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
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fun with macarons
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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.
What temperature are we suppose to set the oven at
Hi Emma, 150 degrees C
Well I went for it but I didn’t exactly use the recipe as you gave it.
for dry ingredients I used 3/4 cup powder sugar, 1/2 cup bakers cocoa, pinch of salt.
for wet 2 egg whites and I did use a 1/3 cup of regular sugar in the eggs, it was before I decided to half the recipe lol. I did not have any kind of non-stick paper so mine aren’t as pretty. Let me tell you they are tasty as can be, almost like the best brownie I ever ate. Ohh for the filling i took a quarter stick of butter melted it, dumped in some cocoa and mixed well and stirred in by hand powder sugar and added a little milk it was to thick to pipe lol so a little more milk. They were so good! One is all you need and you need a glass of milk for just the one! lol First time I tried to make them. I love trying new stuff, I bookmarked your site I shall return.
Remember just because it isnt pretty doesn’t mean you can’t take a photo lol :)~
I Like your last line MzBaker 😀 thanks for bookmarking I’m sure you’ll find lots of fun recipes to try
Love your website! Just wondering to make white chocolate ganache do I need to alter the choclate/cream ratio? Also I made your salted caramel macarons, they turned out just like yours and were a HUGE hit! Now I want to try the coloured ones, would the recipe for your french macarons be the best to use? Thanks
Hi Jack, you can use the same recipe that you used for the salted caramel ones and then colour it and use different fillings. If you want white chocolate ganache then yes decrease the amount of cream as it is softer with white chocolate.
Sorry if this is a silly question but where do I buy powdered food colouring?? I cant find it anywhere!!
Thank you.
hi jodi cake decorating stores should sell it
hi anne, love your videos! I tried making macarons and i failed 🙁 my macarons don’t have feet and i think they’re slightly burned because my oven temp was too high and i don’t know if my oven is fan forced or not. the macarons looked super ugly to me but my mom said they looked okay. my macarons were too sweet for me and my mom but i think that’s because i only used 1g salt (don’t know why i did that -__-). but my family said they still taste good and i think the macarons tasted better after i kept them in the fridge overnight after i filled them with chocolate ganache. i think i’m gonna try making them again sometime, please reply so i can fix my mistakes. thanks again!
Hi Adriana, if they are burnt then yes it sound like the oven temp was too high. Have you watched the FAQ video it may help answer your questions https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/macaron-recipe-faq-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi Ann,
Just found your website and tried macarons. They’ve turned out well, so thanks for a great recipe. I’ve just been looking at some of your other recipes and can’t wait to try them! Love your personal comments too – much friendlier to read than most recipe books
thanks Diane 😀
hi ann I made yesterday the macroons it turned out ok it was in the oven for 35mins on 150 I don’t have fan foced I checked it at 15mins wasn’t ready then I let it to cook it turned out crunchy does it suppose to be like that or soft I have no idea as I haven’t eaten one before but the kids like it with nutella on it my husband didn’t like them at all
hi lisa, they should be crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.
Hi Ann,
Love your recipe!! I have tried a few times they all worked out fine. Thank you for sharing! Just one question here, I realized the feet of my macaroons are not as well defined. They are not as fine foamed. I have seem some feet even like a tutu dress, very fine and a bit pop out. Do you have any idea about this? Hope you get what I am asking 🙂
Thanks again!
Cecilia
hi cecilia if the foot is out like a skirt it is due to the oven temp being too low
Hi Anne,
Thanks for a brilliant presentation. I have been asked to do a wedding cake soon and you guessed it, it’s a Macaron tower.
At first I was iffy about committing but your post has eased my mind. I will be doing a practice batch this weekend. Mint macaroon with dark choc ganache filling. I’m excited to start and will post pics of my first go at them.
I do have a couple of questions though, that. Hope hasn’t already been asked. I did try to read most posts above.
