Updated May 2016.
Do you have a cooking bucket list? I’ve had an informal (read: in my head) bucket list for quite some time; on it you’ll find duck, szalonczukor (a Hungarian fondant candy), spun sugar, puff pastry, phyllo pastry and last but not least, French Macarons! This post is about Macarons.
I was first introduced to these French Macarons a few years ago, a friend had brought a few back for me from Ladurée in Paris. My first bite experience was INCREDIBLE: crunchy, airy, lightly sweet, slightly chewy, fragrant, creamy, buttery. It was an awakening! It’s what you Aussie’s would call moreish and I would even go further to say needish, wantish, must-haveish!
The flavour combinations are limitless and I’ve even seen some savoury versions floating about the web-o-sphere (I must admit, a savoury version makes me cringe a bit). Today, I will share with you my second attempt recipe even though my first version turned out wonderfully, they were rather irregular in size and therefore not blog worthy. I used a Martha Stewart recipe for the meringue bit and a standard custard-based butter cream for the filling. The flavours I chose were: attempt 1 was lemon, attempt 2 were ice wine and pomegranate, chocolate and hazelnut. All were really delicious but my favourite was the lemon.
I will begin by saying that making Macarons are not as difficult as you might think; you need patience, a little know how and perseverance. The ingredients are simple and few. It makes me wonder why they charge so much for them, it must be the pomp and circumstance because it isn’t the cost of ingredients!
This blog post is an excellent reference; the professional baker did all the time-consuming comparisons and experimentation and documented it. My advice: Go with confidence and you WILL rock the recipe.
Macarons
Original Martha Stewart recipe can be found here.
Ingredients for basic Macaron:
- 35 g blanched almond meal or flour
- 58 g icing sugar
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
- 25 g granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp gel food colouring (I used Christmas red)
Ingredients for Favoured Macarons:
- 35 g blanched almond meal or flour
- 53 g icing sugar
- 5 g flavour such as unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted) or espresso powder
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
- 25 g granulated sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C). Place the rack in lower part of the oven.
- Prepare your macaron template using your computer to draw 2.5 cm or 1″ circles about 2.5cm or 1″ apart. Print two sheets. Put the two sheets under your UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner to use as your circle templates.
- In a coffee grinder, grind the almond flour in batches to a fine consistency (being careful not to make paste (marzipan) out of it). Omit if you can purchase extra finely ground almond flour.
- Transfer ground almonds to a food processor and add the icing sugar; process until combined, about 1 minute.
- Press the almond/sugar mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the larger bits. You should have no more than 1 tbsp left, if you do, grind in coffee grinder again and press through fine sieve until you have no more than 1 tbsp left (save larger almond bits for something else).
- Whisk egg whites and granulated sugar by hand to combine. Then beat on medium speed (#4 on a KitchenAid) for about 2 minutes, then increase speed to medium-high (#6) and beat 2 additional minutes. Then beat on high (#8) for 2 minutes more. The beaten egg whites will hold very stiff, glossy peaks when you lift the whisk out of the bowl. DO NOT OVER WHIP.
- Add your choice of flavourings and food colourings and beat on the highest speed for about 1 minute. Just a drop if using flavouring or colour.
- Then add dry ingredients ALL at ONCE (yes, I know many recipes say to fold in gingerly, but you really don’t have to), then fold with a spatula from bottom of bowl upward and end by pressing the flat side of the spatula firmly through centre of mixture. Repeat this process until all of the almond/sugar mixture has been incorporated and the ‘batter’ flows like lava (I counted about 35 complete strokes).
- Prepare you pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm or 3/8″ round tip. Transfer the batter to the pastry bag.
- Begin piping the batter onto the prepared UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner directly over the circles you’ve previously prepared. I found starting at the outer edge and piping into the centre to the easiest way to keep the Macarons uniform, repeat until you’ve used up your batter. Martha suggests you pipe about 1 cm or 1/2″ above the pan, whatever you do, you must be consistent to keep the batter even (so your circles are all the same size). Gently slide out the template paper from beneath the UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner.
- Allow the pan to rest for 15 minutes, by doing this you give the peaks time to even out so your Macarons are beautiful and flat on top. Some suggest that you gently bang the pan a few time to remove air bubbles, I found I didn’t have many bubbles.
