Strawberry macarons, made at home! Yes. you. can. With a bit of practice — and
my kitchen-tested tips and tricks — this recipe proves you can make French
macarons successfully at home in your own kitchen! This post includes step-by-
step instructions for making the delicate vanilla bean French macarons shells,
and strawberry buttercream filling too!

Vanilla French Macarons with Strawberry Buttercream

Hi! Happy first day of spring! - Bake from Scratch magazine has teamed up with Bob’s Red Mill to create the 2020 Better Baking Academy and I am so excited to team up with them for this month’s module all about how to make French Macarons.  Each month they release a new recipe - so far there has been a super versatile bread dough and some amazing looking brownies, and this month’s focus is on macarons, which is something I spend a lot of time making!

Macarons and I go way back to before I even started this blog and was just baking at home for fun. I had gotten a stand mixer for Christmas and was slowly working my way through a whole bunch of recipes I had gathered, but hadn’t gotten around to making macarons. I think I tried once, they didn’t go well for me (because I had no idea what I was doing), and I put them into the ‘too hard’ basket and moved on with my life.

A few years later after I had been baking for a while I decided that the time had come to master them, and set out to perfect my technique for making French macarons. They can be a little fiddly, but once you identify the potential sticking points and things to watch out for, I am confident that everyone can master these delicious chewy wee cookies, and the flavour combinations are endless! Bake from Scratch covers everything super thoroughly in their baking modules, and I have added a couple of my own little tips and tricks down below to help you out too. Enjoy these Vanilla Bean French Macarons. I filled mine with a super easy strawberry macaron filling made with American buttercream and strawberry jam, which gives a super delicious strawberry flavor, however you can add any filling you like.

Strawberry Macaron Recipe

I started with Bake From Scratch’s base vanilla bean macaron recipe and added pink food colouring and some pink sprinkles to put a pink spring flair on it. I paired it with their strawberry buttercream, which is super easy and made with strawberry preserves. The buttercream comes together quickly and compliments the delicate shells perfectly. Feel free to customise these any way you like - you can make them any colour that you please, add sprinkles, and play around with the filling to give you some different colour combinations. These Vanilla Bean french macarons are super versatile, and so fun to make.

The Best Almond Flour for Macarons

There are a whole bunch of different French macaron recipes out there (different ratios of almond flour to sugar to egg whites etc). However, the most important thing is that you have the right technique. There are a few different skills needed, which I have outlined below. While French macarons require a lot of technique, they do have a relatively small ingredient list. This means it is really important that you use high quality ingredients, particularly when it comes to the almond flour in the macaron. Almond flour provides structure, texture, and flavour to these Vanilla Bean French Macarons.

I have used Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour in my macarons for a few years now, and I love how even it is, and how easy to sift it is. It gives a super smooth batter with no lumps due to the smaller particle size, and provides a beautiful fluffy texture on the inside of the macaron. Starting with great quality ingredients sets you up for success when baking macarons.

Things to watch out for when making Macarons

1. The consistency of your almond flour and powdered sugar mixture. You want it to be well sifted and combined before you add it to the mixture. You can either do this in a food processor, or I like to sift the mixture at least twice. This ensures that it is evenly mixed and is lump free. Bob’s Red Mill Superfine Almond Flour is great for this because the particles are very small, which makes it super easy to get a lump-free dry mixture.
2. The consistency of your meringue. You want your meringue stiff enough that it will provide you stability, but you don’t want to beat it so far that it dries out, which can make it lumpy and lead to hollow shells. Get it to very near stiff peaks, then watch it carefully as you whip, checking the consistency often.
3. Mixing, or Macaronnage. This is the action of incorporating the dry ingredients into the meringue. You want to be deflating some of the air out of the batter while you are mixing in the dry ingredients. To mix you do a series of ‘turns’ - spreading the batter against the side of the bowl using your spatula. You want to reach a point where the mixture flows, but not so much that the macarons will not hold their shape as they are held out. I like to check it every few turns. A good measure is that you can draw a figure of 8 in the batter without the flow of batter breaking off your spatula. Remember that your batter will continue to mix as you pipe out the macaron shells. You are better to under mix it at this stage than to over mix it.
4. Piping. You want to hold the piping bag straight up and down, and apply even pressure until your batter fills the inside of the drawn template.
5. Pan Banging. The purpose of banging the pans is to evenly flatten out your shells. This also releases any bubbles that may have formed in the shells while you are piping them out. Banging the pan on the counter pops the bubbles, which helps your macarons have nice smooth tops.
6. Drying. The drying stage of the macaron forms a ‘skin’ on the shell. This means that when you put them into the oven to bake, the skin stays intact and the macaron shell does not crack. Instead it develops the little ruffle at the bottom of the shell which is called the foot.
7. Baking. You want to bake the shell without browning, so it is important to bake it at a relatively low temperature.

If you find your shells are sticking to the parchment paper when you remove the macarons from the oven even though they are baked, transfer the pan to the freezer for 10-15 minutes. This should help the shells release cleanly.

Tips and Tricks for French Macarons

• Please make these Vanilla Bean French Macarons by weight. There are so many little steps already with them that you want to be as accurate as possible. I always measure salt, extracts etc with a teaspoon, but for the sugars, almond flour etc, weigh it. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but this is your warning. Scales are great, and very helpful, but PARTICULARLY when it comes to things that rely on accuracy such as macarons.
• I always use gel food coloring when making macarons and add it in at the meringue stage. Remember that the mixture will lighten when you add the dry ingredients. Take this into consideration when you are choosing how much to add.
• Both parchment paper and silicone baking mats work for macarons - you do you. I like parchment paper, but I know others like silicone baking mats. Do whatever feels best for you!
• If your macaron shells stick after they have cooled, pop the whole baking sheet in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. It should help them lift off cleanly.
• I often get asked - can macarons be made ahead? They sure can. Store the unfilled shells in an airtight container in the freezer until you are ready to fill them.
• I like to double up on my pans when I bake to help insulate the shells. Preheating the bottom pan in the oven helps to give the shells a little lift. This helps them to bake evenly.
• I made two batches of macarons here for the photos! One has a lighter pink batter, and one with a darker pink. I just used the same gel food colour and varied the amount I used to give different shades. Add it one drop at a time until you are happy with the shade.

To freeze macarons, place in an airtight container with a layer of parchment paper between the layers. You can either freeze them filled, or freeze the shells and then defrost and fill.

Frequently Asked Questions for French Macarons

Can you freeze macarons filled?
Yes, you can freeze them either filled or unfilled, depending on the filling. For these French macarons with strawberry filling, you can either freeze the unfilled shells or the filled macarons. Freeze in an airtight container and defrost at room temperature or in the fridge.Add image

What is the best food coloring for macarons?
Gel food coloring is best for French macarons as it does not add in any additional moisture to the shells, which can cause issues.

How do you add sprinkles to macaron shells?
You can add all sorts of fun things to the tops of macaron shells. Add them just after you have banged them out. If you’re adding sprinkles, the nonpareils ones work best. Sugar balls will heat up and melt through. The little confetti circles or shapes work well too.

This post has been sponsored by Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill, all opinions expressed are my own.

Recipe for Vanilla Bean French Macarons