From now on, reader questions that I receive in private will be answered here. Since I receive a lot of requests for personal help, I have decided to publish the questions and answers publicly so that others can benefit from it as well.
Please take a look through these questions and the resources I listed if you need help. If you have a question for me, please leave a comment on a corresponding blog post instead of through email or private message. This will allow me to make better use of my time so I can continue to create content that will be of use to you. Thanks so much for understanding and for your support of my work. XOXO, Mimi
P.S. These posts will be of help to you. Please take a look at them to get immediate answers to frequently asked questions:
- Macaron Troubleshooting Guide
- Mimi’s Best Macaron Recipe
- How to Make Meringue for Perfect Macarons
- How to Age Eggs for Perfect Macarons
- Macaron fillings – all the different types to use
- What Causes Hollow Macarons
A: Thank you! The buttercream recipe for piping the flower blossom macarons are here.
A: You can try using peach gel color (or a mix of orange and pink) in the meringue. Once the macaron is finished baking and cooled off, brush it with some gold pearl dust.
A: I always use silicone mats to help retail the shape. If using my recipe, I recommend keeping the meringue stiff and don’t over fold. Your batter might be too runny.
xoxo,
Mimi
A: You can try to let it dry even longer. I have heard another baker let hers dry for several hours. However, if you are only piping round shapes and your batter is correct, you do not need to rest them at all. It’s just extra insurance for weaker batters or macaron art with use of several colors.
A: Hi! Thank you! The answer I can give you is very similar to the one above. You can try to let the macaron batter rest longer. I have heard another baker let hers dry for several hours. However, if you are only piping round shapes and your batter is correct, you do not need to rest them at all. It’s just extra insurance for weaker batters or macaron art with use of several colors.
A: You might be overwhipping with your kitchaid mixer. I discuss this issue in this post about hollow macarons.
A: Here is an article I wrote all about hollow macarons. btw, do ask the original recipe writer about how to deal with their particular recipe. XOXO, Mimi
A: Hi, Yes you can double and even quadruple!
A: I learned from a french pastry chef who ran a bakery. You can learn to make them at Bon Macaron in Vancouver. Good luck!
A: Hi, you don’t necessarily need a skin to form for baking. If you really can’t get the skin to develop, bake them anyways. Resting is just extra insurance for them not to crack. If you beat your meringue to a much stiffer consistency, they do dry better.
A: I use Americolor’s Super Red and I use about 5 big drops. You can add a bit of dark purple to up the intensity.
A: Hi, No I don’t have any tips, I have heard that my recipe works at high altitudes. I don’t have any personal experience with high altitudes so I don’t have any info for you. Sorry 🙁
A: Hi, it’s usually not the recipe’s fault if there are hollows, mostly its due to the techniques. Since you’ve tried so many different recipes, it’s another indicator that there is something wrong with your technique. Here is a post which will discuss hollow macarons and how to to overcome it.
A: Thank you! I’ve added it to my Mimi’s Macaron Friends post.
A: Wonderful results! These are absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sending it to me.
A: Yes I do freeze sometimes if I have extras and I want to save some as extra treats for myself. Just make them when it’s convenient for you and put them inside air tight containers in the fridge or freezer. Make sure to place a parchment paper in between each layer to prevent them from sticking.
A: It is from Rainbow Dust 🙂
A: Yes you can definitely wait longer until they are completely dry. Yes, too little heat can cause hollows. Read here how to prevent hollows.
A: I would recommend Amazon and only buy the original SILPAT brand.
I would start again. I think your batter has been compromised already. Watch out for these issues: don’t over whip meringue, weigh the almond flour properly, make sure gel colours are new and not expired.
A: Thank you! You should watch out that your temperature is not too high and that you have not over folded.
A: Wow! It looks wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing with me!! I bet they were delicious. XOXO, Mimi
A: Thank you so much! I’m so happy you are getting better results now. The possibilities are endless once you learn how to make them.
A: Yes you can! Just make them when it’s convenient for you and put them inside air tight containers in the fridge or freezer. Make sure to place a parchment paper in between each layer to prevent them from sticking.
A: Please read my troubleshooting guide. It will address that issue under blotchy tops.
A: You can try piping them smaller, don’t over beat the meringue and using a bit more heat.
A: Thank you so much! Keep baking! XOXO, Mimi
A: I haven’t tried shipping macarons before… if I were to do it, I’d package them each individually in clear bags and them lay bubble wrap in between each layer of macarons with the cooling pads next to it. I’d also fill the entire box with of bubble wrap or foam so that the macarons don’t shuffle around which can cause them to break.
