Expert Tips I’ve Learned for Perfecting French Macarons

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If you’ve ever tried to make French macarons, you already know that they are not an easy dessert to make! There are many factors that go into making the perfect batch of French macarons. And there are countless videos and blog posts for macaron recipes and tips for making this delectable dessert – and I’ve come across maybe half of them! At least it feels like it..

I spent years and years trying to perfect French macarons, and there have been a lot of trials and mistakes. Even when I found a so-called “fool-proof” macaron recipe, it still didn’t work out. Let me tell you, it has been a struggle! And I know that I’m not alone in this situation. So I’ve decided to share all of the expert tips I’ve learned for perfecting French macarons!

HOW TO AGE YOUR EGG WHITES

Aging your egg whites is the very first step to making macarons. But what the heck does that mean?!?! I don’t know about you, but this is the only recipe I’ve seen that requires aged egg whites.

It’s actually pretty simple, and there are probably other methods to achieving aged egg whites, but this is how we do it here at Delish by Mich:

1. Carefully separate your egg whites and egg yolks. Use a small bowl for the egg whites, then add it into a bigger “master” bowl after each egg. This way, you avoid ruining the whole bowl of egg whites if you happen to get some yolk in the smaller bowl.
2. Cover the bowl of egg whites with plastic wrap.
3. With a toothpick, poke several holes in the plastic wrap.
4. Refrigerate for 1-3 days.

And that’s it! When you’re ready to make the macarons, take the egg whites out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature!

Aging your egg whites will help you achieve a stronger meringue for the macaron batter and stronger macaron shells in the end.

PREPARING YOUR INGREDIENTS FOR FRENCH MACARONS

Timing is an important aspect of making the perfect macaron. So having all of your ingredients weighed out and ready to go is a really good habit to have. That brings us to another important tip: have a food scale! Most French macaron recipes will be in grams; cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons won’t work! Weighing your ingredients is much more accurate, and accuracy is key for French macarons.

Not only should you have the ingredients ready, but you should also have the pastry bags with piping tips, and baking sheet pans lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Your macaron-making life will be so much easier with everything ready to go!

For the almond flour and powdered sugar, sift these ingredients together with a stainless steel mesh strainer. The finer the grounds almonds, the better – you won’t have as much go to waste as you’re sifting!

You can also carefully process the almond flour and icing sugar in a food processor before you sift, but be careful not to over-process. You might end up with sugary almond butter!

I’ve also heard of sifting the icing sugar and almond flour multiple times, but I’ve personally never done this. Once is enough for me! haha

MIXING FRENCH MACARON BATTER

Before you start the process of mixing the macaron ingredients, you must make sure all tools are CLEAN! Wipe the bowl, whisk attachment, and even the spatula with some vinegar. You want to get rid of any sign of oil and grease – because of course, this will affect the outcome of the French macarons, just like anything and everything 😐

IMPORTANT NOTE!! We’re discussing making macarons using French meringue, not Italian meringue. Mixing macaron batter using the Italian meringue method is a completely different technique, and involves slowly cooking the whipped egg whites with a boiled sugar syrup.

As we continue with the French meringue method, after the mixing bowl is clean and dry, add your egg whites and mix on high until frothy. At this point, you can add the cream of tartar and salt. Cream of tartar also helps to stabilize the egg whites and create a stable meringue. Then slowly add the sugar (granulated or caster/superfine) to the frothy egg whites while the mixer is on. You can add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, or pour it in slowly.

You’ll notice that many macaron recipes include superfine sugar or caster sugar. But if you don’t have fine sugar on hand, granulated sugar is perfectly fine. Just make sure it isn’t lumpy 🙂

Continue to mix at high speed, and if you’re adding food colouring and vanilla extract, add it once you reach a soft peak. Keep in mind the colour will continue to get lighter as you continue beating the egg whites.

IMPORTANT NOTE!! Do NOT add an oil-based food colouring to your beaten egg whites. Adding an oil-based food colouring will undo all of that cleaning you did to your mixing tools at the beginning. It’s best to use a water-based gel food colouring (liquid food colouring will work as well).

Keep mixing on high until a stiff peak is achieved, not firm. But what’s the difference?! Let’s keep it simple:

Soft Peak: There’s a peak, but it flops over

Firm Peak: The peak holds its shape

Stiff Peak: The peak holds its shape AND stays in the bowl when you flip it upside down

Once you reach stiff peaks, STOP! You have to be careful not to overbeat the meringue, as you will likely end up with cracked shells as they bake 🙁 On the other hand, if you under beat the meringue, you can end up with hollow and/or flat macarons.

Now you’re ready to incorporate the almond flour/icing sugar mixture. Add this ⅓ at a time and fold it into the meringue. You’re folding and gently deflating the meringue. This is called “macaronage.”

But how do you “fold” the macaron batter?! This involves gently scraping under and around the bowl, then over and through the batter. And repeat. Around and over. Mastering the macaronage technique will contribute to successful macarons 🙂

Once you have added all of the almond flour and powdered sugar, continue the macaronage technique until the batter mimics a “lava consistency.” During my many trials, I’ve folded and folded and believed I’d acquired a lava consistency, but in fact, did not. So how runny is runny as lava? 

A video from one of my favourites, Preppy Kitchen, mentions the ability to make a figure 8 with the batter. And this has helped me so much! I get it now!

Keep folding until you reach this perfect lava consistency and you’re ready to pipe your French macarons!

