Heavenly Vanilla Bean French Macarons

Vanilla French macarons are one of the most popular flavors of these delicate almond meringues. And for a good reason. Vanilla in any form is rich and aromatic. And vanilla bean seeds lend a beautiful speckle to the shells. When filled with rich French buttercream, vanilla macarons are near heavenly. And anything but vanilla.

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If this is your first attempt at baking French macarons at home, you may find it helpful to start with How to Make Macarons, Seriously, or Why Every Macaron Recipe is Really the Same. Then click back this way for how to add loads of enticing vanilla flavor to your batch.

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Jump to:

• The Story
• The Ingredients
• The Equipment
• The Method
• The Steps
• Chef's Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Edible Epilogue
• 📖 Recipe
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The Story

Vanilla macarons, especially ones with real vanilla bean seeds, are in a class by themselves. I bake and deliver French macarons to my clients, and vanilla bean macarons are one of the most requested flavors. The aromatic seeds of the vanilla pod make for a dreamy-looking, enticing French macaron. And the subtle flavor allows the almond in the macaron to shine.

Vanilla is also one of the simpler macaron recipes to attempt at home. You don't need to add any food coloring to the shells which can be a tricky business. And the seeds don't add a lot of moisture to the batter (which can compromise the formation of le pied in the oven). T

The silky French buttercream is vanilla bean ice cream in frosting form. And when sandwiched between vanilla macarons makes the for a little piece of heaven that melts in your mouth.

The Ingredients

Like many macaron recipes, the ingredients are few and repeat throughout the shells and filling. Vanilla bean pods are certainly expensive, but if your budget allows I believe the expense is entirely worth it. When I need vanilla beans for clients or my French Macarons 101 class, I find the best prices with online retailers. Yes, including Amazon. (Even though I hate to admit it, and am not getting paid to say so.)

• eggs, separated
• granulated sugar
• finely-ground almond flour
• confectioner's powdered sugar
• vanilla bean, vanilla extract, and/or vanilla bean paste
• unsalted butter
• salt
• cream of tartar, optional

For buttercreams, pastry creams, and the like I love adding the syrupy vanilla bean paste. You may suffer equally traumatic sticker shock with a jar of it. But you get way more for your money. I don't recommend adding it to the batter, however, since many contain water and added emulsifiers. A Bourbon vanilla extract is always lovely if you don't want to buy or don't have any other form of vanilla.

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On the almond flour. The brand I find most reliable is Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour. I have made lovely macarons with CostCo's almond flour at one time or another. But it's not as finely ground or consistent in quality (in my experience). You can certainly buy blanched almonds and grind your own almond flour. If you do, combine the correct weight of almonds with the measure of powdered sugar and grind them together in a food processor. Aim for a texture of fine sand.

A warning on powdered sugar. Depending on the brand, confectioner's (powdered) sugar contains varying percentages of refined starch to prevent caking. Conventional brands typically add cornstarch, and organic brands sometimes add tapioca. I don't notice a difference between the two. But beware of the cheap, bottom-shelf generic brands. They often contain a higher ratio of cornstarch to sugar. And can make your batter too thick and borderline unusable (been there, suffered through that).

The Equipment

A few pieces of inexpensive equipment are incredibly helpful when baking French macarons. But you can truly make a beautiful batch with only a hand mixer, a small round pastry tip, and baking pans lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I love my kitchen scale, and use it for nearly every bake from macarons to pancakes.

Since I use parchment paper on a daily basis, I order 12" x 16" sheets in bulk. But you can find it at your grocery store or big box retailer. I recommend sheets as opposed to a roll if you can find them. They'll lay flat on the baking pans unlike paper from a roll which will curl up on you.

• oven thermometer
• digital kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons
• flour sifter or fine-mesh sieve
• electric hand or stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• flexible spatula
• parchment paper or silicone baking mat (no wax paper)
• baking pans or cookie sheets
• small, round pastry tip, ¼ - ½" wide opening
• disposable or reusable pastry bag, or large plastic storage baggie
• meat or candy thermometer, for making the buttercream

If you don't own a flour sifter or mesh strainer, you can still bake macarons. Simply whisk the almond flour and confectioner's sugar well to break up any lumps. The tops of the shells might not be as smooth since you couldn't remove larger pieces of ground almond. But that won't prevent them from baking up with signature frilly "feet".

The Method

At the expense of sounding like a broken record, two techniques are the key to beautiful macarons:

• Meringue: egg whites whipped with granulated sugar
• Macaronage: the French term for mixing macaron batter

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There are several ways to whip meringue, but this recipe calls for the simplest, called French meringue. For it, you whip raw egg whites with granulated sugar. Italian and Swiss meringues require applying heat to the process in different ways. Cooked meringue is slightly more stable. And useful when you are adding food color or flavorings to the shells. But isn't necessary for macaron success.