1. How many times can you multiply this mix without compromising on quality of the Macaron? If I can only do one batch at a time that’s fine, but if the mix will keep for an hour or so while I bake then that would be useful. I’ll need 160 Macaron in total (380 halves)
2. Also, I have read on some other sights that for the best results, macarons should be filled and left for 48 hours. Is this true? Do you find they get better when they’re older an should they be stored n the refrigerator prior to filling an after filling?
Thanks so much!
🙂
Hi Naomi, macarons can take a few practices to perfect, definitely watch the faq video. I’d make one batch at a time, pipe all of them onto baking paper and bake one tray at a time. I stire unfilled sperated by baking apper in airtight containers at room temp. But yes you can fill the night before and store in the fridge
Hi Ann
Have made a couple of batches now but they have split on both attempts.
I have an AGA and wondered if you have any tips on baking in an AGA.
Thanks in anticipation.
hi laura, cooking in the aga is going to be difficult. Macarons need an exact temperature of 150. On the AGA the roasting oven is 240C, the baking oven is 180C and the simmering oven is 110C. Do you have a friends oven that you can bake in?
Hi, Ann! I’m about to try out your recipe, but I was wondering if the macaroons would turn out differently if I added artificial flavoring and food coloring?
hi amanda yes if you add much moisture in any form they will fail. If is best to use gel colour and flavour your fillings not the shells.
Hi Ann,
Your recipes are the best! They are always straight forward and sooo accurate! Thank you for your honesty and generosity sharing these fantastic recipes! I have tried so many with great results and many many compliments each time! You absolutely inspire me.
A quick question.. I love making macarons. But what would you recommend when u need to make greater quantities of macarons, in terms of the recipe? Can you double it or triple it? Or would that not work?
Thank you soooo much!
hi Donay, if I have to make greater amounts I usually just make batches so i can make different colours. And because my mixing bowl won’t hold a larger amount.
hi ann just wanted to know I don’t have fan force oven should I live it to cook on 180 then go down the oven to 150 on the second tray ty ann
hi lisa my oven is fan forced and I set it to just below 150 so that an oven thermometer inside says 150
Hi Ann,
I love your works! I would like to try macarons but i do not have an electric mixer yet. Can you suggest one or what kind/brand are you using? Thank you!
I love this tutorial
My friends and i were anscious to make these but we want them light so will sugar substitute work
Hi anna, no unfortunately a sugar substitute will not work in this recipe
Hi Anne
Where can i buy powder food colouring?
Thanks, Alison
Hi Allison, cake decorating stores should sell it.
Hi Anne,
Could you give me some guidance. I followed most things correctly. My macaroons had no feet still. Possible things I did wrong include using five egg whites (i wasn’t sure if they were big or small) and oven temp, I don’t have an external thermometer. For the last batch I tried turning the temp up to 180 then dropping down to 150 and still didn’t have much success. The tops were a bit cracked too. I wanted to make them ginger flavoured so I put some ginger powered on the tops for effect – not sure if it ruined them or not? Thanks!!!
I am not sure if the ingredients I used that caused the problem: I used granulated sugar instead of caster sugar, and I used almond flour instead of almond meal. The mixture turned out to look the same as yours in good condition, I rapped it at least 3 times before putting the trays in the oven, and I baked them in 305 F, they looked okay when they were in the oven, but after I took them out, they all turned out to be flat and cracked on the top.
Please let me know what I did wrong, thank you so much.
I tried the recipe again today, and it still didn’t look anything like the ones everyone here made. 🙁 What did I do wrong? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I used the oven temp 300 F. 🙁 Please help, thank you.
Hi Ann:
Thank you so much for sharing the macaron recipe. I tried it but the macaron got flattened after cooling it down, is it because I opened the oven twice? I read somewhere that I should never open the oven door during baking and let the macaron sits inside the oven to cool down instead of taking them out. Is that right? I use oven temp. of 350F, is it too high? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much.