How to make foolproof French Macarons

Gorgeous, naturally gluten-free, and exquisitely tender, these homemade, foolproof French Macarons are an excellent way to show off your baking skills. Melt-in-your-mouth almond meringues are filled with the ingredients of your preference!

Jump to:

• ❓ What makes these French macarons foolproof?
• 📏 A quick note about accurate measuring
• ❓ French Macarons vs. Coconut Macaroons
• 🍴Ingredients 
• ❓ How to make macarons without almond flour
• ⚒️ Equipment needed for making Macarons
• 📖 Step-by-Step Instructions
• 🌈 Best food coloring for making macarons 
• 🎨 Adding paint to macaron shells
• ❓ How to fill macaron shells
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips
• Macaron Troubleshooting
• ❄️ How to Store Macarons
• 💭 Recipe FAQs
• Here are some other macaron recipes to try!
• Homemade, Foolproof French Macarons
• 💬 Comments

❓ What makes these French macarons foolproof?

I remember practicing macarons at home for the first time while I lived in Seattle. It took some time to really understand why my first few batches weren't turning out the way I expected. I would look online for tips, watch step-by-step tutorial videos - anything I could get my hands on to help me develop a process that would work in my kitchen. Finally, I developed this tried and true recipe that I absolutely adore. All that being said - don't give up and have patience with yourself! Making macarons is a technique that takes a few tries to master depending on your experience! You got this. 

📏 A quick note about accurate measuring

When it comes to the science of baking macarons, it is imperative that you’re measuring your ingredients as precisely and accurately as possible. This is why I highly recommend that you invest in a kitchen scale! Dry ingredients in particular can vary widely in terms of weight vs. volume depending on how you measure them. Using a scale will also save you time; cut back on cleanup; and will allow for more consistent baking success - a total win!

❓ French Macarons vs. Coconut Macaroons

Before we get started, I want to address a popular question: what is the difference between French Macarons and Coconut Macaroons? Aside from being spelled nearly identically and having short ingredient lists, the two are actually radically different.

Macarons (pronounced mah-ka-ROHNs) are made from two smooth meringue-based shells that are joined together with some kind of ethereal mixture like chocolatey ganache, bright jam, or luscious buttercream. 

Traditionally speaking, classic smooth macaron shells are made with almond flour, egg whites, sugar, and little else; they’re somehow crisp, chewy and light all at the same time.

While macarons follow a strict template - usually two nut-based meringues stuffed with something tasty - the flavor options are nearly endless! While I have a tendency to lean towards dessert flavors like fruit, chocolate, coffee, or caramel, flavors like foie gras or ketchup with pickle are among the more savory interpretations I’ve seen.

Macaroons, on the other hand, are a chewy, heavily textured cookie that is made using shredded sweetened coconut usually held together with an egg white meringue or sweetened condensed milk. The flavor is always predominantly coconutty, though they may be dipped in chocolate for an added bit of flair.

🍴Ingredients 

Making homemade macarons takes fewer ingredients than you might think. Here’s everything you’ll need to make the macaron shells:

• Granulated Sugar - Regular or superfine sugar will do perfectly here. Please note that brown sugar has too much water content because of the additional molasses, so do not make the substitution. 
• Egg Whites - Separating eggs is easier when they are still cold from the fridge, but they should be room temperature for making your macaron shells. 
• Almond Flour - It might sound fussy, but opt for almond flour that has been blanched. This means the dark skins have been removed, which results in a smoother and prettier macaron shell.
• Confection’s Sugar - Also known as Powdered Sugar, this is an essential ingredient for getting the proper consistency in your macarons.
• Gel Food Coloring - While this is optional, I love coloring the macaron shells to match their fillings. Gel food coloring offers more pigment without adding too much moisture, which can happen with liquid food coloring.

❓ How to make macarons without almond flour

If you have unfortunately had to avoid macarons due to a nut allergy, not to worry! There are a number of different ways to make a foolproof french macaron that don't require you to use almonds. Of course, French macarons are made with almonds, but you can use other ingredients such as pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds or even ground tiger nuts!