A: I use 2 different kinds. You can find it on my SHOP
A: I think it looks GREAT! I really don’t see anything wrong with them.
A: I have a home oven that is a dual compartment oven. Here is the link to the answer I gave another reader. Please look at the comment published on March 30th, 2018. Your oven might be the culprit if it doesn’t have a consistent temperature. It’s not the biggest issue. If your batter is correctly prepared, it should only affect it by causing cracking (if too hot but easy fix) or giving you hollows (since the temperature might be dropping). If your macarons look much worse than what I’m describing, I would work on your batter first.
A: I make a large batch of batter and just pipe them all at the same time. I wouldn’t make multiple batters unless they were different colored. The batter can last for a while in the piping bag if it’s sealed.
A: Yes, it’s OK to add cornflour/cornstarch to your dry mix. There is corn starch in most powdered sugar brands. Just check the ingredients on the package. I have heard that adding it can make the macarons less hollow.
A: Hi, with my recipe, they should be firm and sticky on the inside immediately when they come out of the oven and once they cool off, they should be crisp. Only after filling and maturing, do them “soften” up. If the meringue is not fully baked, it will collapse after cooling causing hollow macarons.
A: Thank you! Yes you can put it into the dry mix of almonds and sugar. Keep in mind, almonds are not naturally white, the shells will always be a bit ivory regardless of how much white you put in. One more thing I want to add is that in the last few years, I read articles about the health effects of inhaling titanium dioxide. You might want to look into a bit more before handling it for use in your baked goods.
XOXO,
Mimi
A: I do not make any sugar free macarons. However, all macarons are gluten-free by their simple composition of sugar, almonds and egg whites.
A: I use Americolor Black. It works really well. You can also add some black powder colour to make it more intense.
A: You can keep the shells in an air tight container in the freezer or in the fridge until you are ready to fill them. Either one is fine. I would not keep them on the counter.
Q: Yes I do have an individual question for you – I hope you’ll answer for me. 🙂 I use a commercial convection oven (blodgett) for macarons – still struggling with hollow shells 8 yrs later. What temp setting do you use on yours? I have been baking at about 265F for ~16 min in total. Thanks so much! M******le
A: I don’t have experience using a commercial oven. For my regular home oven I have had great success with these two temperatures: Big regular sized oven: 325F for 12-14 minutes. Small Dual Compartment Oven: 275F for 16-18 minutes.
You might want to look at this new post I wrote about all the different ways to combat hollow macarons.
Q: I have used your recipe but although they are completely full, they sink. You can see that the dome is not curve, and the feet has really spread, which I’m pretty sure that it is due to the temp, I know I can lower it, and increase the time but, I could avoid them sinking. At the time I took the picture, they were a little toasted, but they were actually chewy when I took’em out of the oven. I baked 330, for 21 min, using silpats in a conventional oven.
A: I don’t think temperature is your main issue as 330 is a pretty descent number (if your temp is accurate). It looks like your meringue was not beaten stiff enough. Try beating it a bit firmer. XOXO, Mimi
Q: Hi Mimi, As someone with more experience I’m hoping you can help me. I purchased a silicone mat for baking my macarons because I’m so annoyed by the crinkling of the parchment paper. Well they’re expensive lol. And it didn’t work out for me! So I recently saw someone using teflon sheets so I got some and was so excited for a cheaper solution to get round smooth bottomed macarons! Well every time I’ve used them they crack/explode out the top. I have even piped 1/2 a batch on parchment and the other 1/2 on the teflon sheet. The parchment ones came out perfect (with the exception of the wrinkly bottoms from the parchment) and the teflon ones exploded out the tops. They went in immediately after I took out the first tray and the oven temp was the same and it was the same batch. I have no idea why. I’m assuming they conduct heat differently? I’ve tried turning the oven down and that doesn’t seem to do the trick either. So, I’m sorry for the novel of a back story, but do you have any suggestions or could you offer any help? I would so appreciate it!! Thanks in advance! ❤ K****a
A: I understand your situation. Different mats/paper do conduct heat differently. In this case, the Teflon is allowing a lot of heat to reach your mac shells. I would let them dry much longer so they are strong enough to withstand the heat that is reaching it. Turning down the heat also helps even though you did mention you have already tried that. XOXO,
Mimi
A: Yes! Definitely too much folding!
A: Wow! Wonderful tie-dye effect! I wish I could make a cake like that too!
A: Wow! I love the pretty little feet and how nice and bright they are!
