FRENCH MACARON RECIPE
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m AmberLee, and Giverslog is my place to collect gift ideas and pretty wrapping ideas from talented friends and bloggers. I hope my notes here help you out. If you’re itching for more, stop by here for several more fun gifts from the kitchen on my gift guides page. Have fun with the macarons!
I’ve been wanting to make macarons for some time. I love recipes for basic foods that are all about getting the technique right. Plus macarons are such cheerful but estimable little desserts, and they freeze so well, that they are great to make in advance if you have several birthdays or events coming up with people who will appreciate them.
I found that making macarons was definitely a delicate process, but a doable one. It is such a thrill to get a batch come out of the oven with a pretty dome and that perfect foot, it feels like going golfing and sinking a perfect putt (a feeling I barely know). So even though I went to bed exhausted, I woke up thinking of little alterations I could make next time to get the perfect batch. I can see how it could be addicting.
After my day of experimenting with different batches, here are some lessons learned. Martha has two recipes online, and I went with her recipe from the June 2008 issue of Living, written by NYC cooking instructor Gail Monaghan (author of Lost Desserts).
French Macarons
(recipe from MarthaStewart.com
posted here with annotations)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 4.5 oz
3/4 cup almond flour, 2.5 oz. (I made my own by processing almond slivers)
2 large egg whites, room temperature (take from the fridge the day before or the morning of)
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup superfine sugar, 1.5 oz. (also called baker’s sugar, I’ve read you can make your own by processing granulated sugar, but have never tried it)
3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam, for filling
See MACAROON VARIATIONS and SUGGESTED FILLINGS on Martha’s website, including chocolate, coconut, peanut, pistachio, raspberry, and vanilla bean
Directions
1. Pulse confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times. I found sifting with my usual flour sifter near impossible. The almond flour caked under the sifting hand and balled up over it. Instead I sifted with a simple bowl-shaped sieve.
2. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add superfine sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes (for me it took only 3 to 4 minutes, take care not to over-whip).
3. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny. I found the amount of folding to be crucial. Fold too little, and your macaron shells will have peaks instead of nice rounded caps. Fold too much, and your meringue will drip into a mess of wafer-thin blobs. Tartlette recommends about 50 folds, until your batter has a magma-like flow. You can test a daub on a plate, and if a small beak remains, turn the batter a couple times more. If the batter forms a round cap but doesn’t run, it is just right. When I spooned my batter into the pastry bag, the perfect batter started to just ooze out of the tip once the bag was full. If it stayed stiff inside the bag it was too stiff, if it dripped out too fast the batter was too runny. I found that doubling the recipe made this step very difficult for me, I found I would over fold to incorporate the flour mixture and I would end up with a runny batter.
4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. (You can pipe 1-inch to 2-inch rounds, but you will need to add cooking time). Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. (Different recipes recommend anywhere from no rest time to 2 hours rest time. I was most happy with 30 to 45 minutes rest time, once the caps looked more dull and had formed a slight crust.)
5. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees. Every oven is different, so you may need to play with your oven temperature. The tops of the macaron shells should not brown.
6. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. If macarons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macarons.
7. Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon jam. Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months. It takes only 30 minutes out of the freezer for macarons to be ready to serve.
click here for more Gifts from the Kitchen
Tags: alternatives to a plate of cookies, DIY gifts by GiversLog, DIY handmade gifts, free printable party favors, free printables for gifts, gifts from the kitchen, green gifts
April 24th, 2009 at 6:06 am
oooh – my husband it going to be tHRILLED about this. He has been wanting to try to make macaroons for some time. thank you!
April 25th, 2009 at 4:04 am
YUM! these look amazing! And such cute packaging.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:59 am
They tasted so good!
June 16th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Greetings!
I aptempted to make these lovley things yesterday and I pretty much flopped!
I used this recipe from Martha and I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to the baking. (I’m going to buy an over gauge today, just incase it’s the temp.)
I began to search for help and found your blog.
I’m not getting the “perfect feet” and some batches are cracking? Any advice?
