Macarons are delicate sandwich cookies filled with jam, buttercream, or ganache and created using almond flour and meringue. To be distinguished from coconut macaroons. They are difficult to make, and even experts frequently admit failure. This is the most dependable handmade macaron recipe I could come up with after testing hundreds of others.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 11 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 15 |
| Yield: | 30 macaron sandwich cookies |
Ingredients
- 4 extra large egg whites
- 1 ⅔ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 ⅓ cups almond flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup superfine (castor) sugar
- ¼ cup seedless raspberry jam
Instructions
- Place egg whites into a metal mixing bowl and refrigerate overnight. The next day, bring egg whites to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 280 degrees F (138 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk confectioners’ sugar and almond flour together in a bowl.
- Beat egg whites with salt in a metal bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and gradually beat in superfine sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until egg whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks, 3 to 5 more minutes.
- Gently fold almond flour mixture into whipped egg whites until thoroughly incorporated; spoon meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch tip. Pipe 1-inch disks of meringue onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between macarons. The batter will spread.
- Lift the baking sheets a few inches above the work surface and hit them lightly on the work surface several times to remove any air bubbles from the macarons; let stand at room temperature until the shiny surfaces become dull and a thin skin forms, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Place the baking sheets in the preheated oven and bake until macarons surfaces are completely dry, about 19 to 20 minutes. Let macarons cool completely on the baking sheets before peeling parchment paper off.
- Spread half of the macaron cookies with any desired filling; top with remaining macarons to make sandwich cookies, and refrigerate at least 2 hours to overnight to let them soften.
- Use any flavor jam instead of raspberry, or try chocolate ganache, or a flavored buttercream filling.
- You could try for a lighter meringue by using the Italian method, but it’s less dependable.
Reviews
I’ve made this recipe several times and converted it to weight measurements for consistency as my chickens lay different sized eggs. They turn out great. Honestly, I think they are better than any I’ve had from French bakeries in the US or France. I like to flavor them with freeze-dried fruit powder, cocoa powder, peanut powder, or other ground nuts replacing part of the almond flour, and I fill with jam sometimes, but also other fillings like buttercream. I don’t rest my egg whites overnight usually and it doesn’t make any difference. Space them out, but they should not spread (only rise). The space is to ensure they bake evenly. Once piped, you can touch them with a wetted finger to flatten any peak that lingers for a prettier finished cookie. For those with macarons sticking to the parchment, this is normal. I have the middle of some of mine stick, and it pulls out some of the cookie insides to just pull them off so I treat them all like they’re stuck. I’ve seen instructions for steaming the underside of the parchment to release them in a different source. I like a simpler approach: take a frosting spatula and run it under them to release once they are fully cooled. I think they definitely need to rest overnight in the fridge once filled to improve the chewy on the inside feature, and mine have stayed crunchy on the outside. A couple of hours results in cookies that are more crunchy, less chewy, in case that is your preference. This is a fun recipe for trying out variations. It’s easy to half, double, or triple, but I usually keep it the same (or half it) and make more flavors.
I followed the instructions exactly and they turned out just like what you can get at a bakery
YuMmY
overall a great recipe! the only thing i changed was the note about keeping the oven slightly opened while baking. because the temp was relatively low, leaving the oven open let out too much heat, so they didn’t fluff up until I had closed the door completely. this was also my first time making macarons and they turned out really well! I did a raspberry butter cream filling, which was really simple and yummy.
I have a convection oven so 15 minutes was not enough time to dry the cookies completely. I put the trays back into the oven and turned off the oven to let the cookies come to room temp with the oven. Next time I will also food process the almond flour to a finer flour. Otherwise I am very happy with the results. Used homemade blackberry jam cream cheese filling and Betty Crocker pink cupcake icing. Recipe is worth trying again.
The sugar sort of caramelized, leaving the outsides crunchy.