A: Hi. It’s definitely hard for all of us. You’re not the only one. I have a huge planner 🙂
I used to use a combination of mobile To-Do-Lists and Calendars (a single app just doesn’t cut it!) but my phone screen is so tiny that it just wasn’t effective for seeing everything all together at once. I finally decided to go old-school and bought myself a small pen/paper agenda. It was pretty nice to write everything down and have a good bird’s eye view of everything. But after a month, I realized that it was still too small so I took the plunge and just got a huge planner from BANDO. It’s 3X thicker than my laptop. Talk about going back to the stone age LOL. However, it has changed everything about the way I organize my time.
Small planner VS. bigger much more efficient BANDO planner.
Here’s how I use it:
Monthly Calendar View for Publishing& Appointments:
I put all my appointments on the bottom half of each block for each day. The upper half is reserved for social media posts/newsletters that are to go out that day.
Monthly Goals:
There is a NOTES section in the beginning of each month, here, I keep a running tally of all the items that need to be done during the month. I look over them each day and transfer those items onto the Daily To Do section. See next photo.
Daily To Do List:
Daily TO DO section has ample room for writing down all the items that need to be done each day. I get these tasks by looking at my Monthly Calender View & Monthly Goals list. I also write down things that happened on that day which may be useful to look back on in the future.
Long Term Projects:
Long Term Projects are listed here. There is no time frame for when these are to be done. It’s simply a list of creative projects that can be considered for the future. This list should be checked a few times a month and items should be taken out of the list and added to the monthly To-Do’s periodically.
Receipts/Loose Paper:
I keep receipts that need to be filed here. Every week, I take these, input them into an excel file to keep track of expenses and file them into another permanent folder.
I continue to use 3 mobile apps for organization since I can’t always carry out such a big planner. I keep track of my appointments on GOOGLE CALENDAR so when I need to make an appointment, I can quickly refer to my phone to see if I’m available. This can be accessed on desktop as well which is so useful.
I use TO DO-IST to keep a simple clean shopping list. I keep this as a widget on my home screen so it’s easily accessible, especially handy when you’re in a rush at the grocery store or mall.
Last is a precious new app I discovered called LIST: Daily Checklist. It is the app I have been waiting for all my life 🙂 It is a list that resets itself daily which makes it so convenient for tracking tasks that you need to do everyday like drink 8 cups of water, excercise, take vitamins etc…
Hope this helps.
XOXO,
Mimi
A: You can use a combination of Black gel color from Americolor and black powder color together.
A: Hi, I’m glad you found my tutorials useful. For this bear, I would wait until a thin skin develops before piping the next part and then wait until it dries completely. Like very dry! before placing in the oven. The full tutorial for batter on batter macarons here. From the photo you showed me of your macaron, I would watch out now to over-whip the meringue to avoid hollow macarons. Whip until its firm enough not to slip around when you turn the bowl over.
A: Hi, try to beat the meringue stiffer and turn on an overhead fan for them to dry out. If your batter is at the correct consistency, you don’t even need to rest your batter and it can go straight into the oven. XO, Mimi
Q: Hi! I made your recipe today! from: IG@Dessoy
A: Wow! these are soo nice! I’m glad you were able to use my Over the Rainbow Macaron tutorial to make this. It looks fabulous.
Q: Hi Mimi!!!
I hope you read this message 😳.
I’ve besen using your macaron recipe and it worked for me wells I was trying to improve my meringue because they were hollow sometimes. But today happened something crazy. From: IG@P***C***S
A: You may not have whipped the meringue stiff enough. Also watch out for the colours you put in. Make sure you shake them well and is at the right consistency. Older gel colours can break your meringue.
Q: Thanks for the idea! Love your hard work. From: IG@french_macarons_creations
A: WOW! these are so cool! I love them so much!! You made them just in time for Valentine’s Day. Thanks for showing them to me. XOXO, Mimi
Newsletter Subscribers can download macaron template for free here:
Q: I made these Neopolitan Macarons with Strawberry Buttercream and chocolate fudge center today using your recipe!! Thank you!! IG:@catrina.rittenhouse
A: Wow! They look amazing! I’m so impressed with them. Thanks for your note. XOXO, Mimi
Q: Hi Mimi, I’ve been following and reading your blog. New baker to macaroons. I tried your recipe to a tee but I ended up with swollen cracked tops. Not sure what caused that. I baked at 300 degrees. Any advise would be helpful and appreciated. IG@Sa***3**2
A: Your meringue should be strong and stiff before folding. Make sure you are allowing your macaron shells to dry completely before placing them in the oven. XOXO, Mimi
Q: Hi Mimi! I stumbled upon your blog a week ago and used your basic macaron recipe to make my first ever batch of macarons! I was completely surprised my macarons turned out near perfect especially since i never made macarons before and it was pretty much my first time piping out anything from a pastry bag! Loved all the macaron tips you posted on your blog. They were all super helpful! Can’t wait to try more of your macaron recipes in the future! From: IG@Ja*****k**n
A: Thank you so much! I really appreciate the love!
