Macarons are beautiful cookies that are a special treat to give friends and family!
ABOUT MACARONS
Macarons are a super delicate sandwich cookie made with meringue, almond flour, and powdered sugar. These beautiful cookies can be quite difficult to make, but with practice and patience, I’m sure you can make them for yourself! I actually first started making macarons because my eldest sister made them. I remember once ruining her batch because I made the meringue bad 😅 Over time it became a shared hobby for us, and eventually it became my go-to gift for friends. Once you get the hang of it, macarons are quite easy and quick to make, and you can have fun experimenting with the flavors!
COMPONENTS OF MACARONS
- ☆ Macaron shell: The delicate macaron shells are made with a meringue, powdered sugar, and almond flour. They are usually dyed however you like to make a variety of colors and designs. Typically, the shells aren’t flavored differently; I’ve only really seen people add cocoa powder or matcha powder to add more flavor. In fact, the bakery I worked at only added matcha powder but not cocoa powder when making green tea and chocolate macarons respectively. The macaron shells themselves tend to be quite sweet, so keep that in mind when choosing the filling!
- ☆ Filling: Generally, the flavor of the macaron comes from the filling as the shells don’t really provide a strong flavor other than sweetness and a slight almond taste. You can fill the macarons with a variety of fillings to make different flavors. Some common fillings are ganache, buttercream, cream cheese frosting, etc. Keep in mind the moisture level of your fillings, however, because if the filling has too much moisture, it can start to dissolve the macaron shell.
MATERIALS
- ☆ Piping bag
- ☆ Round piping tip
- I would recommend at least a #12. For regular circle macarons, I typically use a #2A.
INGREDIENTS (+ SUBSTITUTIONS)
This is a basic list and explanation of the key ingredients. For full list and measurements, please scroll down to the recipe below!
MACARON SHELL INGREDIENTS
- ☆ Egg whites
- Egg whites are the base of the meringue which essentially brings the whole batter together. You can use aquafaba instead, which would also make the macaron shells vegan.
- ☆ Granulated sugar
- Granulated sugar dissolves in the egg white, making the meringue stronger as it adds stability to protect the air bubbles. This recipe uses a French meringue for the macarons, so if you’d like, you can use caster sugar to make sure the sugar dissolves properly. Caster sugar isn’t as easy to find, so we can use granulated sugar which works just as well!
- ☆ Cream of tartar
- ☆ Almond flour
- Almond flour is one of the primary ingredients in macarons. I’ve seen other recipes using different nuts or seeds and such in the case that you can’t eat almonds. I’ve never tried it before, though, so I can’t recommend a good substitute.
- ☆ Powdered sugar
- Powdered sugar absorbs moisture from the batter, creating the feet. This is also why in this recipe the macarons have to rest after piping to allow the powdered sugar to absorb moisture. This recipe has an even ratio of almond flour and powdered sugar, so the feet don’t develop too largely. If you prefer to have macarons with bigger feet, you can slightly adjust this ratio to maybe 80:90 almond flour:powdered sugar.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE INGREDIENTS
- ☆ Bittersweet chocolate
- Bittersweet chocolate is at least 50% cocoa solids. You can also use semi sweet chocolate instead which is about 35-65% cocoa solids. I prefer bittersweet for ganache for macarons as the macarons are quite sweet already, but if you would prefer a sweeter macaron, I think semi sweet is best. I don’t recommend using milk or white chocolate as a substitute in this recipe because the ratio of chocolate to heavy cream would differ.
- ☆ Heavy cream
- You can also use whole milk and butter if you don’t have heavy cream. To substitute, you can use 45g whole milk and 15g butter to replace the 60g of heavy cream.
TIPS FOR MAKING MACARONS
- ☆ When dyeing the egg whites, I recommend using a gel or powder food coloring instead of liquid. With liquid food dyes, the moisture is quite high and typically the color is not as concentrated, so gels and powders are a better way to go.
