Confession: it wasn’t until several months after I started making French macarons that I actually ate a French macaron from a bakery (and I still have yet to try one made in France!), so I can’t say that it was due to a craving that I decided to try making them. Well, I suppose it was a craving of sorts. A craving for a challenge, that is. I had read multiple accounts of how difficult and finicky they are, and so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. My first batch (vanilla shells filled with lemon curd) turned out amazingly well! I was stoked. Then my next batch (raspberry with chocolate ganache), though still delicious, didn’t yield the prettiest results. The next batches (vanilla and blueberry; chocolate and mint) were even worse. I had shells that still showed the piping spirals, shells without feet, and one unfortunate incident in which I added too much vanilla extract and ended up with very boozy-tasting macarons (and not in a good way). Frustrated, I swore off making French macarons and only baked good old American chocolate chip cookies for months. Well, not really, but I steered clear of finicky dessert recipes.
After some time, however, I decided to drop my grudge and try again. I’m glad I did, because otherwise, I wouldn’t have arrived at these beauties.
I love macaroons but the process intimidates me.. This recipe looks fool proof though.. I’d love to try it when I get a chance! Thanks for sharing!
Let me know how they turn out! The great thing about macarons is that even if they don’t look how you’d hoped they would, they still taste wonderful
How have I been missing out on your amazing blog!? I’m so glad that you left a comment on mine haha. So I’ve also heard about how hard it is to make macarons. Yours look so delicious (and professional)!! Like, made-to-be-photographed professional! Can’t wait to see more of your yummy desserts!
Thanks! I definitely have more dessert recipes up my sleeve, so stay tuned
I wish we lived closer together – I could bake for you and you could help me take photos!
I love grapefruit and I adore macarons! Sounds lille a arch made in heaven—gorgeous, too!
Thanks! These are probably the prettiest things to come out of my kitchen thus far!
Such a pretty colour, and congrats on how they came out!
Thanks! I was quite thrilled (and relieved!) when I opened the oven and saw how they’d turned out.
I seriously don’t think these could be any prettier! What an amazing color combo – love it! And they sound delicious!
Aw, thanks!
I made my first macarons in December and they can be so finicky. Good thing you tried again, they look stunning! And I love your flavor choices.
Thanks! Grapefruit and pistachio complement each other quite nicely. The macarons you made look fantastic as well, and I love the crushed candy cane pieces you incorporated!
Looks delicious! Would i double each measurement if i want to make more? I want to make a batch for about 100 people.
Thank you! Wow, 100 people?! I’ve never produced macarons on such a large scale, but I recommend doing 3-4 separate batches (note that each batch makes about 25 assembled macarons). I think that doubling/tripling/quadrupling the ingredients might pose a problem for a regular (non-industrial) kitchen mixer, which is why I would mix up the batches individually. Good luck!