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.  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) 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.

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. Hi, can you provide the quantities in grams rather than cups please?

    • done 🙂

  2. Hi Ann,

    I just have a quick question. How much is “2g” of salt? is that milligrams, teaspoon? tablespoon? Or is it really just a pinch of salt?

    Thank you!

    • Hi rebecca, 2g is less than 1/2 a teaspoon, a pinch will be fine.

  3. Ann, thank you for the video and details instructions. I tried to make the macaron twice but twice I failed miserably. The batch was running even I folded only 30 times. I thought it might be the eggs (I used 4 extra large eggs) so I cut back to 3 the second time. The batch still became watery after 30 folds. I don’t know what went wrong. Please help.

  4. Hello!
    I am about to make macaroons for the second time… the first time they didn’t work… 🙁 I am just wondering if it will make a difference if I use a electric hand mixer instead of stand mixer. Thanks!

    • Hi Michelle, I have tried this recipe with both hand mixers and stand mixers, both work fine. If using hand mixer it will not go dry just whisk until stiff and you can turn the bowl upside down without it falling out. The biggest difference is the amount you fold it once you add the almond meal and icing sugar. It should not be runny.

  5. Hi,
    I’ve tried making several batches of these today and they have all stuck to the bottom on the baking paper. I have tried the shelves at different levels and kept them in for over an hour but nothing seems to help. I have a gas oven and was beginning to wonder if this was the problem. Any ideas? Thanks H

  6. Hi
    I’ve tried those today and had several problems:
    The bottoms of the shells did not have feet and burnt black!
    They were very flat and were chewy

    • Hi Zain, no feet usually means over-mixed, very flat also means over-mixed. Black on the base either overcooked, too close to the bottom of the oven, or oven too hot. It can take a few practices to get the idea of how much to fold the mixture so a good way to save on ingredients and speed up the learning process is to make a test batch. Fold the almond icing sugar mix in until just combined – put a few spoons into a ziploc bag cut the corner off and pipe onto a tray. Continue to fold the rest of the mixture for 5 more folds and take a couple of spoons out and pipe… repeat until you are out of mixture. Bang the tray on the bench as normal and bake in the oven near the top for 15 minutes, then move down to a lower shelf for another 5 minutes if needed. Let me know how you go. Also make sure you are folding not stirring. : )

  7. Hi Ann,

    Thanks for this recipe, my macarons turned out great thanks to you! Is it possible to use less sugar in your recipe or substitute it for a more “health-conscious” macaron? Parents love the unique texture of these cookies but are afraid of eating too much sugar. 🙂

    PS. I set my oven to 170 degrees C (the lowest my oven can go), but my macarons took about an hour to fully cook. Am I doing something wrong? Please advise!

    • Are you sure that your oven is measuring centrigrade and not farenheit? I think it is in farenheit because all ovens go lower that that and they would be burnt after an hour at 170 C. 170 degrees f = only 76 degrees C which is why they would have taken an hour. You want it at 150 degrees C = 302 degrees F so try setting it at 300 and see what happens.
      I have never made them with less sugar, others have said it won’t work but I have never tested the theory – give it a go with a quarter of the batch and see what happens.

  8. Hi,
    Today i’m going to give this a try but i don’t want to make so much since i don’t know what they taste like. If i want to make only half do i just split every ingredient amount in half like for example for this recipe it uses 1 cup almond powder so would i just use 1/2 cup of it? Please reply!

    • Yes that is right Karen, just halve every ingredient. Have fun!

  9. AMAZING! My second beauty-ful macaroons.
    Bella! Merci 🙂 What can you do if you notice you have overmixed?
    Merci tranks 🙂

    • Hi Isabella, There is not much you can do if you have over-mixed – pipe them out anyway. Next time fold abit more slowly so that you give yourself time to see how it is falling in the bowl. I am glad that you have made two lovely batches.

  10. Hi Cathy the most likely reason is a tiny bit of egg yolk in with your whites. Egg yolk is an emulsifier and stops them whipping.

  11. Hi! Can I use wheat flour?

    • Hi inna, no sorry you can’t use wheat flour, but I have just this week developed a nut free macaron recipe that i plan to post in the next couple of weeks.

  12. I want to make 2 colors in the same batch. Your recipe explains that you need to add color before adding the almond flour mixture. Can I just separate the mixture after adding in all the ingredients and then add food coloring?

    • Hi Risa, Yes I do this often, fold in your egg whites until just combined and very lumpy, then split into two bowls and colour. Continue to fold until your mixture is the right consistency – it takes a little bit of skill to make sure your colour is getting mixed as you go so you don’t have streaks.

  13. Hi Ann,
    I love your recipe and video! I used them today and my macarons were
    much more successful than with earlier recipes. Thank you!

    • thanks for taking the time to leave a comment carol i am glad they worked out for you.

  14. I have a problem,my base always stick on the paper but I baked it with 150 degrees C for 20 minutes though 🙁
    So what to do?I need you help!

    • Hi Michelle, try moving them down to the bottom shelf after 10 minutes and placing another tray on the top shelf – to shield them from heat at the top. Leave them in for a few minutes longer and then leave to cool before peeling off the paper. I use non-stick baking paper.

  15. Hi! 11/2 cups of sugar is that right?

    • Hi Sarina, yes that is right 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar (230g) – not normal sugar needs to be icing sugar.

  16. Oh I will try but I’m not good as the machine any way I shall use machine is better thanks for your recipe and sharing!

  17. Hello Ann ! I really loved your cooking video but there’s one question I want o ask about the macaron can I whisk the egg white with a regular whisk I new it sound crazy but maybe it required a hand mixer or a stand mixer I want to make it so much and by the way I want to learn how to make the chocolate macaron too 🙂

    • Hi Moul SopheaVattey, I have never tried it but if you are strong enough with enough endurance to hand whip egg whites until they are stiff then go for it. You are unlikely to make them as stiff as with electric mixers so you may not need to do 50 folds to mix in the almond meal. : )

  18. Here is mine, thanks for the recipe. My friends went gaga about it.

    • Wow Dyez they look great – awesome presentation too. I am not surprised that your friends loved them. Thanks for posting a picture.

  19. Hi Ana,

    I wanted to know if it was possible to use the egg whites that come in a carton?

    Thanks.
    Charlene

    • Hi Charlene, Yes they should be fine to use.

      • Hi Charlene – do they have any other ingredients or just egg white? Usually flat and footless is over-mixed but if they were not over-mixed then try fresh and see how you go.

  20. i made this recipe and it turns out perfect, only the macaroons are way too sweet, is there a way i can reduce the sugar content and still makes it as nice?

    thank you.

    • Hi Dyez, You could try using a less sweet filling or add more salt to the shells but you can’t decrease the sugar in the shells.

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