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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Salted Caramel Macarons
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The weight measurement for pure icing sugar and icing mixture in the recipe is the same at 130 gm but the cup measurement is greater for the icing mixture. Is the weight measurement truly the same for both or is there an error?
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Oh my god, please leave! Everything in your comment is rude and uncalled for. It’s a cultural and lingual difference! I’ve never heard someone call a ‘counter’ a ‘pitch’, but you don’t see me screaming at the author! You could have used this time to say something educational like, “Hey – did you know they’re actually pronounced ____ because they’re French?” Instead you went directly to rude and nasty.
thank you for all the help every one has a different recipe. I love making these I see that the recipe has UK measurements which confuses me..
but I can see in the video.. thanks again will try again
whats the books name?
Hi, great post! what’s the name of the cook book?
had the good team spirit and the very strong sense of responsibility, could bear hardships and stand hard work, honestly,
Tried this recipe with 1 teabag of earl grey tea leaves (about 5 g) added to my dry ingredients before folding and they worked out really well. I had tried this recipe before and it came out great except no feet, so after some more research, I aged the whites overnight and let the piped macarons rest for ~20 min in a cool dry place before putting them in the oven. Got nice little feet! This is one of the best recipes for the macaron shells for sure, not too cloyingly sweet, just enough subtle flavour. Thanks Anne~
hi ann, i make a macarons according to your recipe but unfortunately i forgot to put salt and what will happen to my macarons. whats the important of salt in making a macarons ? oh btw my macarons did not appear perfectly.
Ann thank you for the recipe! I followed all steps and it was great- first time ever and such a good result!!!))) my macarons were awesome;)
Oh sorry, one other quick question. How many macaroons does this recipe make?
This looks like a fantastic recipe. Just two quick questions though. How many drops of food colouring do you find are ideal for getting the colour just right? Also, what size nozzle do you use on your piping bag and/or roughly what diameter do you deliver them onto the baking tray?
Thank you in advance :-).
Thank you for posting this recipe and the troubleshooting video! I tried making macarons for the first time last night, using a different recipe, and it was a total flop! Determined to succeed, I found your tips/videos and studied them last night, and took some notes. When the first pan came out of the oven, 3 of them were cracked, so I referred to your troubleshooting page and discovered that it was because I had not rapped the pan hard enough off the counter. Aside from the 3 cracked ones, all 40 were perfect!! THANK YOU!
hi Ann , love your website and this recipe is amazing Ive made it several times! i was wondering how to store the cooked macaroon shells for later use a day or two later. Also i know you like using cadburys chocolate but do you tend to prefer using fake chocolate or tempered chocolate in a recipe where tempering is required
Also hoped that it can open the opportunity and the success gate of for me.
Quick question: are caster sugar and granulated sugar the same?
No caster and granulated are not the same. Caster is finer (but not powdered) granulated sugar. Caster sugar absorbs and dissolves a lot better than granulated. Easy fix though, you can just grind granulated sugar in a coffee grinder to get caster sugar. Just so it’s fluffy enough, about the same consistency as the ground almonds. It’s also better for adding to coffee, so you don’t get that uber-sweet excess, undissolved sugar at the bottom of your mug.
Hi Ann, I love your blog! I just wanted to ask how to make strawberry flavour macarons?
Thanks
I have followed all of your steps into creating these beautiful macaroons however my cookies don’t seem to have feet and they are not smooth like your ones. I have tried making these macaroons multiple times but the outcome is always the same, they are never smooth and have holes in them but i don’t understand why. I’m not sure whether or not I am overmixing or undermixing, can you think of a reason as to why?
and expresses I sincerest wish!
Dear Ann
I really tried hard to make beautiful macarons. I followed your receipt step by step, the egg white was fluffy and I also sieved the almonds and the icing sugar twice. What went wrong with my macarons :-(?
Greetings out of the Swiss winter!
Nicole