French Macarons
A guide to making perfect French Macarons every single time
Servings: 34
Equipment
- 2-4 Baking Trays I pipe all of my shells at once, so I use 4 trays
- 2-4 Silpat Macaron Mats
Ingredients
Macarons
- 135 g almond meal
- 135 g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 90 g caster (superfine) sugar
- 4 g cream of tartar optional
- 100 g egg whites you’ll need approx 3 room temperature eggs
- 6 Drops gel food colour
Filling
- 300 g ganache, buttercream or salted caramel 1-2 cups
Instructions
Macarons
- Place the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor and blitz until well combined and there are no visible lumps. If you're using almond flour, just go ahead and sift it 3 times with the icing sugar
- Place the egg whites and optional cream of tartar into a clean stand mixer mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment to whisk on low-medium until frothy
- Gradually add the caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix for 30 seconds until adding the next spoonful. After adding the last spoonful, continue to whisk on medium-high for another 5 minutes. Mixture should be thick and glossy
- Add the food colour and whisk again to combine
- Remove the bowl from the mixer, then add the almond meal mixture. Use a large silicone spatula to fold the mixture through. Continue to fold the mixture until it is glossy and can form a smooth ribbon figure 8. The figure 8 should slowly melt back into the rest of the mixture -the batter is now ready to pipe
- Place a macaron mat onto each of the baking sheets and set aside
- Place a 1cm round piping tip into a large piping bag. Twist the the bag and tip to stop the mixture coming out when you pour it into the bag. Place the bag into a tall narrow jug or cup and fold the ends of the bag over to open the bag. Pour the batter into the bag
- Pipe small circles onto the tray, to about ⅔ to filling the circles on the mat. I count to 2, then twist and flick the piping bag
- Once the shells have all been piped, gently tap the trays onto a covered bench. Rotate the tray to tap both sides. Use a toothpick to pop any remaining holes, then set the trays aside to rest for 30 minutes
- While the shells are resting, heat the oven to 150°C or 300° conventional. If using a fan oven, reduce the temperature to 135°
- Bake the macarons for 15-18 minutes. Check after 15 minutes -before removing them from the oven, check one of the middle macarons by giving it a wriggle. If it clearly wriggles, give it another 2-3 minutes of baking.
- Once baked, slide the silpat macaron mats onto a bench and leave to cool completely, before gently lifting them from the mat. Match up even macaron shells and place into pairs
Filling
- Place the filling into a disposable piping bag, fitted with a large star or circle tip.
- Pipe the filling onto the underside of half of the macaron shells, sandwiching them together with their matching half
- Macarons are best served the next day, to allow the flavors to absorb and the shells to become chewy. They are best stored in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 3 months.