Ann Reardon

Easy French Macaron Recipe (Macaroons)

french macaroon strawberry and cream

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. Ā 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!

200 year old macaroon recipe
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)Ā caster sugar (also known as superfine sugar)
1 1/2 cups or 230g (8.11 ounces) pure icing sugar. Ā IFĀ you wish to use icing mixture INSTEAD of icing sugar you will needĀ 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. Ā 
Continue to whip for 1-2 more minutes. Ā 

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. Ā 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. Ā 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.

how to pipe macaron

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

ganache macaron
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.

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My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations 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.

1,525 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    I am curious, why donā€™t you need to rest your macarons and let them dry? How come most recipes say you do? Also, Iā€™m from the United States, we normally have powdered sugar (Domino brand) which has cornstarch in it. Is that the same as icing sugar or icing mixture?

    Thank you!

  2. Rating: 4

    Hello Ann! Could you please let me know the brands of icing sugar and almond flour that you have used? (From Melbourne) Thank you in advance!

  3. Rating: 5

    Absolutely awesome! I use it every time I make macarons!

  4. Rating: 5

    My biggest and sincerest apologies for previous comments I had made, referring to an ā€œerrorā€ in this recipe… On second reading, I realised that there are 2 lots of sugar,: caster sugar and icing sugar…. ā€œmea culpa, Mae culpaā€

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