- Bake each sheet separately for 13 minutes, rotating halfway through if your oven doesn’t bake evenly. Gently slide the liner off the baking sheet and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. The UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner allows you to pry off each macaron half easily onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. You may freeze the Macaron halves at this point in a well sealed, air-tight container.
- Prepare your butter cream.
Basic Butter Cream Recipe:
Ingredients:
-
- 3 egg yolks
- 35 g granulated sugar
- 3 1/2 tablespoons milk
- 105 g unsalted butter, softened
- 62 g icing sugar
Ingredients for Ice Wine and Pomegranate Butter Cream:
-
- 5 g ice wine syrup
- 1 g pomegranate molasses
- 2 drops generic red icing colour
Ingredients for Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Cream:
-
- 2 tbsp Nutella or hazelnut chocolate spread
Directions:
- In a small saucepan, combine the egg yolks, milk and granulated sugar and whisk. Cook over medium heat until the egg thickens to coat the back of a spoon (like pudding). Remove from heat and allow to cool COMPLETELY.
- When cool, beat the butter with the icing sugar until light and fluffy and add the cooked egg mixture and beat on high until very fluffy.
- To make two flavours, divide the buttercream in half (roughly) and to each half add the flavourings.
- Pair each Macaron half to a half that is more or less is the same size and shape, set aside.
- Onto one-half of each Macaron pair, pipe the buttercream but not to the edge. Take the other half and gently squeeze the to side together so the buttercream squishes almost to the edge. Set aside. When you have filled all the halves, set on a clean baking sheet and refrigerate until buttercream is set. Store in an air-tight container on their sides until ready to serve. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
A few notes:
-
- I prefer weight measures over volume because it’s more accurate.
- I ground my almonds in a coffee grinder because it results in a finer grind and apparently the grind is very important. Update May 2016: a fine grind almond meal is now available at my Bulk Barn so I no longer require to grind it in the coffee grinder.
- I used Wilton’s paste food colouring for the ice wine Macaron cookies.
- I ruined a batch using the convection setting in my oven; they didn’t spread nor did they rise or develop feet.
- Over the years, I have made quite a few batches of these treats (the latest May 2016 was 146 macarons for our anniversary party). Two observations: Do not over beat the egg whites or they will not form feat and they will crack. Also, I found that they will crack if you do not fold the almond meal into the egg whites enough, the batter really needs to behave like lava, a slow moving thick batter.
- Update May 5, 2016: I have also used this recipe from the very lovely Lorraine over at Not Quite Nigella and it is excellent. Her recipe makes 461 g of buttercream and by my estimation, each macaron takes about 14 g of buttercream (or if you make small macarons, only about 7 g of buttercream).
[…] the oven to 350° F. Line your baking sheet with parchment with circle-round templates beneath it (this is a more detailed account of this […]
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I was wondering, where did you purchase your Ice Wine Syrup? I want to give your Macaron recipe a try…I’ve tried at least 5-7 different recipes and tried different methods over 10 times and I am not getting the results I want, so I’ll give yours a go!
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Hi Kathy B, welcome to my blog. I purchased the syrup from the Delicious Food Show a few years ago. Here is a link to their website http://www.icesyrup.com/. I have success every second batch of macarons, it is a fact of life. The humidity does make a huge difference as does the quality of the almond meal — it is imperative to run it through a sieve to break up the chunks and weed out the larger pieces. Good luck, I’m considering making several batches for our 30th wedding anniversary party in May!
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I don’t have a bucket list, but now I’ll think about one! Your macarons post is so thorough and the photos so elegant. Surely I should attempt these. Beautiful.
These seem to be all the rage with dedicated Macarons stores popping up all over Manhattan.
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Hi Ruth, thank you for your kind words. Macaron bakeries are also popping up left, right and centre here in Toronto and they are expensive! I’m about to make another couple of batches, the ends freeze very well and I make up the butter cream as needed.
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yupp, mine was the ultimate beef wellington
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Beef wellington was a dish my Mom made for dinner guests and boy was it a big hit!
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Love that you’re not afraid to tackle all manner of new things Eva. And what a success too. I have never tasted a macaron — yours are so pretty — the lovely chocolate and pink together have Valentine’s day written all over them :D. Yes, I jumped on a few wish list items over Christmas making Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon and classic French silk pie (raw eggs and all 😉 ). Great fun and feels good to try some of those long desired items. Have a great weekend Eva.