The Steps

Bring the eggs to room temperature. You don't need to "age" or dry out your egg whites by setting them out overnight. But you can if you like.

1. Measure your ingredients and prepare your tools. Preheat your oven to 300° F. Slice the vanilla bean open lengthwise and scrape the seeds with the back of a knife. Eyeball one-half of the seeds for the batter, and save the other half for the buttercream. Place your pastry tip into the pastry bag. Line your pans with parchment paper and place circle macaron templates underneath.
2. Sift and separate. Combine the almond flour and powdered sugar by sifting them together. Separate your eggs, reserving the yolks for the buttercream in a heat-proof medium mixing bowl.
3. Whip the meringue. Place the egg whites in your mixer or mixing bowl, and beat them on medium speed until they're foamy. Keep beating and slowly rain in the granulated sugar. If adding cream of tartar, pinch a little in once the whites are opaque. Raise the mixer to high speed (or Level 8 on a stand mixer) and whip the meringue to firm peaks. When you lift the beaters or the whisk out of the meringue, it will form little peaks that stick nearly straight up. The French refer to this meringue as bird's beak because the peaks curve the littlest bit at the top.
4. Beat in the vanilla seeds. Add half of the vanilla seeds to the meringue and beat briefly to distribute them.
5. Add the dry ingredients. Fold the sifted dry ingredients into the whipped meringue in a few batches with your spatula. Mix firmly at first to get it to all come together. Then use a classic folding motion, scraping the sides of the bowl then under the mass of batter, and up over the top in a circular motion. Cut through the middle every other stroke. The batter is ready when it ribbons off of the spatula, and settles back into itself in less than about 10 seconds.
6. Pipe the batter. Pour the batter into your piping bag, and lay it flat to push it toward the tip. Try to eliminate any large air bubbles in the bag. Twist the top of the bag to seal it off. You can also use a rubberband at the top (helpful for kiddos and grown-ups alike). Then hold the bag tightly with your dominant hand. Pipe circles of batter by holding the pastry bag completely vertical and a quarter-inch above the center of the template. Squeeze until the batter reaches the inner edges of the black. Then immediately stop squeezing and flick the tip away in a tiny circular motion (this takes practice).
7. Tap and rest the shells. Lift the pans up and tap the bottoms gently to help the batter settle and eliminate air pockets. Rest the piped batter on the countertop for 15 to 25 minutes, until the tops are dry and you can run a finger along them without leaving a mark.
8. Bake. Bake the macarons for 14 to 18 minutes depending on what size template you chose. Larger macarons take longer to set. Macarons are done when the tops are dull and don't shift away from the bottoms when gently nudged with a finger. They should lift easily away from the parchment or baking mat once out of the oven.
9. Fill. Flip half of the baked macaron shells over and pipe a round of buttercream on each. Leave space between the edges of the macaron shell and the edge of the buttercream. Top with the remaining macaron shells.
10. Mature the macarons. Especially if you slightly overbake the shells, filled macarons are best after a day of maturing in the refrigerator. The shells absorb moisture from the filling, the crumb expands, and the entire meringue softens wonderfully. So for full (not hollow) melt-in-your-mouth macarons, mature them overnight.

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French Buttercream Steps

1. In a one-quart pot or smaller, combine the sugar and water and bring them to a bowl. Place the bowl with the egg yolks on top of a damp towel to keep it steady during mixing.
2. While the sugar heats up, beat the egg yolks with a hand mixer on medium-high speed until they are pale yellow and ribbony. Once the syrup reaches 236° F (max 239° F) on a candy or meat thermometer, begin beating the egg yolks again on low speed while very slowly drizzling in the hot syrup.
3. Then beat on high speed until the mixture cools down to room temperature.
4. Beat in the softened (but not warm) butter a tablespoon at a time. Then add the vanilla bean seeds, extract, or paste.
5. Transfer the buttercream to a pastry bag and snip a small hole in the corner. Or store covered and chilled for another day.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Edible Epilogue

One of my pet peeves when it comes to macarons is the amount of filling. Every macaron I ever enjoyed in France was filled almost to the edges of the shells. But no more. Otherwise, when you take a bite the filling oozes out in every direction.

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Now your kitchen, your rules. I'm not saying I don't add superfluous buttercream when baking macarons at home. After all, who cares if the filling oozes out like slime when I bite into it all alone? And there's even a new trend in Korea of macarons with filling twice as high as the shells themselves. But I'm old school, so if I'm selling or serving macarons to a crowd, I stick with tradition. And simply eat the leftover buttercream with a spoon.

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