A simple guide for making the perfect macarons. 

I have almost lost my mind over these cookies.

Macarons can do that to a person. I turned a few hairs gray and gained about 10 pounds from all the taste testing … it was rough. I scared my dog (and actually my family too) with all the egg white beating and air bubble whacking. But a lot of batches (~2450 cookies) later I figured out my problem … besides being a complete perfectionist with obsessive tendencies. My macarons have been coming out really hollow with a crispier shell… and that’s just not acceptable … they taste pretty much the same but the important thing was that I knew they were wrong and that is the unacceptable part.

I don’t want you other obsessive perfectionists to suffer the gray hairs, the extra 10 pounds, and a whole summer of wanting to throw your spatula through a window … that sounded super lame, didn’t it? … so I’m going to give you a few pointers on succeeding with your macarons! I’ve given some tips and pointers in my macaron recipe posts but I thought I’d combine them into one “Skill Work” post… so some of this might be repetitive from the other posts.

First let’s clear up the confusion. There’s commonly confusion between macarons and macaroons. Macaroons are a coconut cookie that are soft and are sometimes (for mine… almost always) covered in chocolate. Macarons are the light and airy sandwich cookies that you see in fancy bakeries a lot and are dyed a million different pastel colors with a million different fillings. Most people pronounce the name of both cookies macaroon but to say “macaron” properly you have to end the word with ron as in Harry Potter’s best friend. Or to clear up all the confusion just say “French Macaron” and “Coconut Macaroon.”

The good news and the bad news. I’ll give you the bad news first … macarons are difficult to master. I’m not saying this to scare you; I’m saying this so that you aren’t disappointed … that being said, don’t be afraid of them either. If you google “macarons”, there are a lot of articles about how these cookies can smell fear and that even pastry chefs get stress wrinkles trying to make them…and to some extent it’s true (sorry… bubble burst) but have confidence because with a little practice and education on how these cookies behave you’ll get it!

Here’s the good news though…even if your cookies crack or don’t get the feet (those little ruffles on the bottom of the cookies), they still taste delicious; they just aren’t as pretty! So for the first time make them on a regular ol’ Saturday morning with no one watching you and plenty of time! I like this video because it shows the entire process with really good visuals for how each stage looks!

Once you get the technique down, they are really quite simple to make! You can make them any color you’d like, and there are so many flavorings and fillings to choose from! They are also pretty cheap to make…the labor is the main reason they are expensive at bakeries.

And here’s some inspirational advice from Julia … good to keep in mind when you feel the urge to scream at your macarons.

“Nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.” – Julia Child

“No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” – Julia Child

The Ingredients.

Almond Flour?… that’s not in my pantry… I know that it isn’t a common ingredient, but it isn’t something you can substitute in this recipe. Almond flour is just ground up blanched almonds, so this recipe is actually gluten free as long as your powdered sugar is too! You may not find it on the baking aisle but on the organic and gluten free aisle with specialty flours. Don’t panic because all your grocery store carries is Almond Meal because Almond flour and meal are the same thing. If you cannot find almond flour at your store, you can either order it on Amazon.com or make your own by grinding blanched almonds (but I wouldn’t recommend that because it has to be super fine). I use Bob’s Mills brand.

Room Temperature Egg Whites…Why? Room temperature eggs separate so much easier than cold ones. The meringue will be smoother and the dry ingredients incorporate into the whipped egg whites better. I never think ahead so to get room temperature eggs quickly, put the uncracked eggs in a bowl of warm (not hot) water from the tap for about 5 minutes.Do I need Aged Egg Whites? I personally think the idea of using old egg whites is a little unsanitary. And it requires planning which rarely happens in my kitchen! I’ve never used aged egg whites and my macarons turn out fine. Just make sure they are room temperature and don’t bother with the aging. 

THE Process.

Measuring. I have success measuring with measuring cups but everyone measures a little differently so if you have a scale, use it! If you don’t have one, don’t worry because I have had success every time I have used measuring cups. Just be sure to use the spoon-and-level method to measure the powdered sugar and the almond flour. What’s the spoon-and-level method? Look at this post. Do not just dunk your measuring cup into your bucket of almond flour or powdered sugar because it will be more packed down and you will end up with a lot more than the recipe intended.  

Sifting. As you’re sifting the almond flour and powdered sugar together, you will notice you are getting little pebbles left behind…those are just almonds that weren’t ground fine enough so just toss them out. If you leave the almond pebbles behind, your finished cookies will be rumply on top or will collapse because the meringue can’t support the weight of the almond pebbles. I suggest using a sieve for sifting because it could be difficult to get the pebbles out of a flour sifter. Don’t use a very fine mesh sieve or you will be sifting for a while. Sift twice to make sure as many of the pebbles are out as possible! 

The Meringue. Separate your eggs making sure that none of the egg yolk sneaks in there. The fat from the egg yolk will keep your egg whites from whipping up, so you’ll need to start over if any yolk ends up in the egg white. Beat the egg whites and salt on medium speed with a whisk attachment for about a minute. Add in the granulated sugar and then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have soft peaks.