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Reading about your Christmas cooking and baking really made me salivate and yes it makes you feel so good too, not to mention the great taste as well! The French silk pie sounded so delicious. Thank you for your generous words Kelly.
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I have to say that your macarons look absolutely perfect to me, Eva. Not to mention the fact that I’d like to dive into any one of these photos and grab several to taste. Love you choice of flavors. I’d never have the patience to make these, but am enjoying the process immensely vicariously!
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Thank you kindly Betsy, they really were not as fussy as I had feared. I’m so glad that you are enjoying them vicariously!
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Laduree macarons were our first French macarons too, and in Paris to boot. We all loved them. Every single one. The kids even scored a few freebies! Pays to have cute golden curls. 😉 I remember we talked about making these after our trip to put on the blog. As you know, we haven’t made it there yet. Perhaps one of these days we’ll tackle them. And I’ll make sure to come back here for your tutorial – always so thorough. And I love that you mapped out the size! Always so clever. Congrats on tackling these. They are quite intimidating when you’ve never done them before.
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Thanks Kristie, what a beautiful memory to have tried them in Paris! I think you’ll be able to master these beautiful cookies in no time. And I think Miss A could even help.
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Mrs KR is the baker in our household, and she’s done macarons several times. And you’re right, that post by Brave Tart that you referenced is wonderful! Anyway, terrific looking macarons. I love their looks, and you’re right that flavor combos are almost endless. Savory ones, though? Gotta think about that!
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Thanks John, I did find that blog very insightful. I’d be interested in the flavours Mrs. KR has baked up.
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Eve, you nailed these! Macarons have been on my bucket list longer than I can remember…. I’ve bought the ingredients for my macarons ages ago, and I’ve flown overseas and back again and still haven’t made them! I can’t tell if I’m dreading another failed attempt (would be my 4th) or if I’m too excited to make them 😉 This is great inspiration, and a huge push of encouragement to have a go!
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I’m so glad that I was able to give you encouragement to try again, make sure you select a day that isn’t humid. I’m sure you’ll be able to master them in no time. Thank you for your kind words.
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macarons are on my bucket list too! I have yet to get to them but I hope that wen I do mine turn out as amazing as yours did. They are beautiful!
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Thanks so much Jessica, they were a lot of fun to make and I love that they are totally gluten free.
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Those are beautiful. It reminds me of my first macarons and how I peeled them off the sheet with a spoon. I went on to be successful and now they aren’t so scary. Well done!
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Ha, I had a couple of those kind too Maureen, I believe I didn’t bake them long enough. Thank you for your kind words.
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Congratulations on mastering an item on your cooking bucket list! They look beautiful and delicious.
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Thank you kindly Katie and welcome to my blog.
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Wow, what perfect macarons. Yeah, I have no desire to ever make a savory version—but I really need to make another batch since my first attempt was documented with hideous photos. Sigh.
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Hi Liz, your first attempt didn’t turn out too bad! Perhaps not as perfect as all of our other baking but still, I’m sure they were tasty! Ah yes, those first photos — I have more than a few I’m mortified about!
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Please, you’re entitled to take as many pictures as you damn well please when things look this good!!
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Thanks Dana, are they not popular in Boston? They are taking over retail baking shops in Toronto…just like in Paris, we have dedicated shops that only sell macarons!
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They’re not really a big deal around here.
They’re around but I mean, a bunch of other stuff is too you know?
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That’s quite interesting Dana, thanks.
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Well done Eva! They can be so challenging, especially in hot, humid weather. I struggled with these for years until I realised that storing the almonds in the fridge wasn’t good for them! I went through so many batches!
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Thank you for your kind words Lorraine, yes indeed there were a few mishaps that allowed for tweaking but I’ve made this very recipe about 10 times already and have plans for a few more batches this week. Fortunately, it’s winter here so it’s not humid at all, I likely won’t be making these in the heat of the summer.
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I’ve only made one thing on your bucket list, although I’m not sure whether you mean whole duck or just any duck. Anyway, the cookies look wonderful. Eating them is on my bucket list.
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I was envious of your duck Greg, I’m still going to make one but it seems every time I have time to do it, I’m watching the calories so it’s not a good time!
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Yay for ticking something off your bucket list for 2015.
