How To Make Macarons
Foolproof Recipe for Beginners
Here’s a pastry chef secret about French macrons. They’re actually easy and quick to make when you know how. So, despite the fact that they’re expensive to buy in bakeries, they’re one of the easier menu items to make.
They do take a little practice though. So don’t be discouraged if they don’t look perfect the first time you make them. Keep trying, and before long you’ll be making perfect macarons to impress your family and friends.
If there’s one tip I can give you for success, it’s to weigh your ingredients for this recipe using grams. Using precise measurements really helps in achieving beautiful looking macarons every time you make them.
Ingredients
For the cookies
1 cup (4oz / 110g) almond flour (it’s best to weigh this if possible)
1⅔ cups (200g) powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large egg whites (90g) egg whites, room temperature
4 tbsp (50g) granulated white sugar
A pinch of cream of tartar (optional)
Gel-based food colouring (optional)
Flling
½ cup (100g) filling of your choice. For example: chocolate ganache, cream cheese frosting, jams, curds, buttercreams
Method
Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar and set aside.
In a large, clean glass bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar.
Continue to whip the egg whites until glossy stiff peaks form (see the video for the precise consistency and more tips).
Add the food coloring (optional), and mix just until combined.
Fold in the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour and a pinch of salt.
Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round tip and pipe the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Allow the cookies to dry out at room temperature for 30 - 45 minutes.
Bake macarons one sheet at a time in a preheated oven at 140 °C (280-300 °F) for 10 - 15 minutes (turn the fan setting off).
Allow to cool completely and then assemble with the filling of your choice.
Tips
For best results use a scale to weigh out all the ingredients (including the egg whites).
For best results, I recommend buying almond flour instead of almonds. It’s a bit more expensive (around $10 for a 16 oz bag) but you’ll only need 4 ounces for this recipe!
That’s only $2.50 of almond flour for 50 - 100 macarons depending on how big you make them (I made mini macarons.)
Making macarons successfully is all about the folding technique. Please see the video for tips/advice on getting great results.
Use a clean glass or metal bowl and room temperature eggs.
Store the macarons in an air-tight container. If using a delicate filling such as jams/curds/cream cheese, store in the fridge.
In the video I made a conversion mistake when mentioning the oven temperature. The correct temperature is 140C or 280F.
