How to Make Macarons: A Step by Step Guide + Tips/Tricks

This easy step-by-step guide on How to Make Macarons, will have you well on your way to becoming a macaron master! I compiled these tips and tricks from everything I have learned over the years about the art of making macarons. Through trial and error I have found what works, what doesn’t, and ways to ensure success time after time. I have also provided my basic macaron recipe, along with thorough step-by-step instructions. This macaron recipe is excellent as is, but is also easily adaptable to any flavor!

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Ahh macarons! A pastry synonymous with beauty and deliciousness, but one that also evokes fear in a lot of people! While macarons can be quite finicky, they are worth the hassle it takes to make them, and by using a few of the tips in this post, you will be well on your way to becoming a macaron making machine!

My First Time Making Macarons

Before I had ever attempted to make macarons, I was like many people out there – very apprehensive about spending all that time and money to make something that may not turn out. After watching thousands (okay maybe not thousands – but it sure felt like it) of videos on YouTube, I attempted my first macarons. The results were mediocre – not amazing but definitely not a total failure either!

From that point on I became obsessed with perfecting my macaron making skills. After watching all those tutorials and testing out all the methods and tricks mentioned in those many videos, I have learned what works and what doesn’t.

Recipe is Easily Adaptible

This basic macaron recipe can be adapted easily to make any flavor you can set your mind to, but are absolutely delicious as is! There are several types of fillings that could be used for these as well – buttercream, ganache, jam, custard, the sky is the limit!

Tips & Tricks for Perfect Macarons

Tip 1) Use a food scale and weigh everything out: This is why I only gave the recipe measurements in weight. Macarons have a very low tolerance for error. Volumetric measurement can result in a HUGE variance in the amount of ingredient used. So for something as finnicky as macarons, it is better to be precise, down to the exact gram, with the measurements. Better to be safe than sorry!

Tip 2) Age the egg whites: Separate the egg whites and leave them in a bowl that is lightly covered (I cover mine with tin foil) for 1-3 days at room temperature. The idea behind this is that you are dehydrating the egg white while keeping its protein bonds the same, resulting in better elasticity of the egg white. This causes the whites to easily whip up. Although this step tip isn’t crucial in making macarons, it just adds extra insurance that your whites will whip up. Furthermore, it eradicates the need to use cream of tartar or anything to aid in the whipping of the whites.

Tip 3) Wipe all utensils/bowls/apparatus with vodka or vinegar: Wipe anything that will be coming into contact with the egg whites with vodka or vinegar. This is to ensure no oil residue is present that would ruin your meringue!

Tip 4) Use the Italian method of macarons: The French method involves whipping egg whites with sugar to form a French meringue. While the Italian method has more steps, I find it produces much better and much more consistent results time after time. This is because the Italian meringue is much more stable than the French meringue. The French meringue tends to be very delicate, making it very easy to overmix and deflate the meringue during the macaronage process (the process of combining the meringue with the dry ingredients). Furthermore, the look of the final product using the Italian method also tends to be nicer (to me at least), as the Italian macaron usually tends to rise more vertically than the French method.

Tip 5) Don’t under-whip or over-whip your meringue: An improper meringue can lead to loads of problems, namely hollow macarons! I have fallen victim to this myself! After adding the syrup to the egg whites, beat the meringue for about 2-4 minutes. Or the BEST way to tell if the meringue is ready is by checking if it can form a ‘birds beak’ or as the French call it the ‘bec d’oiseau’. The meringue should still be soft, but stiff enough to create a shape similar to the soft curve of a birds beak. Example here.

Tip 6) Stop folding once the batter ‘ribbons’: When the macaronage process is complete, the batter should flow like lava, and ribbon off your spatula. If it falls off in chunks it is under-mixed, and if it runs right off the spatula without ribboning, it is over-mixed! The ‘ribbons’ of batter should disappear completely into the rest of the other batter within 30 seconds.

