How to Start Making Macarons at Home
I love LOVE macarons.
Before I get into this, let’s straighten one thing out:
I’m talking about macarons. NOT macaroons.
Macarons are a French petit fore consisting of two almond-based cookies sandwiched around a filling like ganache, curd, or buttercream. Macaroons are cookie-sort-of-things made of egg whites and shredded coconut. They’re VERY different. If someone wants a macaron, and you give them a macaroon….they’re gonna be PISSED.
Hot tip to remember which is which:
Macaron. One ‘o’. Almond. One ‘o’.
Macaroon. Two ‘o’s’. Coconut. Two ‘o’s’.
Now that we’ve got that straight. Let’s talk about it. I have been paying between $2 and $3 for macarons without brining an eye for ages. They’re pretty, they’re varied, and when made well they’re absolutely delicious. I have zero problem paying multiple dollars for one, slammin’ cookie – especially if it’s something that I would never dare to attempt at home. Somewhere along the way, I became convinced that my favorite baked treat was one of those ‘not a chance in hell you can make these at home.’
They over bake in seconds.
Most of the batches fail.
Even the batches that work, half of the shells are busts.
Why on Earth would I even bother googling a recipe?!
Enter: The Great British Baking Show. We don’t have time right now to get into all of the glory that is the best show you might not be watching. There’s plenty for you to binge. I can’t recommend it enough. There’s no money at stake. There is no plot. Literally nothing happens. It’s a bunch of people, politely baking delicious treats and helping each other along the way while they say things like, ‘faff around’, and ‘Oh my giddy aunt’. It’s perfection. It’s the Xanax of television. You see joy in the world again.
Anyway, it’s not uncommon for a baker to find themselves wanting to up the ante of the bake they had planned. So, they randomly decide to bake a bunch of macarons.
Excuse me, what? Those things that I’ve been sitting over here believing are basically impossible to make…you’re going to pull out of your ass in the middle of a competition? Clearly, they are not as mystical as I had believed. So, I finally googled it.
Macarons are NOT. THAT. HARD.
Sure, it might seem like lots of steps – but once you go through it once…it’s pretty straight forward. Yes, I’ve had a few batches bomb for no apparent reason – but the majority have turned out just fine.
There are two techniques for macarons: French and Italian, depending on the type of meringue used.
For French meringues, you slowly add caster (or granulated) sugar to egg whites as they whip. In an Italian meringue, however, you first make a sugar syrup and then pour that into the egg whites as they whip in your stand mixer. The Italian meringue requires more precision (and a thermometer), but creates a more stable meringue as it cooks the egg whites as they whip up to stiff peaks.
The French version is the one you’ll find most when you google recipes. I suspect it’s because it’s the most ‘fool-proof’ and requires the least amount of equipment.
Equipment for Italian Meringue Macarons: Saucepan, thermometer, stand mixer, food processor, eggs, scale, powdered sugar, almond flour, caster sugar (and coffee cause you need coffee or tea whilst baking)
I’ve had more success with the Italian version, but admittedly it’s more of a process. I’d suggest starting with the French method, unless you’ve already got a thermometer around. Just google it - there are a hundred tutorials.
I do not have “my own recipe”. I use google. I google a flavor that I’m looking to make, and then combine what I need in order to have the result I’ve got in my head. For example, I made an almond/chocolate/salted caramel macaron a few weeks ago. To do this, I just added some almond extract to my macaron shell, and then googled “macaron with chocolate ganache filling” and used the ganache recipe. Then I google, “macaron with salted caramel filling”, and used that filling.
You’re probably going to see lots of variances in recipes. Some have equal parts almond flour to powdered sugar. Some seem like they barley have any almond flour at all. Just find a recipe you want to try, and try it. See which ones you like.
So here are some of the tutorials and recipes that I’ve been using during my ‘learning how to make macarons’ adventures for you to go give a shot. I would recommend starting with a basic French Meringue technique macaron with a simple buttercream. Get used to that, and then try your hand at the Italian version.
The first video I watched is a tutorial for the Italian meringue version by Cupcake Jemma.
Macaron Masterclass – Hot to Make Perfect Macarons
It’s a great step-by-step tutorial but it also explains a lot of the ‘why’ with what you’re doing. They make a basic, plain macaron shell and it’s a great starting point for the Italian version of the macaron and my go-to recipe so far. I actually used this recipe but made them using the French technique – eliminating the water and just adding the caster sugar to the egg whites slowly as they whipped in the stand mixer.
I also used this recipe as the base for strawberry macarons. I used red food coloring and then put freeze-dried strawberries into the food processor to make a powder and mixed that powder into a basic buttercream and it was one of the favorites so far.
POPSUGAR has a basic French Macaron recipe posted for the French meringue technique.
Basic French Macaron Recipe
The only caveat that I would give you with this recipe is that I HIGHLY recommend converting the cup measurements into grams. There’s a reason 99.9% of macaron receipts have grams instead of cups and tbsps. I assume Popsugar did it this way because people get bitchy about grams, ‘wahhh I don’t have a food scale, not fair!’. The truth is though, literally everything I’ve read about macarons emphasizes the importance of precision with ingredient amounts. The amount of powdered sugar, to granulated, to almond, changes the texture of the shell. More dry, less dry, higher feet, wider feet, blah blah blah. The recipe is a greta place to start with the French Macaron, but I wouldn’t suggest going by the cups.
Using the French technique linked above, this is my go-to French method macaron recipe:
100 grams almond flour
88 grams powdered sugar
75 grams egg white
75 grams granulated sugar (caster or super fine super preferred)
This makes about 48 shells and is courtesy of Quyen B Macarons
This Macaron Troubleshooting Guide by Food Nouveau is super helpful for fixing common problems.
Shells deflating? Not sure if you folded enough? Meringue not coming together? She answers lots of the questions that come up in macaroning and the more you understand about HOW macarons macaron, the better macaron you will macaron.
Here are a few of the recipes that have been a hit around here:
Cookies and Cream by Broma Bakery
I subbed out Oreos for a gluten-free version (Glutino Chocolate and Creme)
Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Filling – An Edible Mosaic
Of all of the flavors that I’ve made, red velvet consistently gives me trouble. The shells that turned out great, didn’t have enough chocolate flavor. The shells that tasted legit like a brownie were sort to cracked and crumbly. Either way, experiment and see which recipe works for you.
Blackberry Macarons from Macnifique
OK, I’ll be honest. These were without a doubt the most painstaking of them all. There are just a lot of parts. First you make a blackberry jam thing. Then a white chocolate ganache with it. THEN the macarons. It’s just a lot of steps – but they came out GREAT and every loved them.
Lemon Macarons by Sweet & Savory byShinee
These were a huge hit. Everyone loves a bright lemon pastry.
So those are just a few of the recipes that I’ve tried over the last couple of weeks in my macaron endeavors. I hope that the tutorials and recipes here help you try your hand at theses delicate but SUPER delicious cookies because when they work they are a REAL success and one of the most satisfying things to give other people that I’ve ever made.