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 |
SEE ALL RECIPES |
chocolate macarons
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fun with macarons
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Salted Caramel Macarons
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All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
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Hi Ann,
I’ve never made macarons before so please bear with me. What can I use instead of the electric mixer?
you can hand beat it but it will be pretty difficult
i cnt use eggs in my cake m pure veg …cn u plz temme d substitute for egg white plz :/
Hey Dizzup Gal – You dun maka macaroon if u iz a veggie init. Best u eat tomato pie darlz. x
hey…i really liked her reecepie…dats d reasn i asked….i ws hoping for an answer…bt its ok
ann 🙂
u did nt reply my question…..its ok cya
Use EnerG (a gluten free egg white substitute). You can find it at most grocery stores now.
Dear Lord…..
I sincerely hope you are not as lazy with your baking as you are with your appalling use of the beautiful English language Shruti …
All those abbreviations for 20 words…..????
Makes SUCH offensive reading !
Hi Anne, what is the cream filling shown in the first photo? I’m not a big fan of chocolate ganache. Thank you
Azin, most fillings used for macarons are just a buttercream 🙂
After my third attempt making sure to follow all your instructions very very carefully i managed to produce these beautiful little macarons!!
Thanks again for your recipe!
well done Anna, persistence paid off 🙂
What does it mean when my macarons are hallow?
And even though I banged it on the table, I still got cracked macarons..(The bubble just wont go to the surface and pop! HELP
if they are hollow it might mean you took them out of oven before cooked, or oven was opened so there was a drop in the temperature or you over mixed the eggwhites
It says preheat oven 150
Hi Ann
You mentioned bake it for 20 mins but at what degrees C should I bake it for.
150 degrees C
How many macarons do you average from this recipe?
20 complete macarons
Just after 20 years of dedicated services, my Sunbeam Mixmaster gave out.
While I replaced it with another the same manufacturer, I
quickly learned that they just do not create things like they used to!
Therefore I got a new KA, like everybody else.
This has been not too long ago now and I also still hate that Kitchen Aid!
I really don’t enjoy that you can not add ingredients quickly while blending with
out putting the collar and chute on the bowl, it’s hard to scrape the bowl while the beater is
working, it is quite sloppy (something usually seems to fly
out the bowl, regardless how careful I will be), I
cannot seem to have it set proper so that the ingredients at the base of the
bowl obtain incorporated into the batter, and
it’s just too big and heavy!
I’ve just got a brand new Breville & it’s great. They’re an Australian brand but available worldwide. Very good.
Hi Ann,
I tried to make my own almond meal with no success and a messy kitchen. Where in BC Canada can i get almond meal?
-Genevieve
not sure sorry, you could try online…
You can get then at Bulk Barn and no frills(no name brand.. and its in he baking section..)
Hi. First batch I made was too runny hence they didnt rise. Just cooked second batch ans paid attention not to stir. However this batch has seemed to take 50 minutes to cook and even then they are still sticking to the baking paper. Also the colour has gone dull. What am I doing wring? Thank you.
Hey just wondering why you wrote icing mixture then icing sugar if they’re the same thing? Slightly confused.
Thank you.
Icing mixture and icing sugar are not the same.
Icing mixture has a little bit of corn or maize starch added to it so that it doesn’t set as hard or as brittle as pure icing sugar does!
Hi Ann,
Could you please advice me how to make vegetarian macaroon? As the hard part is what to use as a) egg white replacement to make the egg white stiff and b) measurement for vegan egg white in gram? In this case with your recipe:
eg: 4 large egg whites (or 5 small) 140g = what should I replace in order to place egg whites (replace with ?) and cater sugar in a bowl and mix with electric mixer until stiff enough to form a peak?
I understand to meringue based batter is a bit tricky to handle, could you please advice and really appreciate your great help. Many thanks.
sorry Kerry Ann, eggs are necessary in macarons
Hi Ann!
I love this recipe, and I’m wondering, instead of using gel or powdered food colouring, can you use flavoured colour like strawberry flavour (it gives it a red tinge)? Thanks!
you could add a few drops but more than that and the macarons won’t work
Best cooking video ever, thanks.
What could go wrong, why it went wrong and how to overcome the problem brilliant .
Thank you for your troubleshooting video. Now I know what went wrong. I looked at other sites and videos however was still confused. You’re explanations are so clear!!
Hi, where can I buy icing mixture in the US? Can I substitute the icing mixture with something else?
Icing Sugar/mixture is the same thing as Powdered Sugar which is used to make Icing. Easily found in the baking isle of any grocery store 😉
make this to day pls!!! regular show cupcake
My mum and i just made these, they worked a charm! Thanks a million!!
🙂
Well I though third time might be the charm but it wasn’t. I keep ending up with a pretty looking little macaron on the outside but it is hollow in the inside. My oven is accurate so is it something I’m doing in the mixing stage? Any help you can provide with this would so appreciated- I can’t find any consensus on what causes hollows.
Hi Cameron, have you watched my Macaron FAQ video on YouTube, it may be of help?