Macaron Recipe

This French Macaron Recipe makes beautiful little cookies that have a crispy exterior, a chewy interior, and a delicious filling. They come in a rainbow of colors, flavors, and fillings so they can appeal to anyone! In this post, I'll be going over the process I use, step-by-step, as well as my favorite tools and all my best troubleshooting tips about how to make macarons.

I think that people assume French Macarons are hard to make. I wouldn't say that they are hard so much as tricky. Macarons are tricky because the weather can have a big effect on them and every little thing you do has to be done in a very specific way.

We're going to work through all of my favorite tips and tricks to baking this beautiful dessert. So you can say goodbye to the macarons at Trader Joes and Costco! My pink Strawberry Macarons are one of the most popular recipes on my blog and a great one to try once you've mastered the basics.

If you love this macarons recipe be sure to check out some of my other favorite recipes like Earl Grey Macarons, S'more Macarons, or Lemon Poppy Seed Macarons.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients
• Substitutions and Variations
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Expert Baking Tips
• Recipe FAQs and Troubleshooting
• Equipment
• More Recipes You'll Love
• Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• A macaron is so beautiful! They are aesthetic and decorate themselves. Or you can add a bit of extra decor like with my Crème Brûlée Macarons.
• They are versatile. They are a blank canvas so you can easily add different colors, flavors, and fillings. It's fun to stray from the normal chocolate, vanilla bean, and raspberry! But you should definitely still try my Chocolate Ganache Macarons!
• The textural difference between the crunchy exterior and the soft, chewy interior makes for a perfect bite.
• This Macaron Recipe provides a baking challenge. They require more work than your normal cookie, so they will test your baking skills.
• Macarons will impress anyone! They are my favorite dessert to break out when I want to impress a crowd. Especially these Birthday Cake Macarons!

Ingredients

• Powdered sugar will aid in the flavor and structure of the finished french macarons. It also works great for glazes, like the strawberry glaze on top of these Strawberry Pop-Tarts!
• Be sure that you are using almond flour and not almond meal. It also works great in these Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies.
• Having your egg whites at room temperature will make it easier to whip them.

See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Substitutions and Variations

• The egg white can be replaced with aquafaba to make these macarons vegan. The proportions will not be the same.
• There are endless variations for macarons and you can find a lot of them in my macaron recipes!
• You can add different colors of food dye to change the color of french macaron shells or the filling. I use red in my Red Velvet Macarons.
• Different flavors can be added to the shells. Like the coffee shells in my Coffee Nutella Macarons.
• Toppings can be added to the top of the macaron shells before baking. I sprinkle to the top of these Champagne Macarons with sanding sugar.

This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!

Step-By-Step Instructions

STEP 1: Combine the powdered sugar and almond flour in the bowl of a food processor. (Photo 1)

STEP 2: Pulse the powdered sugar and almond flour until fully combined and rid of lumps. Don't do this for too long or you will make almond butter. (Photo 2)

STEP 3: Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. If you don't have a food processor you can just sift the ingredients together. (Photo 3 & 4)

STEP 4: In a medium bowl, prepare the french meringue. You can use a stand mixer for this, but I prefer a hand mixer for a batch this small. (Photo 5)

STEP 5: Beat the egg whites on low speed until they get frothy. Increase the speed and slowly add the sugar. If you add the sugar too fast you will deflate the meringue. (Photo 6)

STEP 6: Beat until stiff peaks form. This is when you pull the beater out and the meringue stands up with a slight curve. It should not fall or jiggle too much if you move the beater. If you want to add food coloring, do it now, but add it sparingly or you will make the meringue too liquidy. (Photo 7 & 8)

STEP 7: Add the french meringue to the dry ingredients and begin to gently fold with a silicone spatula. This process is called macaronage. You will know the batter is ready when the ingredients are fully combined and not streaky. (Photo 9, 10, 11, & 12)

• You should be able to hold the spatula above the bowl and draw a figure 8 smoothly without the batter breaking off.
• A good way to test if the batter is ready is to place a very small amount in your piping bag and pipe it onto your mat. If the batter is stiff and does not spread at all, then it is not ready.
• If the batter immediately runs out, then you have over folded. The batter should spread slightly and the tops should even out (there shouldn't be any little tips sticking out), but it should not be runny.

