French gluten free macarons (not the same thing as macaroons) are one of those dainty and special cookies I always wanted to make gluten free. Turns out making gluten free French Macarons was much easier than I had anticipated, and now I don’t know why I waited so long to try!
I was prompted to make these iconic cookies after one year’s Gluten Free Cookie Swap came to a close and there were two macarons recipes submitted. I invited my then 9-year old to make whatever recipe she wanted to try from the Swap, and one of those macarons caught her eye, so we worked from that reader’s submission.
If you wonder are afraid to try this recipe for yourself (they do look really difficult to make, don’t they?), let me give you one more assurance: my daughter didn’t want me to help her at all when she made these cookies (if you have an independent 9-year old, you know what I mean)! What you see before you are the delicious result of a 9-year old baker, with me taking copious notes and assisting only with the oven.
Don’t put off another day what you can try for yourself now! These delicate treasures are sure to impress! (Oh, and if you needed one more reason, March 20 is National Macaron Day!).
Gluten Free French Macarons Recipe
Ingredients
cookie ingredients:
- 6 Tbs. egg whites
- 1/8 tsp. fine sea salt
- Food coloring (optional) (try natural food colors like Color Garden™ or India Tree®)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tsp. icing (confectioner’s) sugar
- 1 cup plus 3 Tbs. (120 grams) almond meal (make your own!)
filling ingredients:
- ¼ cup butter or non-dairy alternative (e.g. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
- 1 ¼ cups icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
- ¾ tsp. pure vanilla or almond extract
- 1/8 – ¼ cup milk of choice, as needed
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mix egg whites and salt in a bowl and whip with an electric mixer until foamy. Add food coloring, if using. Increase speed to high and gradually add in the granulated sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form.
Sift icing sugar in a sieve or flour sifter (that has never been used for gluten flour!). Sift almond meal through a sieve and discard any larger chunks that won’t pass through.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the sifted icing sugar and almond meal into the whipped egg mixture, folding over again and again to incorporate the dry ingredients. This will take approximately 40 folds; it will initially look like there is no way the egg whites could mix with the dry ingredients, but it will work – trust me! When fully incorporated, the mixture will be smooth but not runny. Do not over-mix or your macarons will be flat!
Prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch #4 round tip or large plastic bag with a small ½ inch cut out of one corner, pipe 1-inch rounds of batter onto prepared sheets. Allow for spread by spacing out 2 inches between each round.
Pick up the trays and gently let the trays drop back onto the counter to help prevent cracking of the macarons. Alternatively, you could let them sit at room temperature until they appear dry, then bake.
Place cookie sheets into the preheated oven and crack the door ajar, baking for 15 minutes or until the macaron tops are no longer shiny and they have puffed up. Remove one cookie gently with a spatula to see if it comes off intact – if it sticks to the paper or the spatula, continue to bake for 5 more minutes, checking again with a spatula.
Remove the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, remove gently with a spatula and try not to bend the cookies when removing them or the tops might crack.
To fill the macarons, whip all ingredients except milk until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, one tablespoon at a time, until a frosting consistency is reached – the frosting should be stiff, but creamy.
Transfer to a pastry bag or large plastic bag with a 1/4 inch corner cut out. Arrange macarons so the flat bottoms are facing up and gently pipe filling as thick as you would like for your cookies. Top with another macaroon, flat side facing the filling.
Pin it to try later!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! Approximately how many macarons does it make?
I haven’t tried this yet, but I really want to. I was wondering if it would be possible to flavour these? I’m a huge fan of the lemon rosemary and pistachio flavoured macarons, do you have any ideas as to how I could incorporate the flavours into this recipe? Thank you for any help you can give.
Hi Ashley, those flavors sound divine! Have you ever tried finely crushing pistachios in a food processor? You could do that in place of the almond meal here, or in place of half of it to add that yummy pistachio flavor. As for lemon-rosemary, crush rosemary finely and rub into the almond meal with your fingers to get the flavor worked into it. Substitute lemon extract for the vanilla and I would even add some fresh lemon zest to the batter or filling, as well. Just the thought of it is making me want to get into the kitchen and try it myself! Let me know how it goes!!!
~jules
macarons are NOT macaroons…
Hi
My kiddo is allergic to wheat and egg but can eat small amounts of diary.
Any way to substitute the egg? I use Aqua faba in cupcake recipes with great success.
Can you please give me some direction here?
Thank you!
Hi Carmen, have you checked my egg-free/vegan baking tips yet? Start there and then yes, I would experiment with aquafaba, especially since you have some experience with it. Please let me know how it goes!
~jules
Hi so my daughter and I visited a French Bakery here in our city recently and we loved the chocolate flavored Macron there. I would love to see if I could make these using this as a base recipe and then adding some sort of dark choc. to give it the choc. flavor. Do you have any recommendations for that?
Hi Christina, perhaps substitute dark cocoa powder for 3 Tablespoons of the almond meal called for in this recipe – let me know how that works out!
~jules
This recipe looks great! I cant wait to try it. Macarons are the French dessert and macaroons are the coconut cookies, so the terms are not interchangeable. ????
Agreed, Shay, but it’s a common mistake that folks misspell macaron, so I thought I’d note it so people would know they were still in the right recipe! Glad the recipe looks good to you – I hope you get to try it soon!
~jules
is there a substitute for almost flour? my little one is allergic but desperately wants me to make these and i tried coconut flour which was a fail.
Hi Shavaun, I think you mean almond flour? Can your child have any other kind of nuts, because that’s the easiest substitute here – cashew flour, hazelnut flour, etc. If not, you can toast pumpkin seeds and grind them into a fine meal and use those instead. I hope that helps!
~jules
lol yes almond flour sorry!
she’s allergic to all nuts except coconut. would that work?
The pumpkin seeds should work, then, yes. Best of luck!
~jules
Will these hold for a few days once they’re made? My 12 yr old daughter is thinking about making these for a “bake off” at school.
My 10 year old son loves making macaroons. He makes it look so simple. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Wow – what a superstar! Give him a high 5 from Miss Jules the next time he makes them!
~jules
So Cute
I have been wanting to try to make macarons for a while, I just haven’t built up enough courage to do it! If your daughter can do it, I can too, right?! Maybe I’ll try some for Valentine’s Day
I have actually never made macaroons like this. They have been on my list for years, but just never attempted. Now I am inspired to move them to the top of my list. Very pretty!
French Macarons are such a nice gluten-free treat! These look lovely and I love that your son made them because they can certainly look a little intimidating due to their “perfectly dainty” looks. Good job!
Thanks, Audrey! They do look intimidating because they’re so delicate, but they can apparently handle some less than delicate kid-manipulation in the making, as these turned out perfectly!
~jules
Thanks! I have always wanted to give these a try, and this recipe looks good.