Macarons

Macaron recipe with five ingredient groups: the meringue and macaron batter base, and four possible fillings: chocolate ganache, almond filling, vanilla or another extract buttercream, and lavender or violet jelly buttercream. They must be left to rest for a minimum of 12 hours in the refrigerator before serving.
baked
dessert
eggs
traditional
vegetarian

Yield: 50 about 50 macarons

Ingredients
Servings
50
Measurement units

Macaron base

Base ingredients and equipment specified in the recipe.

  • 6 1/2 egg whitesegg whites
  • 275 galmond flour
  • 250 gicing sugar
  • 210 ggranulated sugar
  • 100 gchopped almonds
  • a few drops lemon juice
  • a pinch salt
  • piping bags with a plain tip

Chocolate ganache filling

Chocolate ganache for filling the macarons.

  • 100 g70% grated couverture chocolate
  • one teaspoon butter
  • 75 ml35% liquid cream

Almond filling

Almond filling with butter, almond paste and cream.

  • 150 gsoftened butter
  • 320 galmond paste
  • 120 ml35% fat cream
  • 20 ml35% fat cream

Vanilla or any extract buttercream filling

Vanilla or another extract buttercream.

  • 125 gbutter
  • 160 gicing sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or any other extract
  • 1 or 2 tablespoons milk

Lavender, violet jelly buttercream filling

Buttercream with lavender or violet jelly.

  • 150 gbutter
  • 75 gsugar
  • 15 mlwater
  • one egg whiteegg white
  • 2 tablespoons lavender jelly, violet jelly, etc.
Nutritional Information

Per 100 g

Calories
452 kcal
Protein
6.8 g
Fat
30.2 g
Carbohydrates
40.4 g

Calculated from reviewed ingredient weights and pinned USDA FoodData Central records.

Step-by-step Guide

Prepare the meringues

Preparation of the meringue and dry base.

  1. Blend the almond flour and icing sugar with an immersion blender until you obtain a very fine powder.
  2. Pass this mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps or impurities.
  3. Whip the 6 egg whites to stiff peaks; they must be at room temperature, with a few drops of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
  4. When the egg whites are whipped, gradually add 1/3 of the granulated sugar.
  5. Continue whipping until the sugar dissolves and the mixture regains consistency.
  6. Add another 1/3 of the sugar and beat for 1 minute.
  7. Finally, add the remaining 1/3 of the sugar and beat for 1 more minute.
  8. The egg whites will be ready when they do not slide or fall when the bowl is tipped.

Macaronage

Incorporating the meringue into the almond and sugar mixture.

Macaronage (1/2)
Macaronage (2/2)
  1. Gradually incorporate the whipped egg whites into the bowl with the almond flour and icing sugar. Fold carefully with a soft, long spatula, from the bottom upwards and from the sides towards the centre, while turning the bowl.
  2. Do not mix excessively, as the batter would become too fluid.
  3. In another bowl, beat half of the egg whites until they begin to foam.
  4. Incorporate this half into the batter and mix carefully until it is completely homogeneous.
  5. Do the ribbon test: lift the spatula loaded with batter and let it fall. The mixture will be ready when it falls forming a ribbon.

Colouring the batter

Optional for preparing batters in different colours.

  1. If you want macarons in different colours, divide the batter into as many bowls as the colours you want to use.
  2. Put a tiny amount of food colouring in each bowl.
  3. Finish mixing each bowl until the colouring is incorporated and the batter reaches the ribbon stage.
  4. The shade should be slightly darker because, when baked, they will lose intensity.
  5. It is better to use gel, paste or powder food colourings, because they do not add liquid to the mixture.

Prepare the piping bags

Preparing the piping bags to fill them with batter.

  1. You will need as many piping bags as the colours you have prepared.
  2. Place the piping bags inside a tall container to make filling them easier.
  3. Cut the piping bags so that there is a hole of about 5 mm.
  4. Seal them by twisting the bag and fastening it with a freezer-bag wire tie.

Prepare a template

Template for making similarly sized macarons.

  1. Draw circles of 3.5 or 4 cm on a sheet of baking paper, slightly separated from one another.
  2. Place the template on a flat baking tray.
  3. Place another sheet of baking paper on top, so that the drawing of the circles shows through slightly.

Fill the template circles with batter

Forming the unbaked macarons.

Fill the template circles with batter
  1. Using the piping bag, pipe small circles of batter about 3.5 or 4 cm in diameter over the template drawings.
  2. Hold the piping bag perpendicular to the tray and squeeze continuously until the circle is filled.
  3. When removing the piping bag, make a circular turn with your wrist to prevent a peak of batter from remaining in the middle of the macaron.
  4. When the batter has been distributed into pieces, carefully remove the paper with the drawings underneath.
  5. Lightly shake the tray so that the batter settles.
  6. Sprinkle the chopped almonds over the pieces.

Croûtage: drying the macarons

Pre-drying and oven preparation.

Croûtage: drying the macarons
  1. Leave the macarons to rest on the tray, uncovered.
  2. Let them dry a little before baking so that a thin, dry layer forms on the surface.
  3. The time needed depends on the room temperature and humidity.
  4. It may take about 40 or 60 minutes.
  5. Check by touching a macaron with your finger: it will be ready when it does not sink in and no fingerprint remains.
  6. Always test the same macaron.
  7. Preheat the oven to 150 ºC 30 minutes in advance.

Bake

Baking and releasing with steam.

  1. Bake at 150 ºC for about 15 minutes, until a light crust forms.
  2. Remove the tray from the oven.
  3. Very carefully, pour a little water between the tray and the baking paper, lifting the paper successively by all four corners.
  4. The steam and moisture that form on the hot tray will help the macarons come away without problems when they are cold.
  5. Let them cool completely without touching them.

Prepare the filling

Generic chocolate filling for assembly.

  1. Put the cream and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat until they boil.
  2. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon.
  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the butter.
  4. Stir the preparation.
  5. Let it cool.

Assemble the macarons

Final assembly.

  1. Form the macarons by joining two pieces with a layer of filling in the middle.

Store the macarons in the refrigerator

Mandatory resting time before serving.

  1. Store the macarons in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours before serving them at the table.

Chocolate ganache filling

Chocolate ganache.

  1. Put the cream and chocolate in a bowl over low heat until they boil.
  2. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon.
  3. Remove from the heat and add the butter.
  4. Stir the preparation.
  5. Let it cool.

Almond filling

Almond filling.

  1. Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in a container in a bain-marie with boiling water until it has a softened consistency.
  2. In a large bowl, dilute the almond paste by mixing it with the liquid cream.
  3. Then add the whipped cream and butter, and beat with electric whisks at high speed until you obtain a homogeneous consistency.

Vanilla or any extract buttercream filling

Vanilla or another extract buttercream.

  1. Put all the specified ingredients into a bowl and beat them with electric whisks.

Lavender, violet jelly buttercream filling

Buttercream with lavender or violet jelly.

  1. Make a syrup with the water and sugar.
  2. Let it boil for 2 minutes and remove it from the heat.
  3. Whip the egg white to stiff peaks and, when it is half-whipped, add the warm syrup in a thin stream.
  4. Continue beating until the syrup you added cools.
  5. Once cold, add the softened butter and continue beating until you obtain a fluffy cream.
  6. Finally, add the jelly.
Recommendations & Tricks
  • They must rest for a minimum of 12 hours in the refrigerator.
Original recipe
View or download the original PDF document.
Download PDF
    Macarons | The Catalan Table