Ann Reardon

Macaron Recipe Troubleshooting FAQ Cracked, Flat, Lumpy,

 

1. Macaron Cracked

fix macaron cracked

Try rapping the trays on the bench harder or more times before cooking.
 

2. Macarons Flat or Lumpy

See the pictures below which show the results of under-mixed and over-mixed macaroon mixture.

undermixed good overmixed
fix macaron problems undermixed french macaron smooth macaron
overmixed french macaron

2. Hollow macarons

Macarons should not be hollow. This is most often caused by the oven being opened before they are cooked through or the macarons being taken out of the oven too early. The under-cooked middle drops to the base.

 

More questions see the video below:

The video answers the following frequently asked questions:
0:15 Can I have the recipe? …yes… macaron recipe
0:31 Do macarons taste better if you fill them and leave them overnight?
0:58 Do you have a nut free recipe? … yes… nut free macarons
1:38 Can I have the chocolate ganache recipe? …yes… plain ganache, ginger ganache, orange ganache
1:59 Is greaseproof paper the same as non-stick baking paper?
2:18 Do you have a chocolate macaron recipe? …yes… chocolate macaron recipe
2:26 My macarons have a skirt rather than a foot, why?
2:45 What does rapped on the bench mean?
2:54 Can I use liquid colour for macaroons?
3:13 My macarons turned out lumpy, why?
3:50 I can’t get caster sugar can I use powdered sugar for the whole recipe?
4:12 Can I use icing mixture or does it have to be pure icing sugar?
4:18 How do I flavour the macaron recipe?
4:36 Do I have to leave them on the bench before I bake them?
4:56 What is almond meal?
5:04 I don’t have a piping bag 🙁 what can I use?
5:21 I need to make 100 of these perfectly HELP! (how to tell if you have folded enough times)
5:52 Can I put two trays in the oven at once?
6:14 Does your recipe use customary or imperial units?
6:29 Can I use less sugar?
6:36 My egg whites won’t whip, why?
7:00 Can I use wheat flour?
7:03 Do I have to use a stand mixer?
7:10 Can you replace the egg whites with something else?

 

More macaron recipes for you:

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334 Comments View Comments

  1. Hi Ann,

    I’m on my 4th batch of macaroons, they come out looking like cookies! I watched your video, read instructions, and watched your troubleshooting video as well. I have no idea what i’m doing wrong. The meringue I’ve seem to have it down, that was not the hard part. My first 2 attempts I know I got lazy and didn’t sift the almond meal twice so it might’ve weighed down the meringue, but for this last batch I even purchased a food processor to help with the lumps and well they still came out bubbly, I must admit as I was sifting the dry ingredients might have been reduced, could that be my problem?
    Also for food coloring I use gel food coloring and only 1/8 tsp!

    Thank you!

    • Hi Diana, definitely something wrong there, try a 1/4 of the recipe to make a test batch. Use no coloring (so that rules the colour out of the possible causes) and make sure you sift your almond meal and icing sugar together before you whip your meringue – you need to fold it in straight away don’t let the meringue sit there.

  2. Hi Ann, which oven setting do you use for your macaroons? The one with top heat only, bottom heat only, or both? And which rack would be best? The middle one or the ones closer to either top or bottom?

    • Hi Lily I bake one tray at a time in the middle of the oven, my heat comes from the top and the bottom and is fan forced.

  3. Hi, i want to ask some questions:
    1.does macaroon always have “feet”?
    2.how did you know if its undermixed or overmixed?
    3.do the eggs white have to be cold?
    Thanks 🙂

    • Hi Christina, the egg whites and be at room temp or cold, i have tried both and both were fine. They should have feet. The best way to tell if it is under or over-mixed is the follow the instructions in the video for making a test batch so you have a really good feel for what it should be like.

  4. Hi,
    Just wondering what the flavour is of your blue macaroons in the photo, or is it just macaroon basic receipe coloured blue, with chocolate ganache ?
    Thanks
    Jennie

    • that is right Jennie, i leave the shells plain and flavour the ganache

  5. Hi Ann,

    I believe I followed your instructions thoroughly, but as soon as I started mixing the almonds and icing sugar to the eggs, the mixture went runny.

    The eggs and sugar were, I believe, correct: I held it over my head and it wouldn’t move.

    It was around the 10th fold or something like that when I noticed something was wrong (and the recipe says 50 folds, so…). It just wouldn’t get gooey like the pics, it just dripped from the piping bag. A complete mess.

    Any ideas where it might have gone wrong?

    • Hi Bernardo, to be runny after only 10 folds is really strange, I assumes that you were folding and not mixing. Have never come across this before sorry.