Then add in your food coloring. Beware that you want to go one shade past the color you want because you still have to add the powdered sugar and almond flour and the color tends to lighten as they bake.

Then beat until you reach stiff peaks.

To test the peaks, pull the whisk straight up out of the meringue and flip it over…if it is drippy, the meringue isn’t ready…if it holds its shape and doesn’t sway around if you shake the bowl, then they are done!

Be careful to not over beat the eggs either or you can end up with hollow macarons. I would suggest that once you reach soft peaks (droop over a little when you pull the whisk up) check every 30 seconds to see if you have reached stiff peaks. 

The tricky part. Fold all of the powdered sugar and almond mixture into the meringue. You will probably need about 30-50 turns depending on how strong you are. The batter should not be gritty and it should run off the spatula like lava would. See this video for good images on what the batter’s consistency should be. I would recommend even playing the video as you are folding it in and compare the consistencies.

Take a breather. Let your batter sit uncovered for about 10-25 minutes. This lets some of the air from the egg whites out of the batter without changing the consistency of the batter.

Piping. In order to get a uniform size, take a sheet of parchment paper and trace a cap or something else that is about 1.5 inches in diameter. You can also use a silipat if you own one. You can make them smaller but be aware that you will need to reduce the cooking time and the rest time in the next step. Then put a clean piece of parchment paper over that one, so you don’t get lead, or ink in your cookies! 

Use a pastry bag or a ziplock bag to pipe the cookies. You will need some sort of tip that is about 1/2 inch wide. If you don’t have a pastry tip you could just cut a 1/2 inch whole in the corner of the bag, but it will be messier and less controlled.

To keep the batter from oozing out the end, I like to twist the bag right next to the pastry tip (picture 4). To easily fill the bag, I sit it in a glass and roll down the sides so that the outside of the bag doesn’t get all gooped up with batter (picture 5). Don’t put all of the batter in at once because as you pipe out the cookies, you are working the batter which will change the consistency. I would put in a third of the batter at a time. Twist the top of the bag (picture 7). This makes sure batter doesn’t come out the wrong end and onto your shirt…why don’t aprons cover your shoulders? Design flaw!

Now you’re ready to pipe! Trace the patterned circles on your parchment paper. If you are getting significant peaks, you probably didn’t stir enough when you added in the dry ingredients, so your batter isn’t runny enough. To fix this, put your batter back into the mixing bowl and fold a little more. Once you have piped a whole pan, tap the pan on the counter (picture 12). This will help get the air bubbles out of the cookies and even out the thickness of your cookies. If you still have a lot of air bubbles, you can pop them with a toothpick.

Take thirty. Break time! Let the cookies sit out for 30-60 minutes. Letting the cookies sit will help them dry out some …if you skip this step, your cookies will crack. By not letting them take their nap, they will form their feet on top of the cookie (cracks) instead of on the bottoms (the little ruffles).  You will notice that if you tap your finger on a cookie right after piping you get a goopy finger. If you tap your finger on a cookie that has rested for 30-60 minutes it should be tacky, and you will have a clean finger. But of course this is all hypothetical…. because we never stick our fingers in our food…wink, wink. For larger cookies, you will need to wait more towards 60 minutes….just check that they are tacky before baking.

Baking. I have experimented with a few baking temperatures and times and have found that 300°F for about 15-20 minutes works best for me. A lower baking temperature is better because it cooks the cookies more slowly so that the meringue inside the cookie can support itself. When I baked these at 325°F, the cookies looked done on the outside quicker, but the meringue inside hadn’t cooked enough so it collapsed when I pulled the cookies out creating hollow cookies. 

I actually like to overbake my macarons a bit so that they are crunchy when they are cooled. I bake them until they are lightly browned and peel easily off the parchment paper. Then I fill them and refrigerate them for a day or two. The cookies mature in the fridge and soften up to the correct chewy consistency. Overbaking the cookies is a good way to ensure that your macarons are not hollow.

Filling. Fill your cookies with your favorite frosting, jam, or curd. Here are some recipes for my favorite macaron flavors. Filled macarons also freeze very well.

Some Other Problem Solving Suggestions:

They are burning or undercooked at the cooking time suggested. Some ovens run hotter and colder than they say. Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven isn’t lying to you about what temperature it is actually running at.

Where are my feet and why did they crack? This problem can be related to the amount of folding you did when you added the dry ingredients but the more common cause is that you didn’t rest them or didn’t rest them long enough before you baked them. They need time to form that layer of tackiness. The cracks that you are getting on the top are essentially feet that formed on the top instead of the bottom because the tops didn’t have time to dry out.

Why so rumply? You probably didn’t sift out the chunky pieces of almond or you didn’t fold the dry ingredients in enough.

Why so hollow? As discussed under “Baking,” you probably are underbaking them… so the meringue is undercooked and deflates when you pull it out of the oven. Bake them till they seem overdone and then fill, refrigerate, and let them mature for a day before eating. The other issue with hollow macarons is that you may be overbeating your egg whites … beat them until you have just reached stiff peaks and then stop beating them.

Please don’t hesitate to ask questions about the process! I’d be happy to help you problem solve, if you have any issues.

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