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:

easy macaron recipe reardon

macaron recipe easy

Macaron trouble-shooting & FAQ

nut free macaron recipe

nut free macarons

almond flour chocolate macarons

orange choc macarons

macaron howtocookthat ann reardonmacaron ice cream sandwich

SEE ALL RECIPES

chocolate macarons

chocolate macarons

macaron recipe reardon

fun with macarons

salted caramel macaron recipe

Salted Caramel Macarons

Copyright © 2017 Reardon Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. How To Cook That

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.

334 Comments View Comments

  1. I just made a batch of macarons that turned out well..the only problem is the color is weird…I used purple gel and they turned out almost a skin color on the outside…but purple on the inside…what am I doing wrong?

    • You probably didn’t use enough of the gel. In the macaron tutorial, she said that you should use more than enough because the colour fades while you’re baking.

  2. Hello 🙂
    I’ve just made two batches, the first I undermixed but this second
    Batch had no feet but a good shape, and smooth, any ideas why??
    Thanks
    Riley

  3. Hey ann i made some macarons just a couple minute ago, but when i bake those macarons it has feet but then the top crack and the feet gone, why’s that happen?

  4. Hi, thanks so much for this post – its brilliant. I live in France (Aussie) and have fumbled with a few recipes this week to no avail. I am going to try again tomorrow with all your tips. I think I over mixed and also my quantities won’t have been accurate as my recipes didn’t have the egg whites in grams.

    I wanted to ask about the egg whites. I’ve seen a few (quite famous) pastry chefs on TV here in France saying the key to a perfect macaron is to leave the egg whites at room temp for 24hours. Have you heard of this before? Do you think it makes a difference if the eggs are straight from the fridge or not?

    Can’t wait to get started on these. None of my French friends think an Aussie girl can make these gems as good as the French. 😉

    Cheers

  5. Can I use wax paper instead of parchment paper?

    • Hi Elsa I use non-stick baking paper Wax paper is not heat resistant so should not be used for baking

  6. great recipe Anne, Thanks. However, I have just made a batch which turned out pretty reasonable except for a fair bit of discolouration (that looks like from over temp). I have a fan forced oven and was baking one tray at a time on the middle shelf. I had the oven temp at 140deg C and the browning seemed to start at around the 8 minute mark. The macarons weren’t cooked at this point so I left them in for a total of 15 mins. After taking them out they did seem cooked and had reasonable feet (not perfect, a little small) but we’re quite brownish. I had coloured these shells yellow and the discolouration shows out quite a bit. Any hints on what I might be doing wrong here….

  7. hello! ive followed you’re steps and it was a success! the first tray came out perfect! the second and third tray (same batch) came out cracked, mishaped, discoloration and with ugly feet. why is that? I didnt change the temp or anything. First tray out, second tray went in and do fourth. what am I doing wrong with the last 2 tray? any pointers will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!

    • Hi Malay, Make sure you pipe them all at once and wrap them on the bench as soon as they are piped. Then you can leave the baking sheets sitting on the bench while the others cook. Be careful when sliding it onto the trays not to bump them out of shape. I killed a row of macarons today doing that.

  8. Help what happened to my macarons?

    • hi Lidia thanks for the picture I have never seen macarons like that before, a slight ‘skirt’ instead of a foot usually mean the oven temp is too low, but this is a crazy skirt. I’d try a quarter batch without any colour and double check the oven temp

  9. Here’s the picture of the successful macarons I baked last week.

    • Yummm, they look perfect well done

  10. Hi Ann
    I’ve been using your recipe and following your video to make many successful rounds of macarons over the last one year. THANK YOU!. I’ve used a convention oven, baked one tray at a time at bottom, preheat with 180C and turned down to 160C and baked for 12-15mins. See picture for the pretty macarons.

    However, I’m not sure why the macarons I tried to make over the last two days (three bakes) turned out quite a mess. At first, i thought the eggs were too big, so I adjusted recipe according to size of eggs. But that didn’t worked too. I also tried preheating the oven to 190C instead, also turned out bad. This last batch (see picture), I switched back to preheat 180C and then 160C and checked my oven tempreture with a thermometer to be sure. Still the same result. (See picture – cracked surface, hollow inside, some of the surface look wrinkly, color is a bit off). Taste wise, they were crispy when first out of oven, but became chewy after 1-2 hour.

    I am quite sure I didn’t under or over mix my (or maybe I did?). I’ve rapped my trays many times. I’m starting to suspect it’s the ingredients. I’ve used regular eggs instead of organic eggs used previously, used a new premium icing sugar that’s meant for macarons (previously, I’ve used generic icing sugar).

    I’m at a loss what else I could change and getting very disappointed. Please advise. Thank you!

  11. Hi Ann

    I haven’t got a rubber spatula, what else can I use to fold the mixture together? Please let me know as soon as you can 🙂

    Simran

  12. Hi there

    How many macaron’s does your recipe make? Also when piping them out what is the correct size (wet mixture) please?

    Sue

  13. Hi ann, I have tried making macarons twice and failed both times. i have tapped the macarons on the bench a lot of times but still get cracks. Also i leave them out to dry for about an hour and some still sticks to my hand. Any possible ways to help me fix these issues?

  14. Hi Ann, this recipe is fantastic! It worked perfectly. This was my first time making macaroons and they came out just how I’ve had them in France. I am very proud of them, probably because I am only thirteen and I see them as a very adult thing to make. I hope you reply as I love your blog and Youtube channel. I shall attach a picture as well.

    • Wow Beth, you are going to get a lot of jealous people looking at that photo you have done an amazing job. Perfect macarons.

    • They look fantastic! I’m also 13 and love baking, I’m really good at it, always trying new things for my family! Just wondering what filling did you use on yours? It looks so good! I’m going to be making blue ones with chocolate ganache, but yours look so yum!

  15. Help! my macarons turned out flat with no feet and it turned brown while baking! What’s gone wrong?

  16. hi!Thanks for the great recipe for starts!!!I’ve tried your recipe last night and i’ve came out with two different results! From the same batch i’ve piped out the cookies in two trays and tapped them ! I baked the first right away without resting them at all,they all cracked but they did have something like feet!
    the second batch i baked it after resting them for 25minutes, they came out perfect with ‘small’ feet though! how can i get my macaroons to have those TALL feet that yours have?(I’ve tried so many different recipes and i end up with the same small feet!)thanks !!

  17. Hi Ann:)
    I tried the recipe and and everything was perfection the first time I made it 😀
    Unfortunately the second time it looked and tasted like meringue it also had a hollow bottom and had no feet
    Could you please help me
    Ps I was using the measurements in grams

  18. What is icing mixture and where can I get it

    • Hi Elmear it is pure icing sugar (sugar ground to a fine powdery consistency) with a little bit of cornstarch to stop it clumping together.

  19. Hi Ann,
    I tried recipe . But my macarons turned out like cookies. They have no foot at all. Where did ı make wrong ?
    Thanks a lot
    Love from istanbul. Turkiye 🙂

  20. Hello some of my macarons shells are hollow insade, but others do have a one big hole on under them.
    can you help my ? please reply.

    • Hi Mani, yes hollow macarons can be for a number of reasons, 1. taking out of the oven too soon so the inside is not yet cooked and drops to the bottom, 2. the oven temp drops causing the same as number 1, often due to opening the oven lots to check on them, 3. over-mixing the egg whites and sugar, mix until just firm enough to tip it upside down and then 2 minutes more only.

Leave a Reply to Ann Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*

ADD JPEG TO YOUR COMMENT