Also, the sticker is amazing I just love it!
Is there a pre-cut sticker (label type) that fits it or do you cut them yourself? If you do cut them yourself do you use a certian tool?
Thank you in advance for your help!!
Gretchen
June 16th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Hi Gretchen,
First of all, so sorry you’ve had some frustrations, I totally know how you feel. I got the feet right only when I got the batter to just the right consistency—folded it just the right number of times so that if I did a test dollop the beak would just start to disappear into the dollop (but don’t fold too much past that!) Also, I did have one batch crack when I forgot to turn down the temperature after putting the batch in. So hopefully the oven thermometer will fix the cracking. If you do figure it out, I’d love to hear what did the trick!
As for the label, I cut mine with a standard papercutter and then used a corner rounder punch for the corners. I try to keep my punches to a limited number, and my corner rounder is one I use all the time.
Good luck with your baking!
August 13th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I have been researching french macaroons for months on the internet trying different recipes and this one worked for me. thanks so much for posting and giving your commentary on what worked and what didn’t. I love the pink color you used. i am making mine for my brother-n-law’s wedding as guest favors. Can I ask where you got those wonderful bags to put them in? I love the tag you made too! Beautiful pictures by the way! I could look at those macaroons all day.
August 14th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Hi Terri,
I’m so glad you found it useful! I actually wrapped these in stiff cellophane, but it was tricky. Just a little pressure will crack them. You may want to experiment a bit with your packaging before you settle down and make several of them. Best of luck! You ‘re BIL is lucky to have you!
September 8th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Hi Amberlee, I posted your blog on my blog and wanted to let you know. You have some of the best ideas out there. Thanks, Terri
November 24th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Oh my, these look lovely! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
The only thing I would like to add is that you have the wrong name for them!
This particular pastry is called a French macaron, with just one “o” in the name.
A macaroon is the coconut cookie that looks like a little haystack. I guess even Martha got it confused! They’re very similar-sounding names!
January 1st, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Thank you so much for posting this! I had made meringues as candy before, and I decided to try your sandwiches. I went for the vanilla option with the Swiss meringue buttercream, and they’re so cute and so tasty. I even got the perfect feet, which excited me to no end. One problem I had was piping them. How did you pipe them so perfectly? Mine are lumpy or swirly and most are oblong. Is there a secret trick to making those smooth looking little rounds?
Again thank you for posting these, they are a hit!
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:49 am
You forgot to mention the coloring! when do we put in??
Thanks
January 4th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
it’s macaron, not macaroon. macaroons are those coconut cookies.
January 5th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Hi Julie,
So glad your recipe turned out! And so amazed you got the perfect feet right off. As for the piping, I just played around and practiced a bit. I eneded up keeping the pastry tip pretty close to the paper and letting the batter squeeze up around it, then finishing up with a little swirl at the end. Martha has a video where she suggests tracing circles onto the parchment before piping them, and she just pipes in simple swirls, if I’m remembering right. Here’s the link to the video:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/try-martha-s-macaroon-recipe/65pssh7
congrats and good luck!
Amber
February 5th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Dear Amber,
I made a batch last night that came out looking very similar to the ones you have on the photo. The only ‘flaw’ they have is that the tops are not perfectly smooth. But if I take a closer look at your photos, then I see that the tops of yours have little peaks and ripples as well. Do you know why this is happening? Is there a way to get the batter to spread a bit better after piping so that the shells are completely smooth? Thanks for the detailed recipe.
February 8th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Hi Elena,
Congrats on a great batch! From my experience, the best way to avoid the beak on top is to get the folding exactly right. One or two folds more might help the batter get just a tad softer without getting to the runny stage. However, it doesn’t hurt to pipe them just right. I try to pipe with the tip burried just a little bit in the batter as it squirts up around the tip. And a giving the baking sheet a good tap on the counter top doesn’t hurt either. But really I feel like the key is in getting the folding just right.
Good luck, and if you end up finding any great tip, drop by and let me know. I want to get as consistent with these as I can!