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.
It is the pronounciation here is what matter most? Or the recipe? Sharing is really important, saying ” Thank you” is here what matter most!
Thank you for sharing your Wonderful recipe
Thank you Ann
Macarons are NOT pronounced “macaroons”. There seems to be a whole school of people who believe they are. This confuses people greatly, as “macaroons” are also a baked dessert, made of coconut.
The word is “macarons”. If you can’t manage the French “on”, the American pronounciation of “maca-RON” is perfectly acceptable. “Macaroon” is simply incorrect.
The recipe, however, is great. Thank you.
Maybe for someone who loves to bake, these might be easy. But for me, a cook, these were not easy. They turned out okay and taste good. Directions were great…but they are definitely for someone who loves to bake. Just sayin…
First attempt today
Hi Ann,
Can you use a whisk to beat the egg whites instead of a hand mixer?
Yes you can
Making the macrons the size you made them, about how many complete macarons does this recipe make? Thanks!
Hi Tara, This recipe makes about 0 shells or 20 filled macarons.
SERIOUSLY?! The history nerd in me is screaming like a fangirl right now that your mom had a 200 year old cookbook on her shelf! That is just super cool, and I’m definitely owning my nerdiness right now ;P Ha ha!! Thanks for the recipe! I’ll have to try it after Christmas 😀
Thanks for the recipes. Hope the taste is good if I chage the almond. I am afraid there are any allergies using almond. Can I use with brown sugar or any flavours ?
But the points is..thanks for the recipe..GBU
Hi, almond flour is not available in my place. Can I substitute it for all purpose flour? Tnx.
Nope, look at this page for more information, https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/macaron-recipe-faq-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E. I am pretty sure you have blanched almonds. So, if you have a strong blender or food processor(blender is better), you can grind them yourself. Watch out though it might turn into butter, so work with pulses. In the link above, you can also find a nut free version just in case you don’t want to trouble yourself.
Its quite different.. you could purchase silvered almonds from any grocery store and pulse in the food processor or blender..
I’m pretty sure you can NOT use regular flour. It absolutely has to be almond flour. I get it at Sprouts or Wholefoods. You can also make your almond flour.
wow!! I am definitely going to try to make these, as I have attempted to make them countless times, and always failed. I hope they will come out like these
OMG these turned out perfect for me!! aaahhh! I’m soooo glad..made the lemon buttercream frosting for the filling and oh God they are a dream come true for me because i’ve had many failed attempts at macarons. thank you soooo much for this recipe! xx
Macaron is not pronounced “macaroon”. Ever.
Merci beaucoup Janice.
What is the name of that recipe book?
macaroons are totally different baked goods… scottish i think
this macaron is pronounced a la francais macaROHN, not english macaROON
Is it possible to buy a carton of egg beaters – white part of the egg only to use in this recipe?
Where I’m from (Canada), they sell little cartons of egg whites in most grocery stores in the egg section.
is it possible to reduce the sugar?
I was just wondering how many macarons this recipe makes.
Hi Ann! Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe, it turned out great! On my first try at least, you’d see in the photo that it was perfect. BUT the next time I made it they became cracked and sunk, I really have no idea as to why. I watched your FAQ before I made it again despit it being really nice the first time round. In your FAQ you stated that in was due to rapping the tray in the bench, but I did that until the tick marks disappeared as you said. 🙁 please help me. My mom suspected it was because of the weather because here in Singapore its very hot and humid one moment then it starts pouring the next, is that why? Because I really followed everything and made sure to measure everything to the last gram
Sorry heres the photos
Hi! I just wanted to say thanks for the recipe! I have wanted to try to make these for years but was always too nervous, until I found your page! They came out pretty good but not perfect. A few cracked on my second tray because I didn’t rap it on the table enough. Other than that I need to remember to make them larger. I thought they would spread out larger then they did. Next time I’ll try adding color! I decided to leave that out for the first time because I saw people were having trouble with that. Thanks for all of your detailed instructions and videos! 🙂 They taste delicious too!
Hi Ann,
I just wanted to ask you how to make royal icing and buttercream, plus what’s the difference between sugar powder en powdersugar, or icingsugar
Thank you, Diana