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The Perfect Vanilla Bean Macarons
Is there anything more elegantly delicious and perfectly poised than a light and creamy vanilla macaron? French desserts are often difficult to master but lucky for you, we have a recipe that walks you through everything you need to know to make the perfect macaroon yourself! After making a dozen “okay” batches, reading hundreds of blogs, and watching hundreds of videos, our friend Laura is ready to present you with how to achieve perfect vanilla bean macarons!
Laura guides you through the 4 key stages in macaron development:
- Getting the Perfect Stiff-Peak Meringue
- The Perfect Macaronage
- Baking Macarons Correctly
- Filling and Aging: The Finishing Touches
And the results are out of this world! We have included some photos of Laura's amazing vanilla bean macarons, and she has a complete guide for every step in the process, so let’s get going!
The Perfect Stiff-Peak Meringue
There are 3 different methods for making meringue: French, Swiss, and Italian.
What is French Meringue?
This is the simplest of the techniques, but be aware that it’s also the least stable. French meringue is created by whipping room-temperature egg whites with sugar until the desired stiff peak is achieved.
You can add in cream of tartar or “age” your eggs for up to 24 hours on the counter in a sealed container to get a more stable result.
What is Swiss Meringue?
Swiss meringue is only the slightest bit more work in that it creates a couple extra dishes. You’ll create a bain marie (a pot of simmering water with a bowl set over it), and add your sugar and egg whites to the bowl, whisking until the granules of sugar are fully dissolved.
In this technique, you do not have to age your egg whites or even bring them to room temperature first. You do have to be careful not to overheat the whites, though, as you could either end up with scrambled eggs or wrinkly macarons later on.
Once the sugar is dissolved, you’ll whip the mixture until you get stiff peaks. Using a stand mixer makes this considerably easier, but you do need to transfer from your bain marie bowl to the stand mixer bowl.
This is what we’re working with because I’m happy with the results I’ve gotten from it.
What is Italian Meringue?
To create an Italian Meringue, you set your room temperature (preferably aged) egg whites into your stand mixer bowl, whipping them to soft peaks, and create a sugar syrup in a saucepan. Once the syrup reaches 240ºF, you’ll stream it into the whipping egg whites.
This recipe introduces a couple of other factors, like using cream of tartar to stabilize the egg whites further and water to create the sugar syrup.
The Perfect Macaronage
Vanilla Bean Macarons Filling
Baking Light and Crisp
Gently Folded
Vanilla Bean Macarons
Ingredients
- 100 g egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
- 100 g pure cane sugar
- 105 g almond flour
- 105 g powdered sugar
- 1 pinch pink Himalayan sea salt
- 1 vanilla bean
Optional White Chocolate Ganache Filling
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 pinch pink Himalayan sea salt
Instructions
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Line your baking sheet with either your templated silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Prepare your piping bag with a 12 (Wilton’s) tip set into a pint glass for easy filling.
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Add 1 inch of water to your small saucepan, and bring it to a simmer. Set your small mixing bowl over it, and in that, mix together the egg whites and cane sugar until the sugar dissolves.
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Once the sugar is dissolved, but before the mixture becomes warm to the touch, move the mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Add in a pinch of salt. Whisk on medium until the mixture thickens, and then whisk on high until stiff peaks are formed.
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Add in the caviar of one vanilla bean and whisk until fully incorporated.
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Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar twice to aerate and remove large clumps. If you have more than 1 tablespoon of grit in the sieve, replace it with an equal weight of almond flour.
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Fold one-third of the dry mixture into your meringue until incorporated. Repeat with the second third, and again with the last third. Continue mixing the batter until it flows lava-like from your rubber spatula.
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Move the batter to your piping bag. Pipe 1″ circles onto your lined baking sheet, preferably using a macaron template (fill the smaller circle). Tap the pan against the counter firmly, then rotate 90º to tap on the second side. Repeat with the other two sides. Then, pop any remaining bubbles with a toothpick.
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Allow the macarons to dry for 20-40 minutes or until you can touch the top without it sticking to your finger.
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Bake at 295ºF for 7 minutes. Rotate the pan 180º and bake another 8 minutes.
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Check the feet to make sure they are no longer glossy or wet-looking. If they are, give them another 2 minutes.
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When they’re ready to come out of the oven, allow them to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring the liner to your cooling rack for 5 minutes. At this point, move the macarons onto the cooling rack.
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For the ganache, simmer 1 inch of water in a small saucepan and set a small heatproof bowl in it. In the bowl, stir the white chocolate chips and heavy cream until the chips are almost all the way melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until smooth. Sprinkle in salt and stir to incorporate. Chill in the fridge until set.
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Transfer your ganache to a piping bag with the decorative tip of your choice, and pipe the ganache onto half of the macaron shells. Sandwich with the remaining shells to finish.
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Chill your macarons for 24 in the fridge before eating, or store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
How to Make the Perfect Vanilla Bean Macarons
A few final tips before you get started:
- Use quality vanilla beans like our vanilla beans.
- Store your macarons in the fridge for 24 hours before you eat them. This ages them to perfection. Trust me, the texture difference is worth the wait!
- Eat all your macarons within 3 days of making them. This doesn’t sound hard, but you might consider freezing them or sharing with friends if you think they might go to waste.
If you have any questions, please contact her or leave a comment below. Let me know how your macarons turned out, and please share your pictures on Instagram tagged @ellejayathome.
Recipe Creator:
Many thanks to Laura, who developed this perfect Vanilla Bean Macarons recipe.
Laura lives in Nashville, TN, with her handy husband, adorable daughter, and smarty-pants cattle dog. She loves baking and can’t keep her kitchen clean. Oh well. Check out the full article on the Vanilla Bean Macarons recipe on her blog.
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