Claire’s Homemade Macarons Are Better Than Anything You Can Buy | Try This at Home | NYT Cooking

It’s time for a new installment of “Try This at Home,” a series that guides you through different baking projects and techniques.

This time, Claire is showing us how to make a classic French confection: macarons! Watch on to learn her tips and tricks.

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[DuyNguyen-yxvd]

Macarons are fascinating because it feels like the kind of thing that was created through a series of mistakes that turned into something iconically delicious. Deflate a meringue by mixing instead of folding. Dropped the baking sheet. Left the cookies sitting out so that the batter dried out. The cookie developed an uneven ruffle at the bottom instead of staying perfectly flat. Refridgerated them and they got soft. None of these things sound like normal things for baking a cookie.

[RileyRosa_]

I've watched literally so many macaron tutorials before and this is by far the best one. Claire is just so good at making complicated things make sense

[jazeolo]

Claire is such a professional. Not just as a chef, but as a presenter and at giving clear instructions. She also gives a lot of really useful practical advice. Always a pleasure to watch. She has her own channel, by the way!

[chuckychuck]

Oh I love it when Nyt treat us with some claire content

[anngoo]

Love Claire content! She is such a well spoken, wonderful teacher and is so relatable at the same time!

[sandraengstrand]

I absolutely loooove how Claire can explain the exact texture and consistency that’s needed. Super-helpful and also entertaining!!! 👩🏻‍🍳⏲️💕👍🏻

[wandererinthenight]

This is a case when you realize that teaching is not an easy task and requires a very highly skilled professional. By far the best tutorial out there.

[bgvsyig]

my boyfriend and i just made a batch of the chocolate ones following this recipe, we messed up a couple things (inconsistent oven temp, poor piping skills, using 3.5oz of 70% chocolate and like a tiny piece of 90% in the ganache to try and make up for the missing bit because we forgot to adjust the amount of milk we used) and even despite all that, they turned out AMAZING!!!

we got 17 instead of 23 and they were a bit wrinkly and their sizes varied a lot more than claire's, but they were definitely recognizable as macarons and had the foot, and tasted SO good. i shared them with my roommates :)

[jcthompson]

I tried making macarons twice, years ago, and they were a disaster despite all the reading I did ahead of time from great chefs. Claire’s such a great teacher that maybe, not committing, I may give it one more try because they are great “cookies” that I’d like to master. And she begins with the classic/best flavor combos.

[bibelev]

I love the troubleshooting part at the end, as well as the possible things that may go wrong that she pinpoints throughout the entire process. She makes it so less of an overwhelming thought of attempting to make them at home.

[AmarEnergy]

Claire is such a wealth of knowledge! I love how she can take an otherwise quite complicated technique and break it down to the fundamentals.She has been a huge influence on me upping my baking game to more complicated recipes and methods. I have learned so much about baking from this woman!

[danbev]

I love, love, love these Claire videos of classic advanced foods! She breaks things down to look much less intimidating. Such a great teacher! Thanks NYT and Claire!

[ernestwinata]

The intermittent soft jazz in the background suggests that this is a relaxing activity. Which it is definitely not.

[MsDowntonabbey]

I tried a French macaron for the first time when I was in college and thought they were one of the best things I had tasted. I was so excited to make them and chose a recipe for lavender macarons which I spent hours making with my little sister and failed spectacularly 😂 I had never made any kind of meringue before, definitely didn't use a mixer, didn't know I had to let them form a skin, and improvised a filling because the one in my recipe seemed too complicated. These instructions are so helpful and much more detailed -- I'm inspired to give macarons another try!

[lespantalonsfancie]

I made the chocolate macarons this weekend as my 5th attempt at making macarons (using a few different YouTube recipes). These were, I'm pleased to say, the closest I've come so far to getting the shells right. Granted, some of the shells cracked and I accidentally piped them a bit big (note to self: use a smaller piping tip to help control the flow of the batter next time) BUT I did have mostly smooth tops and ruffled feet!! Also that dark choc ganash with the espresso coffee - 👌 hmm, crazy delicious next to the sweetness of the macaron shells. Now I'm keen to try the other two flavours!

[Andyt]

Pistachio verdict: mmm
Chocolate verdict: mmm
Raspberry verdict: mmm

[JimSlaughterOC]

The quality of this video is amazing! Congrats to Claire and her hard-working video editors! Thanks!

[macaoron]

I've been waiting for Claire to tackle macarons forever, so thank you NYT Cooking for making my dream come true! 💖💖

[neldjpi]

I tried out macarons a week or so ago, and it was pretty successful, but these are some great tips! For example, I had no idea that you were supposed to deliberately deflate your meringue, so I treated it gently and wound up with macaronage that hadn't fully come together. I also didn't tap mine on the counter. If you're reading and on the fence about trying it, Claire is definitely right when she says that even if you don't make them perfectly, macarons are delicious little suckers. Give it a whirl on a weekend and see what you can do.

[beam]

Everytime Claire does something, she makes it look so easy and nothing to fear about baking, but macarons are something else when baking...😅😁