Q: Hi mimi! I’m writing to ask how I could fix my Macaron as I can’t really find in your guide what is wrong with my Macaron. It seems a mix of “no feet” and “cracked”. Would you be able to advise what went wrong with these photos attached? My oven has only fan force function, which I can’t fix that. From: IG@A*****81
A: Your oven most likely not the culprit in this case. You’ll need to beat your meringue much stiffer and also wait until the shells completely dry before baking. XOXO, Mimi
Courtney says
I am making your lavender lemon macarons and I am wondering if I pulse the lavender before I add it to the sugar/flour recipe and use 3 tsp or if I measure out 3 tsp of lavender buds and pulse them with the other ingredients. If the latter is the case do I sift out what hasn’t been pulsed into a fine powder?
I’ve used your recipe many times and love this page!
Mimi says
Hi Courtney,
I would pulse all of them together and then sift it, leave out any lavender bits that can’t be sifted. Hope that helps!
XOXO, Mimi
Deborah says
Hello Mimi,
Can I reduce the sugar in meringue as I find that macarons are a tad too sweet?
Thank you 🙂
Mimi says
Hi Deborah,
Unfortunately, sugar is one of the main component of a classic macaron. The recipe I posted has been reduced to the lowest possible and is actually less sweet than other versions. You may want to fill it with different fillings to make the perception of the macaron less sweet. Fruit fillings tends to cut down the perception of sweetness. Take a look at this macarons fillings guide.
Cassy says
I’m having trouble with my shells cracking/bursting on silicone mays. The same recipe comes out perfectly on parchment so I can’t figure it out. They are dry I make sure and hit my trays on the counter. Every time they burst but only on silicone. I’ve even tried different oven temps 🤷🏼♀️ I can’t seem to find a clear answer anywhere, help please!
Mimi says
Hi Cassy,
I’m not quite sure why it would work on parchment and not silicone. Are you using the Silpat branded mats? XOXO, Mimi
JoVonne says
Hi Mimi. I want to make unicorn macarons (unicorn faces) and would like to know how I might go about getting the shells to come out white? Usually if no color is added to the batter, then the shells come out with an ivory sort of color. Do you have any recommendations as to how I would be able to achieve white macaron shells?
Mimi says
Hi
Pierre Herme suggests using Titanium Dioxide. You can try adding a tint of Purple inside the mix if you don’t have TD. XOXO, Mimi
Amanda says
Hi Mimi! I’ve been baking macarons now for several months and have found your macaron recipe is by the far the most consistent with the best results. Over the weekend I tried baking chocolate macarons with unsweetened baking cocoa, but they came out cracked and wrinkled. I’m assuming I used the wrong ratio of cocoa powder to powdered sugar and almond flour. Do you have a chocolate macaron recipe? Or if I were to use 65g of powdered sugar and 65g of almond flour in your normal recipe, how much cocoa powder would you use and would it replace any of the powdered sugar and almond flour?
Thanks!
Amanda
Mimi says
Hi,
My chocolate macaron recipe is here. Also, it’s important to use DUTCH processed cocoa powder instead of natural. XOXO, Mimi
Makenzi G. says
Hi I was wanting to see what brand of food processor you use to grind your almond flour? Thanks!
Mimi says
Braun – You can find the model in my SHOP
XOXO, Mimi
njc2410 says
Hi Mimi! Quick questions: Have you ever used coconut flour instead of almond flour? Is that possible?
Mimi says
I haven’t tried but have heard it is possible 🙂
XOXO,
Mimi
Ranyu says
Hi Mimi
I like your macaroons. They are beautiful.
I have a question. Can I use pure icing sugar instead of icing sugar with corn starch?
Thanks.
Mimi says
Yes you can. However, I know some bakers like to add extra corn starch to make the batter more stable so you can always add some into your dry mix if you like.
XOXO,
Mimi
Lina says
Hello Mimi, please help me. I´ve tried your recipe several times but I always end up with the same problem and I don´t know which step I am doing wrong.
