Makes 25-30 assembled 1.5 inch macarons.
Find below instructions for macarons made with the french meringue method. These pictures are from the second batch of macarons I ever made, back in 2018. I started making macarons the french meringue method. I used the swiss method for a while but now I am back to using the french method.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup almond flour
3 large egg whites, at room temperature, aged*
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup superfine sugar
2 to 3 drops of gel food coloring
1/2 teaspoon desired extract flavoring (optional, may want a trial run without any flavoring if this is your first attempt)
Fillings of your choice
*To age the egg whites, put them in a clean bowl and on the countertop for 24 hours. Do not put the lid on tightly. Just place the lid on but still allow some air to get to the eggs. A cheat (to save time) is to microwave the room temperature eggs on medium for 10 seconds.
Method:
1. Lay parchment paper on baking sheets. You will need 2 baking sheets. Have a macaroon template under the parchment paper (You can slide it around as needed when you start piping later).
2. In a food processor, grind confectioners’ sugar and almond flour to mix it up to a finer texture. Next, pass through a sieve. You may have 2-3 tablespoons of coarse almond flour that doesn’t pass through the sieve. It is okay to toss this.
3. Have the granulated sugar close to your working area. Put the egg whites in a stainless steel bowl. Whisk at low/medium speed with your hand mixer or stand mixer. Once it gets a bit frothy, add the cream of tartar then start whisking on high. Once it starts to get bubbly add the granulated sugar slowly. Continue to whisk till you have a meringue with stiff peaks.
4. Using a spatula, fold in the food coloring. Do not whisk anything from this stage on. Handle the meringue with care.
5. Next fold in the almond flour and confectioners sugar mixture and fold in your flavor extract. Be careful not to overhandle this mixture. Carefully continue combining by folding, always sliding the spatula to the bottom of the bowl and back up to make sure no pockets of dry ingredients remain.
6. Prepare the pastry bag with the 1/2 inch round ( or larger tip like a Wilton 2A) piping tip. Carefully transfer the mixture to the pastry bag.
7. Pipe the macaroon mixture on the baking sheets. Hit the tray on the counter a few times to let out bubbles. Then let them rest for at least 20-40 mins, could be longer if the humidity is high.
8. Test if the macarons are ready to bake – lightly touch them. A light coating should have developed and it should not stick to your finger.
9. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
10. Bake for about 14 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake only one tray of macarons at a time. The macarons are ready when they lift off the parchment paper easily.
11. Let them cool on the sheet for 5-10 minutes then transfer the parchment paper and the macarons to a cooling rack.
12. Add your filling and assemble it after they have cooled to room temperature.
Notes:
On step #4 - you don't want to under beat but you also don't want to over beat them! On step #6 - I know I am done folding if when I raise my spatula the ribbons, that form from the trickles, flatten in about 8 -10 seconds.
*** I describe the perfect macaron characteristics here in a section of my mint chocolate macaron recipe.
Macarons can be challenging to make and there are so many versions of instructions out there. My recipe is a product of a lot of reading and troubleshooting which finally led me to this method that works great! Please share your stories and pictures if it worked for you. Thanks