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
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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.
hey ann i live in india so its not always easy to find ingredients …i wanted to know what is icing mixture? is it not the same as icing sugar?
From what i deducted from Ann’s awesome videos, the icing mixture is just icing sugar with a bit of corn flour in it that people use instead of icing sugar. Both seem to work perfectly fine. If you watch her macaroon faq video i think she talks about that.
Also, note that the temperature in this recipe calls for 150 Celsius, which converts to 302 Fahrenheit.
Hi Ann, I love your site and find it very inspiring, especially for a novice baker like me. So I had a second failed attempt at making these macarons today 🙁 I figured the first time I tried making them, my mixture became too runny because of liquid colour that I had used so today I substituted that with powdered colour. Yet I ran into the same problem and my mixture became very runny after folding. I know I have wasted my ingredients but I don’t want to give up just yet 🙂 So I am going to try a third batch without any food colouring this time. Fingers crossed!
I first want to say Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us all! I have been wanting to make macaroons for a very long time. I was always so intimidated until I came across your recipe. It was easy and so helpful.
My macaroons looked beautiful, no cracks :))…My only concern was that they were a bit chewy on the inside. Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated :))
Cecilia :))
What other option of almond meal coz its too expensive and I’m just learning.
Do you have any suggestions on how I could fix it?
Hi, I tried making them for the second time and I accidentally forgot to prepare the dry ingredients a head of time so after I made the stiff merengue started preparing the dry ingredients and then the egg white started getting runny so I started to beat it and then it wasn’t as stiff and then I added the almond meal and it was too runny. love baking
Thanks for a great recipe and great tutorial. I made macarons for the first time this morning and with your guidance, they turned out wonderfully! I just need to work on my piping skills. Thanks again!
great to hear marie, well done
Hi Ann! I love this recipe but I have one problem: I have no gel food coloring. It may be weird for an 11 year old to say this but I love baking! I can’t find gel food coloring anywhere!
Hi Melissa am glad you love baking, gel food colouring will be available at cake decorating stores, I am not sure what country you are in but try searching for an online store or look on amazon.
its also at craft stores and it doesnt have to be gel
Hi thanks so much for the recipe I just tried these and they taste awesome mine did crack even after rapping em really hard on the counter and no feet formed but I’m Ganna keep trying till I get there lol thanks loads x
Hi Zain, great first attempt, glad you liked the taste, try folding a little more and also try a batch without colouring to see if your colour is giving you grief. You can make a quarter batch while you are experimenting. Also make sure that you sift your ingredients before the egg whites are whipped so the whites are not sitting there waiting for the other ingredients to be folded in.
Hi ann,
I love the recipie but I had a question, what is caster sugar? And can it be replaced with granulated sugar? Thanks:)
Hi Olivia, Caster sugar is finer than granulated sugar.
granulated sugar crystals are 600-670 microns, extra fine sugar 340-480 microns, caster sugar 270-340, powdered sugar app 80, icing sugar app 15-25
if you can find extra fine sugar that would be better. If you go through to the FAQ video it talks about making with types of sugar.
pretty nice
😀
Hi, I tried this recipe to make macarons for the first time and they came out decent but i need to continue to try to get the temperature and timing right for my oven. Thank you for the recipe. Can I check with you on the ganache, what is the cream indicated in the recipe. Is it heavy cream or is it whipping cream? Thanks!
hi lena, any cream that is around 35% fat is good
Hi Ann..i just love them..i have a question for you can i add the color at the end if i need to use different colors ??
Hi Ann,
Thanks so much for this recipie. I made them today and although they are not perfect, I am quite proud of myself. Half of them were very flat so wasted quite a lot of the mixture.
I’ve sent a picture, what do you think?
Thanks x
Hai. Ive tried 3 time but my macaroon keep being you know something like watery. And the white egg. It should be really 10 minutes or what cuz i take only about 5 minutes. Is it okay?
hey Ann…. hoe big did you make your macaroon sheels when you piped them? thanks
hi ashley mine are approx 4 cm
Ann you are a legend! After countless failed attempts and wasted ingredients your way worked!!! Hooray macaroons are my new favourite thing to make thanks to you and oh sooo yum! Thank you for your wonderful posts and recipes.
Glad to hear it Tony, I am sure all your ‘failed’ attempts with other recipes still gave you valuable experience 😀
Hi Ann!
I have been trying to using your recipe for my macaroon. But it’s all turn out cracks, but the top is smooth that I don’t think my batter is under mix. I rapped the tray on the bench hard 4x each side. However, some turn out with feet, but little feet. I try it 5x already, I must get it but I don’t know wat is wrong? Please help
Hi lene, they are getting there, not bad. The crack may be due to uneven folding, make sure you scrape down the sides of your bowl and your spatula regularly during folding. Double check your oven temp using an oven thermometer, bake one tray at a time in the centre of the oven. Flat trays tend to work better so try flipping your tray upside down
Hi Ann! It’s my dream to make macaroons . I must mention that your video and instructions are so crystal clear! Thank you! However, when I tried out the recipe the macaroons looked nice and puffed up while in the oven( but no feet) I had the oven temperature at 150 degrees for the 1st batch. After 20 mins, they were slightly browned on the top so I took them out of the oven. While they were cooling the macarons became absolutely flat and chewey:-(
The second batch I baked at 180degrees but by 18 mins they were browning again so I got them out and they too deflated miserably? I read some of the comments and I think I ll take your advice and move the tray to a lower shelf after 15 mins. But can you notice anything wrong in my method? Pls advice. Thank you.
hi neena, hard to say without seeing them but I would get an oven thermometer and check your oven temp. Definitely put one tray in at a time int eh centre of the oven.
hi how many macaroons does this recipe approximately make?
hi amanda, about 20 in the size shown (40 shells)