My macaron batter is way too thick, it doesn´t even fall from the spatula. I use aged egg whites, weighted all my ingredients with a scale and my meringue reaches stiff peaks. I just don´t know why it doesn´t mix well with the dry ingredients. I fold in the dry ingredients little by little, at the beginning it looks good but by the time I finish folding all the ingredients the mixture just gets thicker and thicker even when I keep folding for a while.
Mimi says
Usually, this problems is due to incorrect measurements of ingredients or incorrectly splitting up the batter into multiple batches. Some other issues to look for are overwhipped/dry meringue, egg freshness, almond freshness and gel colour freshness. Make sure to add the gel colour in the meringue stage and not during folding.
xoxo,
Mimi
Payal says
Hello Mimi,
Some of your macarons are incredibly beautiful.
My macarons are lopsided, I tried different recipes, piping at 90degrees etc, I am baking at 110, Miele fan forced oven. Is my oven the culprit if it is what settings should I bake them at.
Thanks you
Mimi says
Hi, it’s hard for me to know exactly which is the culprit without looking at your process. Here are some reasons why your macarons may be lopsided: Macaron Trouble Shooting Guide, look under lopsided macarons. I would recommend you adjust your techniques before attempting to change the oven settings.
XOXO,
Mimi
Libby says
HI Mimi,
I seem to have better luck with the Italian method. Do you have a video of your recipe using the Italian method? I love your site and have learned so much!
Thanks. Libby
Mimi says
Hi Libby,
I’m glad you found the site useful. I don’t have one out yet. I will, of course, have a video out as soon as I finish my Italian recipe. I’m working on a few new recipes right now and it’s taking a while longer than i thought 🙂
XOXO,
Mimi
Debbie says
This may seem like a silly question but with cakes and etc. the flour or powdered sugar is sometimes weighed before sifting and sometimes after sifting. So do you sift then measure almond flour and powdered sugar or measure then sift?
Thanks for your help
Mimi says
Hi Debbie,
No, that’s a totally valid question. The almond flour and sugar we need is after sifting. I usually measure it all out beforehand and if there are any almonds that can’t be sifted, I would compensate with more almonds that can be sifted.
Xoxo,
Mimi
Brandy says
Hi Mimi!
I have been having amazing luck with your recipe so I don’t want to start from it! What I want to do is use freeze dried fruit in my shell as a flavor. I have seen this on a couple of Macaron pages I follow. How would you go about using them? 5-10 grams per batch? Would you remove the 5-10 grams of almond flour or sugar or just add the freeze dried fruit? I would think they may have to be baked slightly longer as I have that with chocolate shells too.
Would love your opinion on this!
Cheers
Brandy
Mimi says
Hi Brandy,
I’m glad my recipe works so well for you! I would try removing the same quantity from the icing sugar to compensate. As a starting point, I would start with 1 tbsp. How long to bake them, I would judge by the looks of the macarons while baking since it can vary from batch to batch even without the added ingredient 🙂
XOXO,
Mimi
Mitzi Lewis says
Should egg whites be weighed before or after aging?
Mimi says
Hi Mitzi,
Egg whites should be weighed before as they sometimes lose some weight after aging. Have you read this post yet? How to age egg whites for baking macarons.
xoxo,
Mimi
Brandy Crassweller says
Hi Mimi
First, I love your page, it really is amazing! I have been making macrons for the past couple of months, experimenting and trying to find the perfect consistency. I tried your recipe and I love it as its a smaller batch. My problem is the shells are taking forever to dry and I mean forever….I had them sitting out last night for 3 hours and they were still tacky. I left them out over night and they finally dried….baked them in the morning and feet barely formed but that was most likely because of being left out all night.
What could be causing them to not dry?
I live in Surrey, BC so the weather shouldn’t affect them, I have put the stove fan on, doesn’t help. I have followed your recipe and I weigh all my ingredients. Watched all the videos….
Please help!!!
Thanks
B.
Mimi says
Hi Brandy,
I live in Vancouver so I think there should be no problems with the shells drying. Even on a wet rainy day which we seem to get so much of here 🙂 I think there is something wrong with the batter, not the weather. You should watch out for beating the meringue stiffer and don’t overfold.
XOXO,
Mimi
Crystal Jones says
Hi!
My macarons looks great on the outside but for some reason my macs are half hollow – the top of the shell inside is hollow and the bottom part of the inside of the shell has a sticky consistency. However, I’ve noticed when I make chocolate macarons with cocoa powder I have no hollows! Help!
Mimi says
Hi Crystal,
I wrote a new post on What Causes Hollow Macarons. The hole is more due to the meringue and the stickiness due to the heat. Take a look at the new post.
XOXO,
Mimi