French Chocolate Macaron Recipe - David Lebovitz (2024)

FAQs

What are the biggest mistakes when making macarons? ›

A macaron is a sandwich-like cookie that's filled with jam, ganache, or buttercream. A macaroon is a drop cookie made using shredded coconut. The preparation for each of these cookies is incredibly different, even though they start out with many of the same ingredients.

If your macarons don't develop feet, it could be because your batter is too wet, your batter was over-mixed or you didn't let your macarons rest for long enough.

The meringue must be whipped to stiff, but not dry, peaks. The macarons must be baked at the right temperature for the right amount of time. If you fail to perform any of these steps, your macarons will be hollow, cracked, flat, underbaked, lumpy, puffy, porous, or overbaked.

While you should always whisk your egg whites into stiff peaks for macarons, it's best to never rush the process. Meringue is easy to overbeat and ruin. So, make sure that your mixer is beating your egg whites between medium-low and medium-high speeds. Any faster, and you could have oddly textured macarons.

Macarons are notoriously finicky. Beat your egg whites too little or too much and you're left with flat macarons. Fold in your powdered sugar and almond flour a few too many times and the tops crack. Even a rainy day (something completely out of your control) can ruin them.

Macarons are typically more expensive than other baked goods due to their labor-intensive preparation, high-quality ingredients, and delicate nature. How long do macarons last? Macarons typically last for 2-3 days at room temperature, or up to a week in the refrigerator.

Macaron Ingredients Are Expensive

Unlike most bakery treats, macarons are not made with all-purpose wheat flour, which even a home cook can pick up at the supermarket for less than 50 cents a pound. Instead, they're made with almond flour, which costs more than nine times as much—and that's at Costco.

The macaron as it is known today, composed of two almond meringue discs filled with a layer of buttercream, jam, or ganache filling, was originally called the "Gerbet" or the "Paris macaron." Pierre Desfontaines, of the French pâtisserie Ladurée, has sometimes been credited with its creation in the early part of the ...

Blanched almond flour is usually preferred over unblanched flour because the skin has been removed and so it does not have the the speckles in the color. It creates a smoother batter texture and a brighter color for the macarons.

How long should you mix macaron batter? ›

It should take about 10 to 15 seconds for it to blend in. Also, on my recipes I always recommend doing the Teaspoon Test.

Although a macaron's shell should protect the rise and filling beneath its surface, you don't want your delectables to be crunchy or hard. Macarons should have a slight crunch with an overall chewy texture as one bites through the dessert. That texture is what truly makes a macaron marvelous.

Undermixed and thick batter can produce lumpy or hollow macarons. Overmixed and thin batter can produce cracked macarons or macarons without feet. Balanced macaron batter after achieving that perfect macaronage is best understood through visuals.

Hollow shells: One of the most frustrating problems is when the macaron shells turn out hollow. This is usually caused by overmixing the batter, which can cause too much air to be incorporated into the mixture. To avoid this, be sure to fold the batter gently and stop as soon as it reaches the desired consistency.