Basic French Macaron Guide

"There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking"

I've been baking french macarons a little over a year now. During the Spring of 2017, I decided to practice perfecting and getting to know these fancy almond cookies. I feel anybody can make french macarons as long as they put time, love and patience. I constantly had cracked, hollow and flat macarons my first couple of tries. I had a mason jar filled of imperfect macarons for my husband to munch on! Below are a couple of tips and tricks I use for baking french macarons.

1. Weigh ALL your ingredients. 

I can't stress enough how important this is. I have a lot of people ask me "Is there an easier way?" . I believe this is the easiest way in the long run. Everything needs to be precise while making these delicate cookies. Weighing scales are super inexpensive; I grabbed my weighing scale on Amazon for $10! Eventually, using weighing scale can be beneficial for using exact measurements every time leaving your recipe to be  flawless. 

2. Get to know your oven

This one was a hard one for me at the beginning of my macaron process. All ovens are different but typically most ovens go hotter than usual. My first year baking macarons, I had to figure out what temperature was right for me. I choose about 275-280 degrees F for my macarons. All ovens are different in terms of heat and circulation. Consider getting a oven thermometer ($6 on Amazon) to know exactly what temperature you oven is at. 

3. Don't Give UP!

Yep! I had times I just thought to myself "Is this worth it?". Once you have accomplished something, it gives you inspiration to try new things! Just like any new hobby or craft it takes time and effort. Don't give up in something just because its "too hard" , face it as a new challenges or goals. 

Let's Begin!

H

Yield: 60 pairedAuthor: CharmainePrint Recipe

French Macarons

prep time: 35 minscook time: 20 minstotal time: 55 mins

A basic french macaron recipe using the Italian French Method

ingredients:

300 grams Almond Four 

300 grams Powdered Sugar 

110 grams Egg Whites 2x 

300 grams Caster Sugar 

75 grams Water

5 grams desired food color 

instructions:

1. Sift and weigh almond flour and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl 

2. Add the first 110 grams of egg whites to the sifted almond mixture. You want to mix it until it looks like an almond paste. 

3. In a saucepan, combine sugar and water together. Heat sugar syrup on medium-high until it reaches 118 degrees celsius  (244 degrees F)

4. Once your sugar syrup reaches to about 90-100 degrees celsius, place egg whites in a stand mixer and whip egg whites on medium.

5. When sugar syrup reaches 118 degrees C (egg whites should be foamy) slowly pour in sugar syrup while eggs white are whisking. 

5. Increase speed slowly and add desired food color. Egg whites should have a stiff peak meringue.

6. Combine 1/4 of the meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture.

7. Combine the rest of the meringue into the almond paste mixture until you get a molten lava consistency.*

8. Transfer mixture into a piping bag with a round tip (Wilton 1A).

9. Pipe 1- 1 1/2 inch circles onto a macaron template on parchment or silpat mat. 

10. Pre-heat your oven 280 degrees F 

11. Once ready, place macarons in the oven for 20 minutes. If macarons don't stick to the mat, they are done. 

12. Cool macarons, fill and pair with buttercream or ganache filling. 

NOTES:

*Macarons are better eaten the day after. Give at least 24 hours of maturing time to get the flavors to blend.
*I prefer silpat mats for a more round shape
*Do not over mix or else macarons will end up flat. They need to have a stable consistency for a more round shape

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