The idea of making macarons scare me. I buy them every now and then and yes, they’re expensive! Are you sure they’re not super temperamental? I worry about not having any “feet” or cracking, even not getting the butter cream right. Yours look perfect. Are you inspired to experiment with more flavours now? Or are you satisfied you have ticked the item on your list?
This post would be a wonderful addition to Our Growing Edge this month.
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Hi Genie, yes I was thinking of adding it to the Growing Edge, thank you for the nudge! I have indeed made several batches since these two, the flavours were: Espresso, Mexican Chocolate (a touch of cayenne pepper in the filling and sprinkled on top of the cookie), Lemon (a huge favourite), Cherry (tasted like cough syrup and went straight into the bin!), Salted Caramel (Australian Sea Salt sprinkled on top) and last but not least Coconut and Lime (coconut sprinkled on top). I have to say that my all-time fav is the Espresso but everyone really loves the Lemon. I think I’ll give the salted caramel another go, the first few batches turned out too small so I adjusted the template and now they are perfect! I am making a few as gifts for valentine’s day.
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Mmmm…salted caramel sounds right up my alley, though espresso and lemon sound good too. While I love fresh cherries, I hate cherry flavoured things. You’re right, too cough syrupy.
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Your macarons have turned out incredibly well and I love how you made two different choices – they look so beautiful plated together. I have a fear of macarons as mine have always been a disappointment. Maybe it’s time I gave it another try xx
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Hi Charlie, I found that grinding the almond meal in my coffee grinder gave it a beautiful texture. I do hope you give it another try, but I would suggest the winter as humidity affects it a great deal.
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Congratulations, Eva! I am really impressed! Your macarons look like taken straight from the confectioner’s shop! (I also discored first macarons at Ladurée, but it has always been too sweet… but if you go back to France (or Japan!) you should taste Pierre Hermé’s macarons. Lighter and much more creative! Since I discovered his products I stopped buying at Ladurée which has several shops in my city…so this is a good thing for my waistline 😉 ).
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Thank you for your kind words, Sissi. They were a lot of fun to make and I’ve made many batches since. That is good to know about Pierre Hermé, next time I am in Paris, I will seek his macarons out. I’ve had Christophe Roussel’s macarons and they were quite tasty too.
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I love baking macarons, your ones turned out SO good 😀
The colour is great and perfect shape! Awesome job my friend!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Those are beautiful, Eva. I’ve had a sheet of parchment paper with the circles drawn on it in the storage area below the oven for about a year. Right now, I have a container with 6 egg whites in it. They will probably end up down the drain again.
Oh well, I made cherries jubilee crepes on the weekend which was ‘sort of’ on my cooking bucket list.
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Maria, it really was easy, you should definitely give it a try particularly if the egg whites are doomed anyway! Im making another batch today!
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I don’t have any almonds to grind up right now. At least the egg yolks went into a great lemon-orange curd.
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I’m told any nuts would work!
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Baked them years ago…but not as perfect as yours. These look gorgeous!
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Thank you for your kind words Angie, the most difficult part is getting the volume of batter the same on all the halves…so that they spread the same amount. I’m sure it’s a practice makes perfect thing.
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As you say, Eva. They’re worth the perseverance to get the recipe correct. Once you’ve mastered them, like you have, you wonder what all the fuss is about. Have you tried with different nuts, hazelnuts and pistachios are amazing. I just blitz them and sieve them so you get just as fine pieces like ground almonds. Your fillings sound delicious.
My bucket list had baklava on it. I made some pistachio, cardamom and rose ones for Xmas. The standard diamonds and ones called Burma baklava, which were great fun.
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Hi David, yes I have read that other nuts work very well too as well as some recipes omit all nuts all together. I did make Baklava a couple of times, but always relatively small quantities. The Burma baklava sound great.
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Macarons have bern on my list forever! I love the flavor combinations and the colors in yours!
Hats off to you Eva! Perfectly done
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Thank you kindly Sawsan, I had beginners luck. I am going to bake more of them in the near future, they are just such a treat and everyone loves them so.
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Ah, szalonczukor… I’d love to find a recipe for the one I ate in the 1950s and 60s, posted from Budapest. Love your macarons…. they are on my list too!
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Hi Lizzy, thank you for the compliment. When I find a good recipe for szaonczukor I will definitely share it.
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