- ☆ Be careful not to overbeat or underbeat the meringue. There are many issues that can happen if the meringue isn’t made properly such as not developing feet, not rising, being hollow, etc.
- ☆ If you are making a macaron design that requires multiple colors, I recommend adding the food coloring when you do the macaronage instead of when you make the meringue. In my Boo Tao video, I made a plain batter by making the meringue and folding in the almond flour as usual, but once I could no longer see any dry clumps of flour, I separated about 2 tablespoons worth to dye brown and macaronage. If you divide the batter right before you macaronage, you should be able to dye it with no problem!
- ☆ Make sure to let the macarons rest to allow the skin to form. This gives macarons their rise and allows feet to develop.
- ☆ I like to let the macarons sit in the hot oven with the door cracked after baking because I find that this helps the macarons remove cleanly from the tray and makes sure the shells do not end up hollow.
- ☆ Try to store macarons in the fridge as soon as they are filled! Ideally, we want the macarons to rest in the fridge overnight to allow the shells to mature. This process makes the macarons more chewy as the shells absorb some of the moisture of the filling.
- ☆ Macarons take a lot of patience and practice. If it doesn’t work out, just keep trying! There are a lot of issues that could go wrong as the batter is quite finicky, so just keep troubleshooting. This super helpful guide by Indulge with Mimi should also help you. If you need any extra help or have any questions, let me know and we can try to figure it out together!
MORE COOKIES RECIPES! ♡
If you recreate this Macarons recipe, please let me know by tagging me or leaving a comment on Instagram @maruryouri or TikTok @atsuryouri. I’d love to see your creations and hear your feedback!
Macarons
Macarons are beautiful cookies that are a special treat to give friends and family!
Equipment
- Piping bag
- Round piping tip
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 2 large egg whites about 60-70 grams
- 70 g granulated sugar
- Pinch of cream of tartar optional
- 85 g almond flour
- 85 g powdered sugar
Chocolate Ganache
- 60 g bittersweet chocolate
- 60 g heavy cream
Instructions
- Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar on a scale to weigh it out, then blend in pulses using a food processor. Sift the flour mixture again and set aside for now.
- In a large clean bowl, whip the egg whites to make the meringue. When the egg whites become frothy (resembling beer foam), add the cream of tartar and 1/3 of the sugar. If you are coloring your macaron shells, add the food coloring at this time. Whip until the meringue turns opaque, then add half of the remaining sugar. Whip until soft peaks form then add remaining sugar and whip until the meringue has stiff peaks.
- Add half of the almond flour mixture and fold until there are no more dry clumps. Then, add the remaining powder and fold in the same way.
- Keep folding the same way or spread the batter around the bowl and scrape back to the center to macaronage the batter. You’ll know you’re done doing the macaronage once the batter flows off the spatula in a ribbon. Add the batter to a piping bag.
- Pipe the batter onto a silicone mat or parchment sheet lined baking tray, making sure to give enough space between each macaron shell.
- Tap or bang the bottom of the trays to release any large air bubbles. You can also use a toothpick or needle to pop any stubborn bubbles. Leave the tray of piped macarons on the counter to dry for about 15 minutes or until no longer sticky to the touch. Time may vary depending on the humidity of your kitchen. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 150°C/300°F. Once the skin has formed, bake for 15 minutes.
- While the macarons bake, prepare the ganache. In a bowl, add the chocolate and heavy cream and microwave in 30 second intervals until fully melted and smooth. The ganache will be runny when warm, so set aside to cool down while the macaron shells continue to bake and cool down.
- When the macarons are done baking, don’t remove them just yet. Turn off the oven and slightly crack the door open. Let the macarons sit in the hot oven for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the macarons from the oven and allow them to cool completely on the tray.
- Once the macarons are cool, you can peel them off and begin filling them. At this point, the ganache should be cooled and thick. Pipe out an appropriate amount of ganache on each macaron shell and sandwich it with another shell. Repeat until you’ve filled all the macarons. Ideally you want to refrigerate the macarons overnight, but otherwise the macarons are done! 完成です！