STEP 8: Line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat. I highly recommend a silicone mat of some kind, but if you don't have one then you can also use parchment paper. (Photo 13)

STEP 9: Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Pipe 1-inch disks onto the prepared cookie sheet. (Photo 14)

STEP 10: Firmly tap the cookie sheet onto the counter 3 or 4 times to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Use a toothpick to pop any remaining air bubbles. Let the macarons rest for an hour. There needs to be a dry layer on the top. You should be able to run your finger over the top without any transferring to your finger. If it is really humid outside this process will likely take longer. (Photo 15)

STEP 11: Preheat the oven to 280 degrees (F). This is the temperature that I have found works well for my oven, but you may need to play around with the temperature to find what works best for your oven. (Photo 16)

STEP 12: Place the macarons on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 5 minutes, rotate the cookie sheet, bake for another 5 minutes, and rotate the cookie sheet again, baking for 5 minutes. 15 minutes in total. The macarons should not have any color to them, and they should peel off of the mat easily.

STEP 13: Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

STEP 14: Peel off of the mat and fill with your desired filling.

Expert Baking Tips

• Use an oven thermometer. Most ovens run either hot or cold. Using an oven thermometer ensures that you are baking your macarons at the perfect temperature.
• Weigh your ingredients. One of the most common baking mistakes that I see is measuring incorrectly. The best way to get accurate measurements every time is to weigh them with a kitchen scale.
• Bake on a day that isn't humid. Humidity can really affect a macaron recipe, so baking on a day that isn't humid will give you the best chance at your end product coming our perfectly.

Recipe FAQs and Troubleshooting

Equipment

The tools you use are such an important part of french macaron success. These are my tried and true products for making macarons.

1. Kitchenaid Stand Mixer or Kitchenaid Hand Mixer. A mixer is an absolute must for making macarons. You have to make a meringue and a mixer is the best way. Which mixer I use depends on the size of the recipe. If I am making the recipe above, I use a hand mixer. If I am doubling or tripling this recipe, I use a stand mixer.
2. Oven Thermometer. Oven temperatures are usually off and having the correct temperature is crucial for macarons. I use this oven thermometer all the time and it has helped my macaron baking a ton!
3. Food Scale. I use a food scale every time I bake, but I think it's even more important to use with macarons. With how finicky they can be it is so important to get the ingredient amounts exactly right each time.
4. Food Processor. A food processor isn't an absolute need for macarons, you can just sift the dry ingredients together, but I like to make sure dry ingredients are as combined and smooth as possible. Processing and then sifting ensure I won't have any problems with unwanted lumps.
5. Silicone Spatula. Folding is the most important part of macarons. It can make or break your final product. I use a silicone spatula that is curved, to get every little bit in the bowl, and stiff, so I can apply the exact amount of pressure I want.
6. Piping Bag. You can definitely use a plastic bag if you don't have a piping bag, but I highly recommend using one. I prefer a reusable piping bag like the one linked, but Wilton also makes disposable bags.
7. Piping Tip. I use a piping tip every time I pipe macarons. It makes the final product much more consistent than just cutting the end off of the bag. This tip is the perfect size for macarons and is always my go-to.
8. Macaron Silicone Baking Mat. I have talked about silicone baking mats before, but I cannot recommend them enough for making macarons. If you're serious about making great macarons you need these stenciled mats. For the life of me, I cannot pipe even macarons (I got called out by my head chef in pastry school for this). Before I had these stenciled mats I would have macarons of all different sizes. This would drive me nuts and was totally unacceptable for the french macarons that I was selling. These mats changed the game. They have stencils of different sizes, so you can pipe different sizes as needed.
9. Cookie Sheet. For a while, all of my macarons came out lopsided. It took me forever to realize that it was because of the cookie sheets I was using. They were thin and didn't circulate the heat evenly. Cookie sheets like this work fine for other things, but they are detrimental to great macarons! I bought the ones linked above and haven't had that problem since!

More Recipes You'll Love

If you tried this Macaron Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the  comments below. I so appreciate hearing from you!

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