⚒️ Equipment needed for making Macarons

• Electric mixer with whisk attachment - If you have one, I highly recommend going the stand mixer route here; getting those elusive stiff peaks takes some time. In a pinch, a hand mixer will work, but you won’t be able to multitask as efficiently. 
• Food processor - Ensuring that your ingredients are finely processed means you have a much better chance of having perfectly smooth, perfect macarons.
• Mesh strainer - Sifting is another step you don’t want to miss when you’re making these macarons; any large chunks that were missed in the food processor will not make it through the strainer, meaning you don’t have to worry about any unsightly bumps.
• Sheet pans - If you haven’t yet, I recommend investing in some good (read: unwarped) cookie trays. 
• Piping bags and tips - Part of the allure of French macarons is their appearance, and a pastry bag with a round tip ensure that they are flawless. In a pinch, use a zip top plastic bag with the corner cut off! 
• Immersion blender - Getting the softest, silkiest ganache around is much easier with the help of a stick blender. They’re also great for puréeing soups!
• Parchment or Silpat - I personally like to make myself a little template when I’m making macarons to ensure that they end up round and of the same size. I draw on a piece of parchment paper using a small 1” lid or biscuit cutter as my guide. If you prefer to have something ready to go, Silpat makes a macaron mat that has handy guides printed right on it.
• Use a scale! The French baking tradition is an exacting art; proper tools will ensure perfect results every time.

📖 Step-by-Step Instructions

These deeply luscious macarons can be a little tricky to make for the first time, but these detailed steps for the french method will easily guide you to macaron success:

Step 1: Make the meringue & sift dry ingredients. Whisk the egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer at medium speed in a large bowl. Slowly add the white sugar when it starts to foam. Keep whisking until stiff peaks form and mix in your desired food coloring. Meanwhile, pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor and sift into a medium bowl.

Step 2: Macaraonage! Pour your sifted dry ingredient mixture into the bowl with the meringue and slowly fold the two together. The batter should be thin, drippy, and slide easily off of the rubber spatula. Overmixed macaron batter is impossible to salvage, so don’t fuss with it too much.

Step 3: Pipe the batter & rest. Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe it into circle shapes on the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving space in between each. Tap the baking sheet a few times to pop any air bubbles or use a toothpick. Allow the shells to set for about 30 minutes or until they feel dry to the touch.

Step 4: Bake and cool. Bake the meringues in a 310ºF oven for 9 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for 2 minutes more. Your shells are done when they’re dried out and firm. Let the shells cool completely before removing them from the parchment paper, and finding each matching half.

Step 6: Assemble, chill, and enjoy! Pipe a nickel size amount of filling onto each of the bottom macaron shells. Top each one with a top shell and place the assembled macarons in the fridge overnight. Then, enjoy the next day!

🌈 Best food coloring for making macarons 

I recommend using gel food coloring for best results rather than regular food coloring for macarons; the pigment is richer and the liquid content is lower, so you can get more vibrant colors without disturbing the meringue.

How to color macarons

Add a few drops of your preferred gel food coloring to your French meringue once you've reached stiff peaks. Then, whisk it into the meringue with the whisk attachment to fully combine before moving on to the macaronage!

🎨 Adding paint to macaron shells

Adding a swipe of color to the tops of your macaron shells is a fun and simple way to decorate these little French cookies. To do this, you only need a few tools and ingredients…

Ingredients and tools you need to paint macarons

• French Macaron Shells
• Gel food coloring
• Vodka or Vanilla Extract
• Fine tip paint brushes (reserved for decorating food!)

How to paint French macarons

1. First off, you'll want to create the color you'd like to use for painting! Mix together your gel food coloring until you have the color of your choice.
2. Then, in a small cup or container, add a drop or two of vodka along with your desired paint color. You'll want to use alcohol because it evaporates really fast, whereas water or another lquid can make the shells soggy.
3. Add the paint to your cooled macaron shells then allow them to dry for the next ten minutes or so before filling the macarons!

❓ How to fill macaron shells

Filling Macarons with buttercream

The world of buttercream is an absolutely beautiful place! The texture and flavor options are endless - whether you choose to use a rich american buttercream, velvety swiss meringue or luxurious french buttercream we've only just begun. You can then pipe the buttercream through various types of piping tips to help achieve the design and aesthetic you're looking for! For example, I love using a french star tip to create the ridged design on these butterscotch toffee macarons.

Filling Macarons with Ganache 

Essentially, ganache is defined as an emulsion of equal parts of chocolate and heavy cream! Let's break down a few tips to keep in mind in order to make a successful ganache.

• Chop that Chocolate- taking a few moments to roughly chop your chocolate into small pieces will allow for the hot cream to easily melt your chocolate leading to a lovely ganache texture and mouthfeel.
• Quality is Key - Since there are so few ingredients in ganache, I'd highly recommend using quality chocolate as the flavors and textures will shine through!
• Heat the Cream Thoroughly - The cream's temperature needs to be hot enough to gently melt our chocolate. Your cream is ready to pour over chocolate when it comes to a slight boil!
• Softened Butter - Ensuring that the butter is at room temperature will help during the immersion process. If your butter has not been softened, it will be quite challenging to incorporate it into the chocolate & cream mixture.
• Immersion Blender - Using an immersion blender to make ganache will help to make sure that all the ingredients are properly mixed together!