PIPING FRENCH MACARONS

There are a few piping methods and techniques for properly piping French macarons. First off, have a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip (I use the Ateco 805 piping tip) prepared ahead of time, before you even start mixing.

I usually place the piping bag in a large glass while I make the macaron batter. That way it’s ready to fill with batter when I’ve completed the macaronage process.

You can pipe French macarons on a high-quality baking sheet pan prepared with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Quick tip! Pipe a small drop of batter on the corners of the sheet pan so the parchment paper doesn’t move!

This method of piping macarons is great if you’re an expert at piping evenly and you don’t have to worry about matching the size of macaron shells. 

But! If you’re not the best at piping, there are specific macaron baking mats available to help you. Some of them have templates printed on the mat to guide you, and others have ring moulds to pipe the perfect identical macaron batter circles.

Silicone baking mats have many benefits – they’re non-stick, easy to clean, and can be used for many desserts. 

You can use either a baking mat or parchment paper. It really depends on what works best for you…and your oven. Everyone’s oven is unique, which results in a different bake. 

Having moved a few times during my baking career, I’ve definitely had to adjust my methods with each home and corresponding oven. I used to use baking mats at my old house, now I use parchment paper at my new house. 

Macarons are truly a pain, right?! You may have to do a few trial runs to figure out what works! But the best part about trial and error – the macarons still taste delicious!

Now that you’ve piped the macaron shells, you have to get rid of those air bubbles. How? You have to slam them out! Take that baking sheet and slam them on the counter a few times. You’ll see the air bubbles rise out of the macarons. And If that’s not enough, use a toothpick to finish the job. 

PREPARING TO BAKE FRENCH MACARONS

After you’ve piped the macarons, do NOT bake them right away. The piped macarons need to rest at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour. This step is absolutely necessary for successful macarons.

Allowing the macarons to rest creates a skin on the shells, and this is vital to form those little feet on the bottom of each macaron cookie. You’ll know the macarons are ready for the oven when you gently touch the piped macaron shell and it’s firm to the touch. 

Be careful if you’re making macarons on a humid day! Humidity makes it difficult for the macarons to develop feet and you’ll end up with flat macarons 🙁

MACARON BAKING TIPS

French macarons do not take too long to bake in the oven. In the many videos, tutorials, and posts I’ve come across, I’ve seen a variety of oven temperatures and baking times. But baking them at 320 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes has worked best for me.

You’ll know that the macarons are done baking when you gently touch the top and the macaron isn’t wiggly 🙂

Though, it’s ideal to have an oven thermometer – not just for macarons, but in general. You might have an oven that’s too hot or not hot enough. And if the macarons are not baked properly, you’ll quickly notice the imperfections 🙁

You won’t discover the fault with French macarons until they are baking in the oven. They may seem perfect while they’re resting on your counter. But then you’ll see the cracks or the lopsidedness or the lack of “feet” while they’re baking :(. It’s a devastating discovery after all of the efforts you’ve put in.

Let’s quickly go over some common baking mishaps and the reasons for them:

1. Cracked macaron shell
   • The oven temperature is too high
   • There were too many air bubbles
2. Hollow macarons
   • The oven temperature was too low and the macarons are underbaked
   • The egg whites were overbeaten or under-beaten – master that lava consistency!
3. Flat macarons
   • The batter was overmixed while incorporating the dry ingredients
4. Uneven feet
   • The oven temperature is too high and/or the heat is being distributed unevenly (double pan to help with this issue)

The Final Touch: Macaron Fillings

Once the macarons are cooled completely, carefully remove the macarons from the parchment paper or baking mat. You must make the macarons cool before removing them, as they make stick and become ruined.

Popular macaron fillings are buttercream, ganache, and jam. White chocolate and chocolate ganache are great fillings for a chocolate lover 🙂 These fillings essentially determine the flavour of the macaron. Though, there are some flavours that can be incorporated into the macaron batter – like cocoa powder or pistachio powder. 

We usually fill our macarons with our silky and not-too-sweet buttercream! Then we add a variety of different flavourings. You can find our buttercream recipe in our Vanilla Cake Recipe post!

Our personal favourite is our salted caramel macarons. We incorporate homemade salted caramel into our vanilla buttercream. We love Preppy Kitchen’s salted caramel recipe 🙂

With a piping bag and a small round tip, pipe half the macaron shells with the desired filling and sandwich with the other half. I like to keep the finished macarons in the fridge for a day or 2 before serving. The macaron cookies become a bit softer in the fridge, which then allows the filling to infuse into the macarons 🙂 But they’re delicious to enjoy right away too!

MACARON STORAGE

French macarons are best kept cold should you decide not to enjoy them right away. They can be stored in the fridge for weeks, but they’ll last longer in the freezer. They can stay fresh in the freezer for several months.

Wherever you decide to store them, keep them in an airtight container or freezer bag to help maintain freshness!

A whole lot goes into making the perfect macarons. There’s so much preparation and steps to making them – and one misstep can ruin the whole batch! I can’t think of other cookies that are this challenging to make.

They’re temperamental desserts but they’re oh so worth it, right?! Especially if they’re homemade macarons that are for your family to enjoy. If the presentation isn’t up to par, they’re still delicious! But this post should help you get them perfect every time 🙂

So what have been your macaron struggles? Have you mastered them yet? Is there a tip you’d like to share? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Happy macaron making!

Mich