How to Make Macarons (French Macaroons): Basic French Macaron Recipe

Parisian macarons are gluten-free almond meringue cookies sandwiched together with a creamy filling of ganache, buttercream, or jam. Made famous pastry chefs such as Ladurée and Pierre Hermé, they’re a relatively recent invention based off an older style of Italian almond cookie. The cookies themselves, made of finely ground almond flour, egg whites, and sugar, puff up during baking to create a hollow center and a defined pied (foot), upon which different fillings are spread. With a mild flavor and color on their own, macarons are a natural base for all kinds of fillings and colorful dyes, especially around Easter.

Colorful, delicate French macarons and rustic coconut macaroons seem a world apart, but they actually share a common source beyond their similar names: the original Italian macaroon, a cookie made from almonds and egg whites thought to have originated in southern Italy and possibly brought to France by the likes of Catherine de Medici. A version substituting shredded coconut for almonds, called a macaroon, became popular in the U.S. in the 19th century. The Parisian macaron, developed in the 20th century, used fine almond flour and powdered sugar to produce a smooth cookie sandwich that could be endlessly colored and flavored.

• Macarons Basques: This Southern French variety is left undyed and served individually, are older than the sandwich kind and more similar to their Italian ancestors.
• Macaron géant (giant macaron) or gâteau macaron (macaron cake): Extra-large macarons can also be found in Paris, filled with cream and berries.
• Macarons have taken on another life in the U.S., where extra-large ice cream–filled versions are especially popular in New York and California.

• If you have a kitchen scale, use it: measuring by weight is more accurate, and can make a difference in delicate pastries like macarons.
• You can make your own almond flour using sliced blanched almonds, processed in a food processor until very fine. Both homemade and store-bought almond meal benefit from additional sifting through a fine-mesh sieve.
• Room-temperature egg whites will whip to an airier texture. If you have the time, take your eggs out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you plan to bake.
• Use a very clean stainless steel or glass bowl to whip egg whites to avoid scraping bits of plastic into the whipped eggs.
• For easier piping, trace 1-1½-inch circles on parchment paper, leaving at least an inch of space between circles. Place a small dot of macaron batter in each corner of a baking sheet to secure the parchment paper to the baking sheet. Alternatively, use silicone baking mats.
• Use thick baking sheets to prevent the undersides of the cookies from getting too brown, or stack two thin baking sheets on top of each other.
• After piping the macarons, tap the baking sheets on the counter a few times to release air bubbles, which will give your cookies a smoother surface.
• Macarons need to soften in the refrigerator at least 24 hours after they’ve baked and been assembled. You can bring them up to room temperature 30 minutes before serving, if desired.

When it comes to the famous Parisian sandwich cookie, the flavor possibilities are limitless. Some classics include:

• Rose, which features pink-dyed cookies and rose buttercream filling
• Chocolate, which is made with cocoa powder and chocolate ganache filling
• Vanilla, filled with buttercream that’s sometimes speckled with the beans from a fresh vanilla pod
• Pistachio, dyed pale green and filled with nut paste
• Lemon, dyed yellow and filled with curd
• Salted caramel, usually dyed brown and filled either with caramel or caramel-flavored buttercream, sometimes sprinkled with fleur de sel
• Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry–flavored macarons are usually filled with thick jam
• Pâtissier Pierre Hermé is famous for his Ispahan (raspberry, lychee, rose) and Mogador (chocolate, passionfruit) flavor combinations

Learn more about the fundamentals of French pastry making with Chef Dominique Ansel here.