Tutorial: French Macarons
Written by Ilan // 44 commentsThis is a tutorial for French macarons (also known as macarons), not for macaroons.
Macarons are delicate French pastries that come in hundreds of flavours and colours while macaroons are made from dessicated coconut and come in regular and chocolate, and that’s about it.
Macaron is pronounced [MAC-a-ron] while macaroon is pronounced [mac-a-RUNE]. Roll your Rs (and speak with a French accent) for the former. If you want some macaron recipes, please check out my recipe index!
So, let’s get started!
There are thousands of recipes online for macarons, all slightly different. The problem is a lot of them aren’t very clear. Since macarons are very delicate, it’s important to have excellent technique. That’s hard to do though when recipes tell you to do things like fold the batter until it looks like “magma”. Seriously? Magma? Underground lava? That’s helpful.
I combined tips and tricks from dozens of sources to write this guide. I’ve tested so many different macaron recipes but this is the only one that gives me consistent results. It’s based mainly off of Stella’s (from BraveTart) recipe, but does have some changes from other sources that I find work better for me.
The first step is to make 4oz (115g) of ground, blanched almonds (or any nut, really). You can either buy ground almonds, blanched almonds, or plain almonds. If you choose to buy plain almonds, you need to blanch them. Do this by pouring boiling water over the almonds and letting them sit for a minute. Then, pour cold water over the almonds. You should be able to then peel the skins off with your fingers.
At this point, whether you use ground almonds or blanched almonds, you need to grind them in a food processor or “chopper” with 8oz (230g) of powdered/icing sugar. Even if your almonds are already ground/powdered, this will ensure the almonds are evenly dispersed in the powdered sugar. To get the best results possible, I suggest layering the powdered sugar and almonds before grinding.
Then, grind, grind, grind! Grind for about a minute (if you’re using pre-ground almonds) to three or four minutes (if you’re using blanched almonds). After that, dump everything out.
The next step is to sift everything. Macarons are very delicate so when there are clumps of almonds and powdered sugar in them they have a weird texture. Also, when you have clumps, it promotes cracking in the shells.
After you sift everything, they’ll be some larger pieces left. Grind those for about a minute and then sift them in. You’ll still have about two tablespoons left of larger pieces. Throw them out. Don’t risk the shells cracking by putting them in.
The next step is to combine 5oz (144g) of egg whites, 2 1/2oz (72g) of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon (2g) of salt, and the seeds of one vanilla bean. First off, it doesn’t matter what temperature or how old the egg whites are. I just grab the eggs out of the fridge and use them. Seriously. It doesn’t matter. Also, you may find it strange that you’re adding in all the sugar at once, but also, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you can use vanilla extract (2 teaspoons). If you choose to use vanilla extract, don’t add it in just yet.
You’ll want to beat this mixture until the egg whites are frothy, about three minutes on speed four on a Kitchenaid stand mixer.
Then, turn up the speed to seven and whip for another three minutes. This will get you to soft peaks.
Turn up the speed to eight and beat for another three minutes. This will get you to stiff, dry peaks. This is different from a lot of recipes but it works. It really works. In fact, the results are more consistent if you do this. So do it. Trust me.
At this point add in any colouring and flavouring. If you’re using vanilla extract, add it in now. For food colouring, I highly suggest using powdered food colouring. If you don’t have any, then use gel food colouring. Avoid using liquid food colouring as it will ruin the texture of your macarons. The colour that you use will fade in the oven. I didn’t add a lot of colour to mine because I prefer pastel-shades, but by all means add more colour if you so desire. Beat on the highest speed (ten) for one minute to incorporate all the colouring and flavouring. Here, I added some red gel food colouring and 1 1/2 teaspoons of rose water to make rose-flavoured macarons.
When you take your whisk-head-attachment-thing out there should be a big clump of egg whites stuck inside. If there isn’t, keep on beating until there is.
At this point, hit the whisk against the side of the bowl so that the egg whites fall out. Take all your almond mixture and put in. All of it. At once. Don’t add a little bit at a time. It’s so much more effort and doesn’t do anything. At this point we’re starting “macaronage” which is a French word meaning the process of incorporating the dry ingredients with the egg whites to make macarons.
Alright, here’s where it gets tricky. You need to deflate the egg whites to a certain point. Using both a folding motion to incorporate the dry ingredients, and a pressing motion against the side of the bowl, you’re trying to get the batter to the right consistency. But what is the right consistency? Some recommend getting the batter to look like magma, but that doesn’t really help me. You should keep on folding and deflating until the point when you can take a teaspoon of the batter and drop it on a plate and the peak that was formed flattens in ten seconds. I find that doing that test gives me the most accurate results. Be careful not to over mix. Test your batter every few strokes. Be sure to use a spatula for this process – a whisk will not work.
