French Macaron Recipe filled with chocolate ganache

This French macaron recipe creates delicate little macarons with a smooth crispy shell and a soft centre, ideal for a multitude of fillings. This recipe is similar to a recipe I used to use a few years ago, working in Queen Of Tarts, only scaled down to a non commercial yield. I wish I could tell you that after years of making everything but macarons that I simply made a batch and everything was perfect. That absolutely did not fucking happen. Despite making these little almond cookies literally hundreds of times a few year previous, I made all the mistakes I could make. I had to make them three times before I actually got a hang of the oven I’m currently using and had something I could photograph. The positive side of this is that the fails are still fresh in my mind and I’m ready to tell you what not to do.

Things I did that you definitely shouldn’t:

Do not under whip the meringue or add the sugar too quickly. An underdeveloped meringue will result in your macaron feet being small or simply not there. Similarly, if you add the sugar too quickly the meringue will not be stable which will effect the rise at the bottom.

Do not add too much food colouring. Stick to gels if possible, but if using liquid food colouring be mindful of how much you add. Too much liquid will result in the batter being too runny and the macarons will spread.

Do not get impatient when you are resting the macarons. You need to wait until a thin skin forms on the top of the macaron and it has lost it’s shine. You should be able to lightly touch the macaron without it sticking to your finger. Even if you live in a super humid country where it takes 2-3 hours for the skin to form…. wait. Or just don’t be stubborn like me and only bake them on non- rainy days.

Do not underestimate how different ovens can work. Use an oven thermometer if possible to gauge an accurate reading of the temperature. Most ovens are a few degrees off and can play a big role in your macarons succeeding or failing. Also check where the heat is coming from in your oven. With most ovens, I would place my macarons in the lower half of the oven, however while using the oven I currently have, I noticed the fan blew over them too much when placed there. I tried my third attempt on the very top shelf and to my surprise they turned out perfect.

Now, I am by no means a macaron master, if you want to dive into more information on macarons I would highly advise you to check out Michelle’s macarons, her work is stunning and she has lots of key information for troubleshooting macaron recipes. I will include a video below on her top macaron questions. These ones I made close to Halloween so an orange colour seemed like a good idea but you can colour them any shade.