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Macaron recipe

French Macarons Recipe

Recipe adapted from Whisk Carolina baking class and Jacquy Pfeiffer’s “The Art of French Pastry” cook book.
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Equipment

  • Buy yourself a kitchen scale (~$10 on Amazon) and measure these ingredients by weight. Weight is not commonly used in the U.S. but once you start baking with weight you’ll see how much more accurate your baking can be.
  • You’ll also need an instant read thermometer (~$10 on Amazon). I use mine for everything in the kitchen, especially baking and meat cooking.
  • Costco has the cheapest almond flour I’ve seen! Aldi has a good price too.
  • I bought a Silpat non-stick macaron sheet and it is great! You can also use parchment paper with circles drawn on it to help keep all of the cookies a similar shape and size.
  • I have two mixing bowls for my mixer. This was really helpful but you can always clean the bowl between each step.

Ingredients
  

  • 10.5 ounces powdered sugar
  • 10.5 ounces almond flour
  • 7 ounces egg whites divided into two 3.5-ounce portions
  • 10.5 ounces sugar
  • 0.25 ounces meringue powder
  • 2.75 ounces water

Instructions
 

  • Read this recipe all the way through a few times before giving it a go!
  • Two days before baking (Not required but helpful!): Measure out almond flour and powdered sugar. Lay flat on a big baking sheet to dry out.
    Measure out egg whites in two bowls and cover with plastic wrap that has holes poked in it to allow some of the water to evaporate. (Save the yolks to make a filling for your macarons like lemon curd or a french buttercream).
  • Weigh out remaining ingredients before getting started.
  • Sift almond flour and powdered sugar to get rid of any larger clumps.
  • Mix almond flour and powdered sugar mixture together with the first 3.5 ounces of egg whites. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. You may need to scrape the sides and bottom to help it incorporate.
  • Add your gel coloring to this mixture. Typically the color identifies the flavor of the filling. For example, choose pink for raspberry flavor or yellow for lemon. Your color will not be evenly distributed but it will even out as it continues to mix.
  • If using one mixing bowl, this is where you will need to take the almond, sugar, egg white paste mixture out of your mixing bowl and clean your bowl to prep for making the italian meringue.
  • With your whisk attachment and in your clean/second mixing bowl, begin whipping the remaining 3.5 ounces of egg whites on low.
  • Add a teaspoon of sugar to your meringue powder and mix together. This helps the powder not clump up when you add it to your egg whites. Once the eggs whites are foamy, slowly pour in the sugar and powder mixture then start increasing the speed of your mixer to medium (5-6).
  • While your egg whites are mixing on medium-low, start making your sugar syrup. In a small saucepan, add water then pour remaining sugar into water. Do not mix or stir. Cook on medium-high until the sugar dissolves and your instant read thermometer reads 243 degrees. If it gets too hot, start the process over. Again, don’t stir the mixture.
  • Once sugar syrup is done, turn your mixer to medium-high (4-6) and slowly pour it into the egg whites. Be careful to not pour the hot syrup onto the whisk. It’s a delicate balance of resting the pan on the edge of the mixer while pouring between the whisk and side.
  • Keep the mixer going on low to medium speed until the mixture is close to room temperature. You should be able to put your hands on the bottom of your mixer bowl and it will not be warm. This will take a few minutes.
  • If you’re using one bowl, this is where you will need to transfer the meringue into another bowl. With your paddle attachment on stir/low speed, mix ⅓ of the meringue into the almond mixture. Scrape the bowl. It’s going to be a gooey mess and you won’t have all of the meringue incorporated at this point.
  • Mix the next ⅓ of the meringue. Scrape the bowl.
  • Mix the final ⅓ of the meringue until all is incorporated.
  • Clean off the paddle and give the bowl a couple of stirs / scrapes along the edge with a spatula.
  • Transfer batter into a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip (like Wilton #12). Use a rubber band to secure the end of the bag. Pipe similar sized round circles of batter onto your non-stick mat or parchment paper.
  • Preheat your oven to 300 degrees while the cookies dry.
  • Let piped cookies rest for 45 minutes to an hour. This allows the top of the cookie to dry out which creates the infamous frilly foot. If you want to add sprinkles on top, do it right after piping a pan so they stick.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven. You’ll want to rotate the pan and change levels if you’re cooking 2 pans at a time midway through baking. When they’re done they won’t shake when you press your finger on top and they will easily lift off the pan.
  • Let cool on the pan until at room temperature. Fill them with your favorite flavored filling (swiss meringue buttercream, american buttercream, lemon or lime curd, jelly, chocolate ganache, etc.).
  • Refrigerate and enjoy!