After a few strokes it should look hopeless. Like so:
And then, after a few strokes, it should look a bit better.
Almost there! Keep on folding!
Finally, you’re done.
Take a piping bag fitted with really any single-opening tip and fill it up halfway. On a baking pan lined with parchment paper (which I find works better than a Silpat baking mat) pipe the macarons by holding your bag at a 45-degree angle to the paper. Press down on the bag for about 2-5 seconds (depending on the size of your tip and how hard you press) until a circle forms. Pick up the bag, and keep on going.
Once you finish piping, pick up the baking sheet and hit it against the table a few times to dislodge any trapped air bubbles.
The piped macarons need to dry out until the tops of shells aren’t sticky. This might take as long as 1 1/2 hours. When you touch the top of the shell, no batter should stick to your finger. In the picture below, you can see some macarons that failed the “drying-test”.
I know some recipes say not to dry out the shells but it really helps. Successfully baked macarons have “feet”. Feet are a layer of bubble-like things at the bottom of a macaron shell. They form when the air that is in the batter is forced down. If the shell is not dry, the air will leave through the top and cracks will form. If the shell is dry, the air will have trouble escaping from the top and push down, creating feet. While the shells are drying, preheat your oven to 300°F. I recommend using the convection bake setting if you have it. Once the shells finish drying, bake for about ten-twenty minutes or until the shells come off the parchment paper without their centres sticking.
Let the shells cool on the pan and then remove them. Pipe buttercream, ganache, jam, or whatever you’d like (as long as it’s not too liquidy like honey) on half the shells and then sandwich the shells together. For these, I used coconut rum buttercream that I made by adding coconut rum, which I boiled down, to Swiss meringue buttercream. Let the macarons age in the fridge for twenty-four hours before eating. Let the “cookies” come to room temperature before digging in.
If you’re not in the mood for rose macarons with coconut rum filling, click here to discover other macaron flavours!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
P.S. Thanks again Stella for all the help!
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Holy Moly, this tutorial is awesome!!! I can’t wait to give macarons another try now that I have this awesome help! :)
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Those macarons look delicious!
My sister wants to learn how to make Macarons, so I sent this along to her! Hopefully she has as nice-looking results as you do!
This tutorial is fantastic! I will have to make some, now that I know the tips and tricks of them! Now, what flavour… Decisions, decisions, decisions…
amazing tutorial <3
My friend and I are making your recipe. Does the weather or humidity make a difference when making macarons?
A lot of people say it does but I don’t think so. Let me know how it goes! :)
What would make my macarons pucker? Barbara
I’m not really sure what you mean by pucker. Would you rephrase please?
the macarons started to invert and then they just fell. a horrible failure. it seems like the chocolate ones are more temperamental. What do you do when you have to bake them for an occasion and it is raining? can you turn the air conditioning on high? will that help?
When you piped them did they spread a lot or did they stay generally the same size? How did you make the chocolate ones? Turning on the air conditioner might help, but I find that for me the amount of humidity doesn’t really change much.
I’ve been so scared to try making macarons and they are my absolute favourite treat! I saw this post and I’m definitely going to bookmark and one day, when I’m brave enough (haha) I will definitely follow all your instructions and tips and hope for the best!
Hi
Since my stand mixer broke n all I have left is my hand mixer n I have to make some for a project how do you know when to stop beating your egg whites with a hand mixer?
I would suggest going until you get really dry, stiff peaks like in the photo then instead of going by times.
Thanks for the wonderful tutorial. I made a couple seemingly perfect batches of macarons last weekend. I stored them airtight in the fridge for about 24 hours, and when I took them out, I noticed that some of them were starting to “weep,” (leaving moisture on the bottom shell), some were softening to the point that they started to disintegrate — and did!
I don’t think it was the baking process as the macarons were fully cooked (steady on their feet) with no hollows when I took them out. I used a pastry cream filling that is taught by La Cuisine Paris cooking school in Paris. Could my fridge be too cold or not cold enough? I would love your thoughts on how to fix this. Maybe just skip the fridge?
I’m thinking that the issue might be the pastry cream. Sometimes pastry cream separates and a liquid forms. I think that may have soaked your shells.