  6. Hi Ann,
    I really love all your recipes 🙂 always thanks

    I baked macaroon at 150’c
    when it cool down, it comes like too crispy and not soft inside at all
    also, I didnt put any color in, but color was like light brown

    I always touch the macaron to check fully baked, touching it.
    If it’s not moved, I feeling that it’s baked

    Did I bake it too long?
    How do I know that it’s baked or not?

  7. Hi Ann,
    I’m a little paranoid with what speed to use on my hand mixer, if I’m to beat the egg whites for ten minutes and avoid a hollow centre in the meringues. My mixer is 5 speed and runs at 320w, with 5 being the fastest as well as the recommended speed to use for making meringues. I understsnd that the peaks have to be dry and not glossy so I’m hoping that this speed will not overmix the egg whites after 10 mins. What are your thoughts on this based on the speed of your mixer? Thanks so much.

  8. Hi Ann what do I do if I don’t have almond powder or raw almonds plz answer me I wanna try them out tomorrow

    • Hi Lucy, macarons need ground almonds or ground nuts or seeds of some sort in them. Can you get any other nuts there?

  9. Tonight is my second time cooking this recipe. I find they mostly come out fine.
    I was just curious how many halves you should get out of a batch and what diameter are the macarons when you pipe them onto the tray to when they are cooked? I think mine spread a bit too big. So they take a little bit longer to cook.
    At the time of piping I think that I have made them too small and then they end up looking too big once they are cooked.

  10. Hi Ann,
    I have been trying very hard to get the mixture right. I followed very closely to your recipe but still couldn’t get it right. Tried few times.
    Issues I encountered are:
    1. Flat
    2. Hollow in the middle
    3. Cracks on top

    I have read thru all the queries made from others but still cant get it right.

    Please assist as much you can. Thank you. God bless you.

  11. I tried your recipe for the chocolate macarons and they came out lumpy on top but had no feet 🙁 Can this be due to the over-whipping the whites and sugar? or over-whipping the batter? OR BOTH?

  12. Hi! Thanks for the recipe!
    I want to know if I can keep the macaron batter in the piping bag for about an hour before piping. I don’t have enough baking trays >..< Would keeping it in the piping bag for awhile cause the batter to deflate and ruin the cookies?

    • Hi YXE, I pipe it all onto baking paper sheets, slide onto a baking tray and bang straight away, then slide back onto the bench and do the next one, once all done you can put them in the oven one at a time.

  13. Hi Anne – just wondering if the oven temperature given is for fan-forced or conventional oven

    • yes

  14. My macaron has no shape.. I think I over mixed it.. Is there anything i could do to save it?

    • Hi sana, once you’ve over-mixed your batter you are a bit stuck you can put it in a brownie tin bake it then crumble it up and bake it again until you get dry crumbs, these taste nice as the crumbs under ice cream on a dessert or if you have big chunks you can bake them into chocolate brownies etc

  15. Hi Ann, great website and recipe instructions! I was just wondering, do you have to leave the batter to set on the baking tray for 20-30min before putting it into the oven? Because many other recipes I’ve read all require you to do that.

    • not with this recipe

  16. Hi,
    When I first came across your recipe, I instantly wanted to try it out! So i did.. and here are my results. (Not anywhere near yours)
    – They are HARD and not chewy
    – Bubbly ontop
    – Flat
    – Verrrrry sweet. (I used pure icing sugar)

    I have read through all your comments and understand that I may have over mixed them and over cooked them.

    I counted 50 folds.
    I cooked them until they peeled off the paper nicely and this was the result. At the 20min cooking mark, they were still sticking to the paper so i continued for a further 10mins.

    I also added liquid food colouring and felt that I may have added too much as the mixture became very runny after this.

    Do you have any further suggetions? I really want to get them perfect like yours!!!
    Here is a photo to show you what I mean!

    • hi josephine yes too much liquid colour will kill them, try without the colour

  17. For the person asking about flavoring the shells, I have tried using jello mix powder to color and flavor my macaron shells because I could not get my hands on powdered food coloring. It worked out well but I suggest using a less sweet filling because this also sweetens the shells and it can be overpowering if the filling is too sweet as well.

  18. Hi Ann,
    Can i use a microwave oven instead?

    • no sorry joanne

  19. Hi Ann 🙂 I’ve tried your recipe 3 times now and although the last time I made them they had smooth tops and mostly didn’t crack, they’re still not really getting feet. There’s a continous crack where the feet should be. What am I possibly doing wrong? Is my mixture possibly slightly under beaten?

  20. In the process of folding my first batch and it seems very thick. Could I have messed something up by using granulated sugar as opposed to caster sugar?

    • hi alexis, when i experimented with granulated sugar i had mixed results how did you go?

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