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

A few tips to note before diving into the process of making a foolproof macaron! 

1. Use exactly ZERO yolks. The easiest way to separate eggs is by using cold eggs (cold yolks don’t break as easily) and the fingers of your non-dominant hand. Crack the egg open with your dominant hand, then pour the contents into the slightly separated fingers of your non-dominant hand; your fingers should catch the yolks, and the whites will drip through. An ounce of egg yolk can destroy the meringue, so it’s best to only work with one white at a time in case a yolk breaks.
2. Don’t overmix. Getting the whites to stiff peaks takes a lot of time; don’t ruin all of that amazing levity by overmixing! Be sure to be gentle, stopping when the batter runs off your spatula slowly, with the drips resting atop the rest of the batter for a few moments before sinking in.
3. Tap for smooth exteriors. Tapping the baking sheet firmly on a flat surface will knock any excess bubbles out of the macarons. You can also just hold the pan a few inches above your work surface and drop it flatly. Any remaining bubbles can be popped using a toothpick.
4. Rest the batter. Once the macarons are piped onto your baking tray, it is absolutely imperative that you rest the batter. While the shells are resting, they develop a skin over the top. This means that any air that is forced out while cooking must go through the bottom, creating the signature “foot” on a French macaron.
5. Use an Oven thermometer. Baking is always a scientific endeavor, and nothing could be more true of making French macarons. After living in a multitude of rented apartments, I can tell you one thing with certainty - most ovens are FINICKY. Get yourself a $7 oven thermometer so you can take the guesswork out of it.

Macaron Troubleshooting

There are a number of reasons why these delicate little cookies could come out less than perfect. Here are some of the most common macaron shell issues to keep in mind during this process!

Why do my macarons stick to the parchment

It sounds like your macaron shells needed to be baked a bit longer! When the shells are sticking to the parchment this means that the meringue likely was likely partially baked, and the underbaked portion has dried to the parchment. Pop them in the oven for 1-2 minutes longer and you should be good to go.

Macaron shells are not a perfect circle

Make sure to hold your piping bag pointed directly perpendicular to the parchment paper that you will be piping onto. If your batter is piped at an angle, the macaron shells will likely spread unevenly leaving you with shells that are not identical.

Tips for making macarons in humid weather 

It's tricky to make macarons in the midst of an incredibly humid day. High humidity prevents your shells from drying during their resting period, which is an essential part of the process. To combat this, place your shells near your oven while preheating or place a fan on medium low near your macarons - this has helped me during those days where the macarons take a long time to dry.

My macarons don't have feet?

The rest period that I mentioned above? This is going to help you create the feet that a macaron is known for. The dried tops of the shells trap in the heat at the base of your macaron and push the edges upward, creating the iconic foot we know and love. Take the time to dry the tops of your shells otherwise, you won't get a distinguished macaron foot.

Macarons have cracked tops

There's a number of reasons why this could be happening. We talked about how dried shells push the heat through the bottom of the macaron above. When those shells are not dry, there is no barrier to prevent the air from exploding through the tops, causing cracks. Cracked tops could also be due to over-mixing your french meringue and potentially your batter as well, so make sure to be extra gentle during the mix!

Bumpy Shells

Make sure that you are taking the time to properly sift and mix the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture into your meringue. If there are chunky, unsifted dry bits in your batter that have not been mixed well, the tops of your shells will be quite bumpy and uneven. Make sure to also lightly tap your just-piped shells to release any air bubbles as well as to prevent those bumps.

Hollow Shells

If you find that your macarons are hollow, this could be due to many reasons. First, you may have over-mixed your meringue! The egg whites and sugar should not have been mixed for such a long duration of time. In addition, the heat from your oven could have been set too high. Make sure to utilize an oven thermometer to ensure that you are not baking your shells at a higher temperature than 310 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally, make sure your macaron shells do not rest for too long - the shells should be dry within 20-45 minutes.

❄️ How to Store Macarons

Technically, allowing your completed macarons to sit overnight in the fridge allows for the best texture for consuming! If you have the patience, place your macarons in the fridge overnight and enjoy the following day. In the fridge, filled macarons should be stored in an airtight container for no more than 3 days.

How to freeze French Macarons

Macaron shells or filled macarons can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for a month and still taste as good as new! The image above depicts my freezer stash of frozen macaron shells that have yet to be filled. Take the frozen macarons out of the freezer and let them sit for 10-15 minutes before enjoying.

💭 Recipe FAQs

Here are some other macaron recipes to try!

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