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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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. The seeds don't add a lot of moisture to the batter (which can compromise the formation of le pied in the oven). The silky French buttercream is vanilla bean ice cream in frosting form. Sandwiched between vanilla macarons, it makes for a little piece of heaven that melts in your mouth.
On the Ingredients
- On vanilla beans. The pods are expensive, but if your budget allows it, I believe the expense is worth it. When I need vanilla beans for clients or my French Macarons 101 class, I find the best prices with online retailers.
- On flavoring vanilla buttercream. I love adding syrupy vanilla bean paste to buttercreams and pastry creams. You may suffer equally traumatic sticker shock with a jar of it, but you get more for your money. However, I don't recommend adding it to the batter since many contain water and emulsifiers. A Bourbon vanilla extract is always rich and aromatic if you don't want to buy paste or a bean.
- On the almond flour. Look for brands selling the finest grind. The smaller the granule, the smoother your shells.
The Equipment
A few pieces of inexpensive equipment are incredibly helpful when baking French macarons. But you can make a beautiful batch with only a hand mixer, a small round pastry tip, and baking pans lined with parchment paper. I love my digital kitchen scale and use it for nearly every bake, from macarons to pancakes.
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
You can subscribe to my online tutorial series, French Macarons: Simplified, for a step-by-step guide on baking macarons.
The Steps
- Measure your ingredients and prepare your tools.
- 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.
- Whip the meringue. Beat the egg whites and granulated sugar until it reaches firm-to-stiff peaks when the tips of the meringue point off the beater stick nearly straight up.
- Add the dry ingredients. Fold the sifted dry ingredients into the whipped meringue in a few batches with your spatula. The batter is ready when it ribbons off of the spatula and is thick but flowing.
- Pipe and bake the shells. Pipe circles of batter onto your pans using a printable template underneath the parchment paper. Tap the bottoms of the pans gently to help the batter settle. Bake the macarons for 14 to 18 minutes, depending on how large your shells are. Macarons are done when the tops are dull and don't shift away from the bottoms when gently nudged with a finger.
- 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.
Chef's Tips
- Use a printable template. Place a printable template underneath your parchment paper for same-sized macarons that are easy to match up.
- Take your time piping. Piping is an art and an acquired skill. If this is your first time out, go slow and expect batter all over the pan.
- Employ an oven thermometer. I've cooked in many home kitchens with and for clients, and no one's oven is telling the truth (except perhaps a new, calibrated appliance). An inexpensive oven thermometer is all you need. Aim for a temperature around 300° F, or even slightly less, to avoid hollow shells.
- Use a hand mixer for the buttercream. This small batch of buttercream is hard to make in a stand mixer because the whisk attachment will sling the hot syrup all over the bowl. But if you have control over the position of the beaters, you avoid said splattergate. I often start the buttercream with a hand mixer. Then transfer the mixture to a stand mixer if I don't want to manually beat it while it cools.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can absolutely use a fragrant pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste in the French buttercream. But not in the macaron batter. Vanilla bean paste contains water and emulsifiers and can compromise the integrity of the batter. In place of vanilla bean seeds in the batter, you can add about a half teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. If you do, let the piped batter dry on the pan for about 20 minutes before baking.
I follow the professional food safety mantra and keep buttercream in the fridge for no more than a week (at least for clients). However, if chilled promptly after mixing, buttercream keeps fairly well. If you chill any kind of buttercream before filling macarons or frosting a cake, you will want to beat it again briefly to revive the texture. You can also freeze it.
You can freeze macaron shells in an air-tight container or bag. Many macaron shops do this to stay ahead of demand (or even in regular practice). Filled macarons can be frozen, but the quality of the buttercream or filling will suffer. For best results, freeze your macaron shells carefully and fill them after thawing. Let the filled macarons mature for a night before serving or selling.
📖 Recipe
Vanilla Bean French Macarons
Beautiful, flecked-with-vanilla-seeds, aromatic vanilla macarons! French macarons made with real vanilla beans or a nice Bourbon vanilla extract are anything but boring. Filled with a custard-like French buttercream, it's hard to each just one!
