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:
easy macaron recipe
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Macaron trouble-shooting & FAQ
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nut free macarons
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orange choc macarons
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 macaron ice cream sandwich |
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chocolate macarons
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fun with macarons
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Salted Caramel Macarons
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Hi Ann,
These look great, but before baking why didn’t you leave them out to form a shell first?
you actually don’t need to with this recipe jennifer
Turned out perfect. Love the pink and white combo!
Hi, I’m making macarons in my next food tech lesson, but I can’t find almond meal. Would really finely ground almonds work?
My first attempt at these before filling them 🙂
These are just goregous for the first try!
thankyou !
Thank you I made these today and they turned out beautifully perfect ! Ann have you considered writing a cook book? It will be wonderful to have all your recipes together 🙂
😀 tried this for the 2nd time! and still have excellent results hehe! 😀 but this time used white chocolate and milk for the filling!
Hey, does anyone know why mine turned brown if I coocked them at 150 celcius, for 20mins? Originally they were blue
Sometimes they cook quicker.. so next time after 10 mins.. check if they are cooked
Just a note on the difference between Macarons and Macaroons. Macarons are made with ground almonds and eggwhite, Macaroons are made with desicated coconut and whole eggs. Macaron should NEVER be pronounced Macaroon!
Does anyone know of a good substitute for the egg whites? I am vegan and would like to veganize these. Thanks
Hi ..i wanted to try the recipie but wondering wht is icing mixture…n if i dont have what is the substitute i can use.
Hi Ann! love your recipes i’ve tried a few of them a few times! thanks for sharing!
Would like to check with you what do you mean by fan-forced oven? Do i have to switch my oven function to “fan plus” instead of using the “gentle bake” function? I have been trying to find out why do the top of my macarons harden when inside of the macarons aren’t cooked yet. Macarons ended up quite crispy ):
Your instructions have been really helpful!
About how many does this recipe make?
I was about to ask the same question – how many macarons does this recipe make.
Thank you for making even the most boring lessons interesting. We appreciate your efforts.
Hi, i want to make these for this weekend but I don’t have a mixer. Do you think a wire wisk and a bowl will do? how long should I mix it? and where can I find Caster Sugar and pure icing sugar?
I made these as a test for an upcoming Cabaret Dinner event at my school. They turned out great with perfect feet 🙂 however some were a bit dry and were too crunchy. I think it was because they were a bit overcooked? They tasted great and I sandwiched them with dark chocolate ganache. Thanks for the recipe!
well done 🙂
😀 Tried the recipe for the first time and i saw feet! <3 this recipe very detailed and nice! 😀 Thanks for sharing the recipe! 😀
they look delicious!
Hi… I really want to make some of these as a supprise for my little cousin for her birthday (shes turning 14) but she has a really bad nut allergy… ive serched everywhere but I cant find any other variations of this recipe (and non of the bakeries in my city or the the surrounding citys make them)… so .. is there anything you know of that can be used insted of almond meal? Like extra flower or coconut flower? Something that dosnt contain nuts..
Ann has a nut free macaron recipe as well, just click on this link https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/macaron-substitute-almond-flour/ or search for it on this blog. Ann has used grated white chocolate as a substitute and it has worked well when i made them for my uncle who is allergic to nuts also.
Hi Jenn, there’s a nut-free macaron recipe on this website (we have a nut allergy in our family too).
I love making Macaroons, I have made a lot and am getting so discouraged they crack and deflate I so want to make them perfect. I wish I could just see how some one makes them so I can watch to see what I’m doing wrong.
have you watched my video on Macaron FAQ? It might help
Hi Ann where i live you can´t buy an almond meal.
Can i make it at home ? I have tried to put almonds in a blender and it is not a fine meal so it shows in the texture. Can you help ???
Hi !^^ I think there’s another recipe where u could substitute almond meal for other ingredients ^^ maybe it’ll help?
Ok thanks. But can’t I make it my self ???
I make it in my magic bullet. Just make sure you blend it really well and then sift it through a strainer to get it really fine. Blender should work fine too!
Hi, not sure where you are, but if you use a small blender, the sort used for spices, sugar or coffee, that will get the almonds fine. I have a Kenwood, but several of the bug manufactures make them. Good luck.
Hi Ann! Thanks for the recipe and the excellent directions, I’ve been intimidated by these for some time, but I am hopeful now that I watched the video. There are a couple ingredients I am unsure about. Almond meal, never heard of it. I assume icing sugar is powdered sugar and caster sugar is white sugar in the US? Any help, I’d sure appreciate it! Thanks again!!