Hi, Ilan, a Chowhounder referred me to your site when I posted a question about how to make some tersely-written recipes that use ground up nuts, sugar and egg whites, but offer little to nothing by way of baking instructions. Most of the recipes I’d asked about use equal parts ground almonds (or hazelnuts) and sugar, so they’ll be denser than your macarons. The batter is poured into moulds or cake pans. Do you think I should still use the folding-and-flattening technique you show us, or should I just carefully fold the beaten egg whites into the sugar+nut paste? And should I use the same baking time and temperature as for your macarons (where a heat is indicated, it’s only given as “four doux”)? What is your scientific opinion? :-)
If you don’t deflate the egg whites at all (i.e. if you’re very careful) then there will be bubbles in your macarons and they may crack. I also don’t suggest putting them in moulds because macarons need to rise up, giving them feet at the bottom. If you put them in moulds not only will the macaron cook strangely (temperature wise) but you’ll get a weird shaped mac with feet at the bottom perhaps. If you’re looking for specific recipes I think it makes more sense to use specific temperatures, no?
I tried to make a batch today, but ti seems like no matter how long i let it sit to let it dry, it still fails. It’s been sitting for almost 2 hours. Any advice?
update: even after 5 hours it’s still not dry. I followed the instructions above step by step and made sure it looked like the pictures as well.
Did you make sure that you beat to stiff, dry peaks and not just stiff peaks? Also it’s not that the entire macaron has to be dry, just the top. It’s just that none should really stick to your finger when you gently put your finger on the macaron. If your kitchen is very humid it would affect drying time. If it’s still not working out, then the only thing you can do is bake them as is, right?
I did beat it to stiff dry peaks, but still for some reason the top never dried up. The kitchen was pretty humid and cold, I guess i’ll keep trying until it comes out as nice as the ones in your tutorial.
What happened when you baked them? Did they have feet?
I have one of those old conventional ovens that doesn’t have a fan inside, can you tell me what temperature i should set the oven to and how long to bake the macarons? I tried 325 degrees for 20 minutes, but the edges seem to get a little burnt. Also should i use a silicon sheet and double tray when baking?
If you don’t have a fan setting just make them without it. The amount that you bake them depends on the colour. If you’re using a lighter colour, bake for less time.
I got the macaroons to come out, but for some reason it is hard and the inside is full on hollow. what should i change to get the shell to be not as thick and get the inside to be light and fluffy liek the macaroons that I bought at a store to compare mine with?
It sounds like you either over baked them or you over mixed the nuts with the egg whites. It’s probably the latter. Try mixing them for a shorter period of time.
Hi! Your tutorial looks great! I’d like to try it out, but can I just substitute the ground blanched almonds with almond flour? And how many macarons does this recipe make? Thanks!
Hi Jessica! You can definitely substitute ground almonds for almond flour. Almond flour is just blanched almonds that are ground up. The recipe makes about two dozen. Let me know how it goes!
What brand was the powder food coloring and where did you buy it?
I just used some random brand of food colouring that I found in a corner pakistani grocery store. Just got lucky. You may want to order online, or go to a specialty baking store.
Hi great tutorial :D im following Stella’s recipe too but she says not to dry the macaron’s. Is your recipe different in so that the macarons will dry or should I just dry my macarons that have been made by stella’s recipe?? Thank you for your help :D much love x x xx
Hi Courtney, my recipe has a few small changes to Stella’s. I find that drying is a very important step in macaron making.
What am I doing wrong if after piping the mixture spreads out a lot, and the shells come out flat and with no feet?
Hi Jared, you’re overfolding the mixture. It should not be so runny.
thanks for the quick reply! any way to salvage the mixture?
Unfortunately not.
I did everything mentioned here…yet they rose, got burnt around the edges slightly and then fell flat! This is the 5th time I’m trying…I don’t know where I am going wrong!
Shruti, it sounds like you overfolded the batter. Did they spread a lot after piping?
Nope just a little like how it’s supposed to in the countless videos that I’ve seen. Anyway, I think I figured out the problem…in India, especially in the monsoon, the weather is just impossible so I guess I will have to try in winter!
If you’re in a super humid environment, you should let your egg whites dry out overnight in a container on the counter. Not letting them dry out is OK only if your kitchen isn’t humid.
Made my first trial batch of macaroons today and they weren’t too bad. But the colour was a disaster! I have to make some deep purple ones (wedding colour theme)! They went into the oven as a beautiful shade of deep lilac – but came out grey/beige. The insides were ok but no-one is going to see those till they bite. I used a gel paste product and used a Mastrad macaroon mat to bake. Can you help PLEASE?
Hi Jan, it sounds like your problem is that you’re not using a heat-safe food colouring. These food colouring look vibrant until they’re put in the oven. Wilton is an example of one. Try using a powdered food colouring – those give the best results.