French Macarons

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

• tip 1
  Macaroons vs Macarons: Macaroons are snowball-shaped confections made of shredded coconut held together with egg whites and sugar. Macarons are delicate French meringue-based sandwich cookies that are chewy and crisp. Classic macarons have slightly domed tops with a crinkled “foot” around the bottom edge of the cookie that forms as it bakes. Macarons can be filled with a variety of fillings like chocolate ganache, fruit curd, jam or buttercream frosting.
• tip 2
  This is a more challenging recipe, so we recommend reading the recipe thoroughly to be sure you understand the steps. Measure all your ingredients, and gather your tools before you begin. Macarons are delicious and well worth the effort. Practice makes perfect!
• tip 3
  Egg whites whip best at room temperature; for food safety reasons, limit to 30 minutes at room temperature. Make sure egg whites are yolk-free, or your meringue may deflate. A clean glass, metal or copper bowl is best for whipping meringue. Wipe bowls and utensils with vinegar or lemon juice on a clean cloth to make sure there is no grease or fat which prevents egg whites from whipping fully.
• tip 4
  We like to use super-fine almond flour for classic macarons for its fine texture and how easily it sifts with the powdered sugar. Using a fine mesh strainer to sift ensures the almond flour and powdered sugar will have no lumps.
• tip 5
  Macaronage is the French term for the technique used to incorporate the dry ingredients (almond flour and powdered sugar) into the meringue (egg white mixture) which becomes the batter for macarons. Check often to see if the batter is the right consistency for piping as you are folding the batter. Overmixing can make the batter thin and hard to pipe and will become a thin, flat cookie. Undermixing the batter can make the cookies lumpy or hollow inside.
• tip 6
  Before sandwiching the 2 macaron cookies together, it helps to pair the macarons by size. Sometimes the shapes are slightly different, even when piping with a template.
• tip 7
  In a rush? Skip the piping bag for filling the macarons and use a small icing spatula to spread.
• tip 8
  It’s best to make macarons when the humidity is below 50%, so that they will stay light and fluffy when baked. Macarons bake best one sheet at a time on middle oven rack.
• tip 9
  Do you want to have more than one color of macarons? To get multicolored macarons, skip adding the gel food color with the vanilla. After the egg white mixture has tall stiff peaks, split the mixture between two bowls. Add a different gel food color to each bowl and carefully stir in just until evenly colored. Be sure to only stir just until the egg white mixture is tinted so not to overmix before folding in the powdered sugar-almond mixture. Another option is to make 2 separate batches of macarons and tint each one a different color.
• tip 10
  We tested this recipe with an electric stand mixer. An electric hand mixer may also be used, but the beating time may take a little longer for the egg mixture to reach a tall stiff peak.