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French Macarons

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Macarons are light-as-a-feather French confections that can be assembled pulling from a mix-and-match palette of sweet fillings and bases. Our recipe for this sophisticated French treat offers variations for vanilla bean, chocolate, peanut, coconut, raspberry and pistachio macarons.

Source: Martha Stewart Living, January 2009
Yield

Ingredients

For the Macarons

Suggested Fillings for Macarons

Directions

  1. Watch: How to Sift Flour Without a Sieve
  2. Watch: How to Fold

Variations

Chocolate: Substitute 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder for 1/4 cup of the almond flour.

Coconut: Substitute 2 tablespoons desiccated unsweetened coconut for 2 tablespoons of the almond flour, and add 1/2 teaspoon rum; sprinkle with additional coconut before baking.

Peanut: Substitute an equal amount finely ground unsalted peanuts (peanut flour) for the almond flour.

Pistachio: Substitute 1/2 cup finely ground unsalted pistachios (pistachio flour) for 1/2 cup of the almond flour, and add 2 to 3 drops forest-green gel-paste food coloring.

Raspberry: Add 1 tablespoon fresh raspberry puree, strained, plus 3 to 4 drops dusty-rose gel-paste food coloring.

Vanilla Bean: Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use. For filling you can use our Pineapple Buttercream from the Pineapple Dacquoise.

Cook's Notes

Piping the perfect macaron takes a little practice. Treat it as you would a rosette, bringing the pastry tip to the side of the circle, rather than forming a peak, to finish. Macarons will keep for up to 3 months if stacked between layers of parchment, wrapped in plastic, and frozen.

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Reviews

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  • JLLICEA
    25 MAY, 2015
    Mine came out hollow. i really wanted to love this since they came out not so sweet, but hollow.
    Reply
  • sydneykateland
    18 MAY, 2015
    Does anyone remember the adaptation for the chocolate macaron?! It is no longer under the cooks note!
    Reply
  • Cucapiza
    27 MAR, 2015
    I have a question, does anyone know if I can make them ahead without the filling? How should I store them? I want my daughters friends to spread the filling as an activity on her French theme birthday party. Please help! Thanks Cuca
    Reply
    • Cole90
      28 MAR, 2015
      The shells freeze well. Store them in an air tight container and they will keep for a few months. Defrost before filling.
  • gemaduran
    27 MAR, 2015
    To see pictures of my macaroons look me up on fb or Instagram @photography by Gema. They were sooo yummy
    Reply
  • gemaduran
    25 MAR, 2015
    Love it! They turned out great! One thing though, you need to bang the pan to remove any air bubbles and let it rest for 30 mins before baking.
    Reply
  • rds6950
    6 MAR, 2015
    I love making meringue cookies & macrons. But I saw a lot of people talking about having a gooey cookie. Sometimes it's hard to get a crisp cookie when it's humid, when using a meringue. That may have been the issue.
    Reply
  • JFW3
    2 MAR, 2015
    Back before I " knew" that macaroons were "hard" to make, I used this recipe. Perfect the first time I tried it. I've since tried the ones requiring precise measurements, "aged" egg whites, days of flout drying, etc and had utter failure. I come back to this one and ... PERFECT! Don't mess with Martha. She knows her stuff.
    Reply
  • MS11447279
    13 FEB, 2015
    I find that these are so easy to make. I started making them a while back and enjoy the crispy outer shell. I really admired the fillings suggested. I never knew what to fill them with. I just experimented. Thanks for sharing ways to fill them.
    Reply
  • ann_veal
    4 JAN, 2015
    I tried this recipe a few days ago, and it was GREAT. I had always wanted to make macarons, but heard how hard it was-- but if you follow the instructions, you will definitely nail it too. The only thing I screwed up on was not mixing the batter enough at the end. As others had said, watch a video to figure out the consistency you need, and they will be perfect.
    Reply
  • Kristy Lumsden
    14 DEC, 2014
    This is by far the worst macaron recipe. I wasted 5 batches on this and the "basic macaron" recipe thinking it was me, tried two others and they were perfect. Save time and Google "Beth's foolproof macaron recipe" it never fails you!
    Reply

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