Make French Macarons

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90 minutes

5 steps

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After 90 min: Perfect French macarons with ruffled feet, shiny domes, and silky ganache filling

French macarons reward precision and punish approximation. This plan assumes kitchen comfort and some baking experience, and it's honest about the failure modes: shells that spread flat with no feet, or shells that crack on top, are both diagnosable. Understanding what each failure means — over-mixed batter, under-rested shells, oven too hot — lets you correct your next batch systematically rather than guessing.

The session covers batter preparation, macaronage (the folding technique that controls flow to a precise consistency), piping, the mandatory resting period, baking, and ganache filling. Macaronage is the most skill-dependent step and the one no recipe can fully describe: the batter should flow like lava and a ribbon dropped back into the bowl should disappear in about ten seconds. Too stiff produces cracked shells; too loose produces flat discs with no structure.

Humidity is the enemy of macarons. On a genuinely humid day there's little to do except reschedule. On a dry day, with a properly calibrated oven and correctly processed batter, success is reliable. Get a separate oven thermometer — most domestic ovens run 15–25 degrees from what they indicate, and macarons are sensitive enough that this error produces consistent failure until it's corrected.

What you need

almond flourpowdered sugaregg whitescaster sugarfood coloringbutterdark chocolatecreampiping bagsbaking sheetsthermometer

The 90-Minute Plan

Make Batter0–15 min

Pulse almond flour and powdered sugar together until ultra-fine (sift if necessary). In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks, gradually add caster sugar, whip to stiff peaks. Color if desired.

Macaronage15–35 min

Fold almond-sugar mixture into meringue gently in 3 additions. The batter should be smooth, shiny, and flow like lava. Overmix makes them spread too much; undermix makes them lumpy.

Pipe & Rest35–55 min

Pipe 1½-inch rounds onto silicone mats or parchment, leaving 2 inches between shells. Tap the baking sheet on the counter to remove air bubbles. Rest 30-40 minutes until shells lose their shine.

Bake to Perfection55–75 min

Bake at 300°F for 16-18 minutes until shells are dry and ruffled feet are visible. The top should be smooth and the shells should not slide around on the mat.

Cool & Fill75–90 min

Cool completely on the baking sheet. Make ganache from chocolate and cream. Pipe onto flat side of one shell, sandwich with another. The 'feet' at the base make them iconic.

Pro Tip

Macarons are finicky but rewarding. The key is proper macaronage technique and respecting the resting time. If your shells spread too much, your batter was undermixed or your oven was too hot.