Our Core Macaron Recipe

Our core macaron recipe has evolved over time. It’s changed because of where and how we are baking. In the old days, we were baking the macs in a cold and damp kitchen in £300 ovens bought from Ebay. We had to have a recipe that was robust. In those days, we had an oven that had a replacement thermostat knob from an old gas oven bought in a second-hand shop. Now, we have posh clever ovens that deliver a consistent bake.

The recipe has also improved with running our cookery school classes. Teaching others to make them really helped us to refine our technique and to see where things can go wrong. 

Macaron Shell Recipe

This is just the method for the outer shells, you will also need to make a buttercream or ganache to fill your macarons with. We recommend you have a full read through before you start as you do need to complete two tasks at the same time so it's useful to have them set up beside each other to save running around your kitchen.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line your baking trays with greaseproof paper or baking parchment; it may be helpful to draw on circular templates as a guide. Fit a piping bag with a 1cm plain round nozzle.
2. In one bowl combine icing sugar, ground almonds, first quantity of egg white and colouring then beat until well combined. The consistency will be like a paste.
3. In a second bowl or your standing mixer bowl place the second quantity of egg white, but do not mix it yet.
4. In a small pan mix the caster sugar and water together.

5. Heat your syrup up to 117°C. As the temperature of the syrup gets close to 117°C, the second bowl of egg whites should now be whisked until a little frothy. It can help to rest your bowl or mixer on a damp cloth to hold it securely.
6. The sugar syrup should be slowly poured in to the egg white whilst whisking. Continue to whisk until you have a stiff peaked meringue.
7. Gently add the meringue to the almond paste from step 2. Beat together slowly for 20 seconds then scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again for a further 10-20 seconds.
8. The consistency of the mix at this stage is the most important factor in successful macaron shell baking. The batter needs to flow smoothly and when a spoonful is dropped back into the bowl it should spread and form a flat even surface.
9. Transfer the batter into a piping bag.
10. Hold the nozzle 1cm above the surface of the paper. Pipe small rounds of batter on to your baking tray. Pipe the batter out until it almost fills the circular template. It will continue to flow outwards until after you’ve finished piping. The tip of the nozzle should be swirled off moving it around the edge of the piped shell, this will help the batter to flow into an even flat surface.

11. Our preferred technique is to place the trays immediately in the pre-heated oven at 150°C, but immediately reduce the temperature to 0°C and bake for 11 minutes. After that, turn the heat back up to 135°C for 13 minutes. The macarons are baked when they have a smooth dry top and have firmed up. They don’t need to be completely dry and stiff before removing from the oven as they will continue to cook for a few minutes after they have been removed.
12. Remove the baking tray from the oven.
13. Gently remove the baking parchment from the trays and allow the shells to cool on the work surface. If left on the baking trays, the residual heat in the trays will overcook the shells.
14. Once fully cool peel the shells from the parchment and pair up ready to pipe in your filling.