Followed the directions and they came out great. Our homemade raspberry jam as filling made them amazing!
Tasted just like they do in stores but they stuck to the paper and we’re a lot flatter and less sturdy
I made no changes. I’m writing this review as they are baking, so I’m really scared to see if they will develop feet or not. I see so many Internet chefs making these without breaking a sweat, and they turn out wonderful. This, however, is my first time making macarons and I’m sort of terrible at piping, so all of them are different sizes. I think I’ll put the bigger ones on the bottom. Thank you for submitting the recipe. It was very fun eating some of the batter from the pastry bag. I used a plastic bag instead
Oh wow! Do not be intimidated by the recipe – just go for it! I honestly didn’t think I liked macarons. I had only had them from a box and from a reputable bakery. Those did not hold a candle to homemade! Some notes: I did not refrigerate my egg white overnight, I just separated my eggs and let them sit on the counter for 20 mins or so. I sifted the almond flour and confectioners sugar together. I used regular granulated sugar for the ‘superfine’ sugar. After letting the uncooked rounds sit for 15 minutes, they still didn’t look dull, so I just went ahead and baked them. They did not spread much, if at all. I baked them on parchment paper and had no problem getting them off after they cooled on the sheet. (I did have trouble with the batch that I baked on a pizza stone (instead of cookie sheet) with parchment – they tore up coming off) We also ate them when cooled- without the step of refrigerating for 2 hours. However, they were better after being in the fridge overnight. I found them a little too sweet, but that is just preference. We added a little red coloring to make them pink and our filling was raspberry cream cheese icing. SO DELICIOUS! Thanks for the recipe 🙂 Update: Made these again, as before, but added about 3 Tbs cocoa powder to the dry ingredients and brown color to the batter. Then for the filling I made peppermint chocolate ganache. Delicious again!!
Thanks to Elle’s notes on weighing the ingredients vs. AllRecipes altered version- these turned out great for my first ever Macaron batch! (It’s been a goal to learn how to make these for about 10 years- this recipe was very helpful in me achieving that goal!!)
They turned out fantastic! It was my first time, so they were not perfect but I assume by the third or fourth try they would be pretty darn close to perfect. I used a raspberry buttercream frosting to fill them and they are delicious.
These were so good.
No changes needed for me. I followed the recipe closely and they came out awesome. I made them a light purple and filled them with raspberry preserve. Thanks for your recipe.
Macarons take a practice. It’s worth it because the taste of home made macarons puts those fancy looking store bought pastries to shame! Over beating OR underbeating the meringue or dough leads to crazy looking shells. Make sure to let cookies rest after piping and before baking. Oven should be no higher than 300 or shells raise too fast.
First time I have made these, and it was easier than I thought. Used the recipe as written. Very tasty. Made a chocolate ganache as filling. Didn’t get the feet on the first batch, but later batches sat longer before I put them in the oven, and they came out with the feet. also had to leave them in the oven longer than this recipe calls for. But all in all, a keeper recipe. I will make again. Made some on a mat that had little circles on them and those are perfectly round. The ones I made on parchment paper are a little oblong, but they all taste good!
I haven’t actually made this yet but i need to for a school project but before I make it I need to know how many macarons it make so I was wondering if anyone could tell me
The Macarons came out perfect! It was my first time making them. I used a silicone baking sheet and increased the baking time to 22 minutes.
Easy recipe! Did one batch on silpat – then followed another reviews advice w/ cupcake pan – that didn’t work at all!! Paper would not come off and they baked weird! Added orange oil and filled w/ stabilized orange whipped cream awesome!
well it worked for me! You have to follow the recipe EXACTLY by the instructions or they won’t turn out right! Thanks for the recipe, now I can make my own Macarons
This was my first time making these, followed the recipe exactly, even bought the macaron silpat with the circles template, and I did not get the frilly feet. My batter seemed loose and watery. I think I may have overbeat the egg whites. I will definitely try again.