These French Macarons are made using a sweet, simple recipe with few ingredients that can be customized to your own tastes and with different colors. The recipe is naturally gluten-free and is comprised of very fine almond flour, powdered sugar that is sifted together and then mixed with a French meringue using three large egg whites, cream of tartar, caster (superfine) sugar, and a pinch of kosher salt. You can have them plain or as sandwiches with your favorite fillings! (makes 36 servings or 18 sandwich cookies)

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

French Macarons

Hi Everyone, I'm here to tell you that you can make those beloved, coveted, fancy French Macarons right in your home kitchen!

I filled the pink, vanilla-flavored macarons with a pink, classic, vanilla buttercream frosting to make the popular "sandwich-style" macaron but they are just as delicious as a single cookie!

What is your favorite flavor of macaron?

I'm excited to honor my husband's family's French heritage (on his father's side) as well by making this recipe.

I love French food and culture and thoroughly enjoyed making this recipe for our family's celebrations and for the blog.

Ingredients

I link (affiliate links) to ingredients I use, or similar, in the recipe card at the end of the post.

• 1 ¾ cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar
• 1 cup super-fine almond flour
• 3 large egg whites (room temperature)
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt - I like Morton or Maldon
• ¼ cup superfine sugar
• ½-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped out (just the seeds), optional - adds more vanilla flavor & depth
• 1-3 drops gel food coloring - I like using the Americolor brand
• filling of your choice, if made into sandwich cookies, optional (examples, buttercream, lemon curd, jelly, jam)

Kitchen Tools

I linked (affiliate links) to kitchen tools that I use or similar in the recipe card at the end of the post.

• large whisk
• oven, with convection setting, ideally
• 2-4 rimmed baking sheet(s) - only 1 is required but at least 2 is helpful to have
• 2 silicone baking mat(s) - there are ones specifically made for baking macarons or parchment paper
• measuring spoons and cups
• knife for leveling
• silicone (flexible) baking spatula(s)
• 2-cup wet measure
• 2 large mixing bowls
• pastry bag(s)
• piping tips - ¼-inch and star tips are basic tips to use
• kitchen timer

What kind of meringue does this recipe use?

This recipe uses a simple, French meringue as part of the batter but an Italian (which requires more steps, uses heat but creates a more stable meringue, and is less likely to have air bubbles) or Swiss meringue (requires using a water bath) can also be used.

I think a French Meringue is easiest for a beginner macaron baker and really, is the simplest method!

What is the "macaronage"?

"Macaronage" is the term used for the stage of preparing the batter when all the ingredients are mixed together to form a shiny, smooth, and flows.

It should fall from the baking spatula in a thin ribbon and you should be able to drizzle it to form a "figure-8" in the mixing bowl.

Recipe Attribution

This recipe is inspired by any French Macarons that I have had in researching for this recipe and also on the "French Macarons" recipe from FoodNetwork.com.

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This post was first published on 5/17/2021 and updated and republished on 7/21/2021.