Recipe: Basic French Macaron

Recreate the pastries of Paris in your own kitchen as you learn how to make and bake perfect French macarons. If you have ever tried to make these highly desired treats on your own, you already know they can be finicky and cause a bit of frustration, even for the seasoned baker.

Let that stress melt away, because chef and pastry instructor Colette Christian is here to help! She spent 10 years perfecting her signature macaron recipe to ensure her students had success right from the start. She’ll start by guiding you through choosing the right ingredients and keeping your costs in check. Colette then demonstrates her technique step by step—from “zhooshing” the dry ingredients with no need to shift to whipping up a quick and easy meringue for giving macarons just the right amount of lift.

Then, she takes you through the art of macaronage—the folding together the meringue and dry ingredients—until the batter is smooth, shiny, and flowing. Along the way she shares equipment recommendations to make the process simpler. Finally, Colette offers tips for piping out this batter properly to achieve perfectly smooth tops and baking off the macaron batter so that you get those signature macaron “feet.”

Download this tried and true recipe