Tip 7) Tap the pan and remove air bubbles: Smack the pan against counter, rotate 90° and smack again, continue until all sides have been smacked – doesn’t that sound funny haha. This has two purposes, the first being that is causes any air bubbles in the macarons to rise to the surface and pop – resulting in smoother and more stable macarons, and the second being that it causes the batter to flatten out along with any humps left over from piping.I usually smack mine more than 4 times. I just do it until I feel like all the air bubbles have surfaced and the batter has flattened nicely.

Tip 8) Use a toothpick to ‘pop’ any remaining air bubbles: Get up close and personal with your beautifully piped little macs and look for any remaining air bubbles. You are looking for any obvious ones, but also some hidden ones that may just look like a very slight irregularity on the surface, or even a tiny bump. Then use a toothpick and simply pop them, and lightly use the toothpick to swirl batter to fill the hole. I find if I skip this step I can sometimes be left with hollow macarons, so it is definitely important!

Tip 9) Allow the macarons to form a “skin”: This is crucial – I repeat THIS IS CRUCIAL. Do not skip this step whatever you do! This step allows the macarons to rise vertically and reduces the amount that it will spread out horizontally, leading to the oh-so-perfect little feet we’re after! The skin will form faster in cold dry climates, and conversely will take longer to form in hot humid climates. I live in the Prairies in Western Canada (relatively cold and very dry climate) so my skin forms in about 8-10 minutes, while someone living in a less dry climate may have to wait 30 minutes to an hour.

As a side note, macarons are very finicky with humidity – meaning that if you live in a very humid climate or it is a humid day out, you may have trouble forming the skin, resulting in failed macarons. That being said, macarons are also finicky with excessively dry climates (Because of course they are *eye roll*). My macarons will over-dry and stick to my silicone mats, resulting in lopsided macarons, even if I let them dry for 5 minutes too long! You can tell when they are ready to go when you can delicately touch your finger on the top and they feel dry and your finger does not pick up any batter.

Tip 10) Know your oven: Okay, this is a weird one, and kind of vague, but it is important to know your oven. Does your oven run hot? Cold? Uneven heating? Is the fan overly strong? All of these factors can be the difference between beautiful, perfect macarons and failed macarons. For example, my oven has uneven heating, which led to lopsided macarons, so I have found using my oven on the convection setting produces the best results. It may be annoying, but sometimes you’ll just have to play around with your oven to find the best method and temperature for cooking.

Tip 11) Allow the finished and assembled macarons to sit in the fridge for one to two days before indulging: I know, I know… after you spend a few hours making any delicious pastry, all you want to do is chow down on your edible prize! But I urge you to resist – at least overnight. Waiting allows the macarons and the filling to blend together, bringing together the flavors and textures into one cohesive unit to be eaten. “Un-matured” macarons (freshly iced macarons) tend to fall apart or be too chewy, and are simply messy and not as delicious as matured ones. Lastly, certain fillings mature faster than others. Fillings with high moisture content (think jam, buttercream, custard) tend to mature faster than those with a low moisture content (ex: ganache).

Extra Thoughts Worth Mentioning

• It really is crucial to sift all the dry ingredients – you don’t want macaron tops that are uneven or grainy!

• Ensure the syrup stream is SLOWLY poured onto the side of the stand mixer bowl. You do not want to do this to fast, as it will break the whites and ruin your meringue. You also want to ensure the stream is being poured onto the side of the bowl, otherwise you could get large sugar crystals within your meringue.

• Do not stir the sugar syrup with anything while it is heating up, as this may cause sugar crystals to form – instead just swirl the pot around to mix.

• Consider using a macaron mat, to make piping uniform macarons a breeze!

• Find “perfect pairs” before you start icing, this way you will reduce the number of mismatched pairs, resulting in more perfect macarons!

• Macarons hate too much moisture – so if it’s an excessively humid day, maybe wait until a less humid day!

• If you’re prone to minor hollows, try cooling the macarons upside down once you’ve peeled them off the baking mat.

• Your arm with hurt after the folding process – so worth it though!

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