sure you watch the macarons FAQ and troubleshooting video. This way you can learn from the mistakes and questions of those who have made them before you.
Filling your macaroons
My favorite is flavoured ganache, but you can use jam and cream, butter cream or just eat them plain.
Ganache Recipe
100g (3.53 ounces) chocolate
30ml cream
Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute and then stir. If it is not adequately melted then microwave for 20 seconds and stir – repeat until smooth. Allow to cool and thicken before piping onto macarons.
More macaron recipes for you:
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Macaron trouble-shooting & FAQ
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nut free macarons
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orange choc macarons
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 macaron ice cream sandwich |
SEE ALL RECIPES |
chocolate macarons
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fun with macarons
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Salted Caramel Macarons
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My Cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country:
http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
Hi Anne! i was just wondering can you halve the recipe? Cheers!
yes definitely i have even done a 1/4 before
Hi there! I’ve tried your recipe three times and haven’t gotten any feet at all ): I live in Singapore so could it be the humidity? I left my macarons in an air conditioned room for an hour before baking but the skin still didn’t form well! It was still slightly sticky to the touch. Also I used wilton’s gel food colouring, could that be the problem? I only added a few drops so I don’t really see how it could make such a huge difference ): I’m quite sure I didn’t over/under-mix and that I followed everything on your blog! Please help ):
hi sue, this recipe does not need to be left out before baking, and yes try without the colour to check if that is causing a problem. Try a 1/4 batch to save ingredients. The humidity can effect them as when you whip the meringue part the moisture from the air whips into the bubbles.
Hi!
Wonderful video. Everything seemed so easy when you were doing it but I was mixing my eggwhites for over 20 min and they still weren’t stiff!
Do you have an explanation? any suggestions?
Hi cookie, if you get even a tiny it of yolk in the whites they will not whip up.
Les maccarons francais! Miaam! 🙂
I would like to know if I could use a whisk instead of electric mixer 🙂 thanks
technically yes but practically, you will be whisking for a long time.
I have tried this twice, and they always stay flat. I have done every step correctly and I don’t think I overmixed, it looked like yours. What can I do?
I wanted to know if I could use whisk instead of electric mixer to mix the batter. Thank you 🙂
Hi Ann thanks a bunch for this recipe it worked first time for me. Some of them cracked on the second tray cus I forgot to rap them on the bench but the rest where awesome thanks!!
I really need to know if it’s ok to use a spoon instead of a rubber spatula to fold the mixture because for some odd reason I can’t find any spatulas at many shops and I don’t have one at home. Also is it ok to use a spoon instead of an electric mixer because my friend doesn’t have one and she wanted to make macarons as well. 🙂 Great recipe by the way ! 😀
Hi Rose you can use a spoon instead of a spatula but you will not have as many folds before the mixture becomes over-mixed so you have to fold carefully in order to get all the ingredients incorporated together. You need electric mixers for this recipe
Hi, your macarons look great. I don’t know why my batter was so liquidy. Is there a way to fix that?
If it is over-folded it will go liquidy and no it can not be fixed.
Thanks, i have another question. This is the fifth time i made it, and they still don’t have feet. What am I doing wrong?
Hi, your macarons look great. I don’t know why my batter was so liquidy. Is there a way to fix that?
Hi kelvn, if it is over-mixed it will be runny and from there it is not possible to make it thicker.
Hi Ann,
I tried a recipe for macarons and it said to leave them on the oven tray once piped, for 10 minutes and then baking rather than tapping the tray. Would that work for this recipe too?
Hi Victoria, not tapping the tray means you will have cracked macarons, you don’t need to leave them on the bench but if you leave them while another tray is baking they are fine too.
So my macaroons always turn out like the overbeaten recipes. Flat, with no feet. I whisked my eggs to stiff peaks which takes 5-7 minutes on the lowest setting on my hand mixer but when I try to fold the almond/ sugar mixture in, it goes runny after 3 or 4 folds! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong here…
Hi Sara, try mixing on the highest speed instead of lowest until it has stiff peaks and then mix for 2 minutes more. Use a rubber spatula to fold in.
Hi Ann,
I love your recipe and website! I’ve been thinking for a while on how to make perfect macaroon, I’m gonna try your recipe soon and let you know how they turn out!
That cookbook is in amazing condition being 200 years old! Do you remember what the name was? I’m really interested to find it in a library somewhere and have a look at it :d
Thanks so much!
I’m gonna check your website regularly from now on 😉
Parisa
Hi Parisa,
The cookbook photographed belongs to my mum and says FAMILY COOK on the spine, it is this book here… http://books.google.com.au/books?id=DtsqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=%22in+the+primitive+ages+of+the+world,+when+the+preservation+of+human+existence%22&source=bl&ots=ZHKnL17Non&sig=-oXkld5zCkG2RpGCEn7apDBcF5o&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2YL2ULf_GKetiAfP7oHICg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22in%20the%20primitive%20ages%20of%20the%20world%2C%20when%20the%20preservation%20of%20human%20existence%22&f=false
You might also enjoy this link http://www.angelfire.com/md3/openhearthcooking/aaCookbook1800.html
Hey I made macarons today, using this recipe and they turned out really nice
but they weren’t very bright, I put pink liquid food colouring in but after a
while, adding the food colouring in, it wouldn’t go any darker. Do I get powdered food colouring? If so where do I get it? At coles? Aldi?
thx 🙂 Mia
hi mia, yes try powdered colour, most cake decorating stores have it.
thanks Ann, Im making them 2moz, I’ll see how they go 🙂
Anne,
I want to make your macaroon recipe for my daughter’s wedding in 3 weeks. Is it possible to freeze them until I’m ready to use them? Thanks so much. Love your website and detailed videos!!
Hi Donna, yes, in single layer in airtight container, I would freeze unfilled and then fill the day before and store in the fridge.
I made these on the weekend and they tasted d-lish but they puffed up way to much I think I may have under-mixed the batter.
and they were also hollow is that suppose to happen?
Hi eden, they can be hollow if meringue mixture is over beaten with the beaters or if the oven temp is too low or if oven temp drops during cooking (often due to opening the door too many times) or if they are undercooked.
Hi Ann,
It’s my first time making macarons, can you tell me how big yours are? I want to print a template to get them all the same size. 🙂
Hi carissa, mine are about 4cm in diameter
🙂 I made a vanilla and strawberry ganache macaron, they all came out nice- foot and all, hardly any cracked, but the taste ( even though I used less sugar than in your recipe) is waaaay sweeter than the original.
And the texture inside is just not the same, they are more ‘puffy’ and less soft gooey than the original one’s. Feels like there’s an ingredient missing.xoxo
Hi Ann, I made my first macaroons, it was a total failure, I guess that my mistake was first, I didn’t use the egg whites from an egg, I used the ones from Costco, they came from a container that look like little milk, I fold it like you said 50 times and nada, the mixture was sooo runny, I try to bake them like this, awful, but my question is, whas the egg whites, as I suppose?
Hi Caolina, Yes you are correct, the egg whites in a container have been pasteurized and are not suitable for whipping for things like meringue, macaroons…