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
|
nut free macarons
|
orange choc macarons
|
 macaron ice cream sandwich |
SEE ALL RECIPES |
chocolate macarons
|
fun with macarons
|
Salted Caramel Macarons
|
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.
Hello Ann i am so thankful for this macaron recipe, you are amazing at explaining what to do, i was wondering if you have ever tried cookies and cream macarons if so can you write down the link it will be very much appreciated if not are there any good recipes ?
hi ann I will like to try this recipe my daughter keeps asking for me to make them but im kinda scread of how it will turn out just wanted to know do you have the recipe for orange or caramal filling I got caramal flavour that I got from the cake decoration store its a liquid do I put that on the chocolate ganche to make that caramal flavour and for the orange what do I do .. thank u ann..
Hi Lisa, if you see this post it shows how to make flavoured ganache, for orange boil you cream with some orange zest then strain before pouring over the chocolate. For caramel I’d mix with dulce de leche but I have not used the caramel essence that you have so add a little and taste and repeat until you are happy with it.
dulce de leche https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/dulce-de-leche-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> truffles https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/chocolate-truffles-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
these macroons are so good and i made them 🙂
Hello Ann! I’m so thankful for all your recipes! However may I ask what colour should the macarons be without any colouring, since they kind of came out burnt? I tried taking them out before they burn but they still stick, so I waited for them to get peeled off easily but they’ll be burnt by then. Thank you so much for your hard work, I’m sure we all appreciate it and please keep up the good work! 🙂
Hi Angus this post has pictures of plain ones… https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/macaron-recipe-faq-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E without colour
it worked really great on the first try, however it is kind of sweet for me.
Is there any chance I can reduce the amount the sugar?
If I made a change, does it going affect the result?
the shell only
hi natalia, reducing the sugar does effect teh shell, you can try adding more salt to offset the sweetness or use a less sweet filling.
Thank you for sharing your recipe and tips. This was my first attempt with your recipe (second macaron attempt overall), and they turned out great! I am excited to try out your salted caramel recipe next! Thanks again!!
Hi Ann,
My macaron came out lopsided. What would be the reason for it?
Thanks
Ty
Hi Ty, possibly an uneven oven temperature. You can buy oven trays which are made to even out the heat, they are hollow in the middle, imagine two thin trays with about a 1/2 cm gap between them and some holes in the base, fused together at the sides.
Would regular hersheys dark choclate thats melted work for a filling??
Help! I’m assuming that these were underwhipped, overfolded, and overcooked…. It was quite runny after folding
Hi Ann, I made them , they looked perfect UNTIL AFTER I took out of oven, then they cracked . What do you think went wrong
What is icing mixture, and can I use someone other then a nut meal?
When you did your egg whites, usually people would do it till it’s stiff but glossy. But you want to beat it a little more right?
Just made my first batch of macarons today using your wonderful recipe and instructions. I was sooo nervous about attempting them and had prepared myself for a failed batch (as so many have mentioned!). I did experience some slight cracking in about 1/4 of them (but I pinpointed how that occurred) but overall, they turned out amazing, picture perfect! I’m so happy as I will be using them for a cake this week. Thank you for the wonderful video and recipe. For anyone else wanting to attempt macarons – make sure you get everything ready and prepared so when you go to make them it’s easy and you’re not darting about getting flustered! 🙂 Thanks again!
Hi Ann – my apologies if this was already asked, I scanned all the comments but my eyes got buggie!
Macaron ingredients are measured so precisely, how would I add matcha powder or cocoa powder?
1. How much would I add?
2. Should I take that amount out of the icing sugar? Otherwise, I have added extra grams to the recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Ann,
Looking forward to making your macaroons this week.I have always been intimidated by them but you make it look easy. I had lavender scented ones at Trump hotel and wanted to make mauve macaroons with lavender. Any suggestions how to get that flavour into macaroon. Also I wondered about putting flavoured jello mix into macaroons for different flavour and colour, your thoughts
Thanks
Crazy Canuck!
Thank you so much for this post! I’ve tried macarons before and they went horribly wrong, and I’ve seen so many so-called ‘easy’ recipes about, but yours is definitely the simplist and your troubleshooting is so so helpful. It’s taken me a couple of trays to get them right, and I think they’ll be a lot better next time I try, but this batch is turning out really well (so far!). Thanks again for being so comprehensive and helpful and overall better than most of the professionals elsewhere on the net.
photo
Thanks Ann, your recipe and video are great!
However, I got very crispy surface and hollow, could you help?
And can I use liquid colouring? Thanks
Hi Peggy, hollow can be due to a couple of things 1. over-whipping the meringue make sure you whip until you can turn it upside down and 2 minutes more only. Opening the oven too many times to check on them… a drop in oven temp or taking the out before they are done will cause the middles to sink. Liquid colouring can be used in tiny amounts, see the FAQ post here… https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/macaron-recipe-faq-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
hi Ann, i made a disastrous macaron today.. dont know what was my error… one minute they were baking so well, lookin awesome then the next minute they were like melted from d bottom, only top shell was perfect.. its not ur recipe that i followed… what do u think was the problem? pls help… carol
hi carol, have you read the faq post? https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/macaron-recipe-faq-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E watch the video and let me know if they look like the low oven temp ones with the skirt, if so I suggest you buy an oven thermometer to check your oven temp.
Hello, is there a recipe which is less sweet? And also, other than nonstick baking sheets what can I use or do? Because I bought the normal baking sheet and idwanna waste it!
Hi Shi, usually you’d add more salt to the recipe rather than less sugar when making macaron shells, or use a less sweet filling. Non-stick baking sheets or a silpat are what works well for macarons