- Total Time: 45-50 minutes
- Yield: 20-24 Vanilla Macarons 1x
Ingredients
For Vanilla Bean Shells
- 180 grams (1¾ cups) of powdered sugar
- 150 grams (1½ cups) of finely-ground almond flour
- 3 large egg whites (about 90 grams) from fresh eggs (save the yolks for the buttercream)
- 60 grams (¼ cup + 2 tablespoons) of granulated sugar
- Seeds of 1 vanilla bean pod or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ⅛ of a teaspoon (a tiny pinch) of cream of tartar, optional
For French Buttercream
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 3 egg yolks
- 4 ounces or 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened but not quite room temperature (for dairy-free substitute plant-based "butter")
- Seeds of 1 vanilla bean pod or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Bring the eggs to room temperature. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a heat-proof mixing bowl for the buttercream.
- Measure and prepare. Preheat your oven to 300° F. Slice the vanilla bean open lengthwise and scrape the seeds out with the back of a knife. Ready your pastry bag by snipping a small opening, inserting the tip. Set the pastry bag inside a tall drinking glass and pull the bag's opening down around the rim. Line at least two baking pans or cookie sheets with parchment paper and place printable macaron templates underneath. Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together.
- 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. Add the vanilla seeds to the meringue and beat briefly to distribute them.
- Add the dry ingredients. Fold the sifted dry ingredients into the whipped meringue with a large flexible spatula in a few batches. 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. The batter is the right consistency when it ribbons off the spatula easily. Err on the side of slightly under-mixing; over-mixed batter won't rise nicely in the oven. Transfer your batter to the piping bag and twist the bag off at the top.
- Pipe the batter. Pipe circles of batter by holding the pastry bag completely vertical and a quarter-inch above the center of the first round template. Squeeze until the batter reaches the inner edges of the black. Then stop squeezing and flick the tip away in a tiny circular motion.
- Tap and rest the shells. Gently tap the bottom of the pans to help the batter settle. Rest the piped batter on the countertop for 10 to 20 minutes until the tops are dry.
- Bake. Bake the macarons for 14 to 18 minutes. 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 and nearly cooled. To remove the shells from the parchment, push up on each shell from underneath the paper while peeling it off gently with the other hand.
- Make the French buttercream. In a very small pot, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil. While the sugar comes to a boil, 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 on a candy or meat thermometer, beat the egg yolks again on low speed while drizzling in the hot syrup. Then, beat on high speed until the mixture cools to room temperature. Beat in the softened (but not warm) butter a tablespoon at a time. Beat in vanilla seeds and/or paste or vanilla extract. Transfer the buttercream to a pastry bag and snip a small hole in the corner.
- Fill the shells. 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, matching them up according to size.
- Mature the macarons. Macarons are best after a day of maturing in the refrigerator with the filling. The shells absorb moisture from the filling, the crumb inside expands, and the entire meringue softens wonderfully.
- Store. Keep macarons stored chilled for up to a week. But always serve them at room temperature.
Notes
On Making Buttercream
It can be hard to measure the temperature of just a little boiling syrup with a typical thermometer in a larger pot. So if your pot is larger than one quart (check the bottom), it may be easier to double the batch and freeze the extra. You will want to beat frozen buttercream after thawing to revive its texture.
On the Nutrition Information
The nutrient amounts below are based on the recipe as written, with 24 finished macarons. They assume you use every last bit of buttercream (but you might not; I usually have a bit leftover).
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14-18 minutes
- Category: Macarons
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Gluten Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Vanilla Macaron
- Calories: 131
- Sugar: 13.4 g
- Sodium: 8.6 mg
- Fat: 5.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6 g
- Trans Fat:
- Carbohydrates: 14.5 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 1.7 g
- Cholesterol: 33.2 mg
Keywords: vanilla macaron recipe, vanilla bean macarons, French buttercream, vanilla macarons
Faye
Thanks for the small batch recipe and simple approach. So yummy!
Christina
Thanks for reading!