Vegan Vanilla Macarons with Sprinkles (plus video)
Hello my baker friends! Let’s bake some more vegan macarons today! Today’s flavor is Vegan Vanilla Macarons with sprinkles, and multi-color buttercream filling. This post also includes a video on how to make the macarons!
Let’s start out by saying how much in love I am with these beautiful Vegan Vanilla Macarons! Cause I am deeply in love with them. With their color, with the sprinkles on top, with everything!
If you have been following the blog, you know how much I love baking Vegan Desserts. And also, how lately I have been getting into Vegan Macarons.
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My vegan macaron baking journey has been evolving, and I feel the progress with each batch.
I’ve had my rough patch with the vegan macarons, as well as with the regular ones. And any macaron baker will tell you they had their own share of failures when it comes to mastering these cookies.
I hope my videos on Youtube and on my other blog posts, as well as my tips, can help you on your own macaron baking journey.
Tips on how to make Vegan Macarons
So, on this Vegan Vanilla Macarons post, I want to share with you some tips on how to make Vegan Macarons that I have learned so far.
Meringue
Make sure to whip the aquafaba to stiff peaks. It’s very important that the peaks are shooting straight up, not soft or bending down.
Please read this Vegan Macaron Basics Guide and also this Vegan Macaron Troubleshooting Guide for more information that will be very helpful to you when making vegan macarons.
If you don’t know what to do with so many chickpeas leftover from using all the brine, check out my Chickpea Tacos, or this Chickpea Salad.
What temperature to bake Vegan Macarons
So this is a huge one guys! When I started making vegan macarons, I was using the Italian method. And that required a very low oven temperature. My macarons had very tiny feet and were often lopsided. My results were not consistent, it was a hit or miss. Now, looking back, I believe the low temperature might have been a big culprit.
Even when I started using the French Method, with my Biscoff Macarons, I was still using a low temperature (215 F). And it worked fine for a couple of batches. But then, every batch after had: lopsided shells all over the place!
The trick to fixing that problem is to use a higher temperature. I’ve used 310 Fahrenheit for a while, but that was causing the feet of my macaron to explode. So now I am using 285ºF.
Please read this Vegan Matcha Macaron post to understand your oven better, with tips on how to figure out the best temperature for your oven, and why it’s so important to have an oven thermometer.
So, if you are asking yourself: why are my macarons coming out lopsided? The answer might lie in your oven temperature. Your temperature might be too low. If your macarons have tiny feet, and they are also lopsided, it’s most likely a low temperature issue.
If your macarons have huge feet, exploding to the side, and they are lopsided, the temperature might be too high, which is why so important to have an oven thermometer.
Huge exploding feet may also be due to over mixing the batter, as you can see on the Vegan Macaron Troubleshooting Guide.
Whip that aquafaba!
When should I stop whipping the aquafaba? Guys, it’s *almost* impossible to overwhip the aquafaba. So I say, keep whipping it until the peaks are really stiff! Underwhipping the aquafaba will cause for macarons that will not hold their shape at all.
I start whipping the aquafaba on low for about 1 minute with the cream of tartar (you can use vinegar if you can’t find cream of tartar).
After about 1 minute, once the aquafaba is starting to get white and foamy, raise the speed to medium. Whip on medium for another 2 minutes.
Once the aquafaba is white, and the whisk is leaving streak marks in the meringue, start adding the granulated sugar gradually, a little bit at a time, as you raise the speed to high.
Keep whipping on high for another 5-8 minutes. I usually whip for a total of 10 minutes from beginning to end. The peaks should be straight up, the meringue should be glossy.
So these are my tips for baking Vegan Macarons for today!
If you would like to know where to buy Vegan Sprinkles, this is a pretty cool guide with lots of information on brands and where to find vegan sprinkles.
Here are some suggestions of vegan sprinkles for you:
Here are some more Vegan Macarons ideas for you:
(If you want to keep using the French method I cover in this recipe -which I highly recommend- you can get the ideas for the fillings from these other posts too)
- Vegan Coffee Macarons
- Vegan Blueberry Lemon Macarons
- Vegan Chocolate Macarons
- Vegan Strawberry Macarons
- Vegan Matcha Macarons
- Vegan Biscoff Macarons
- Vegan Pistachio Macarons
I hope you enjoyed these Vegan Vanilla Macarons and my tips on how to make vegan macarons. If you give them a try tag me on instagram, and leave a review below!
These are some of the products I use to make macarons:
This is the container I use to store the macarons.
These are the piping bags I use.
This is the baking mat I use.
Vegan Vanilla Macarons with Sprinkles
Ingredients
Vegan Macaron Shells
- 75 grams aquafaba (water from a chickpea can)
- 110 grams almond flour
- 110 grams powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 66 grams granulated sugar
Vegan Vanilla Buttercream
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter 1 oz, 28 grams
- 2 tablespoons shortening 1 oz, 28 grams**
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted (6.61 oz, 187.5 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Vegan Macaron Shells
- Gather all of the ingredients before starting to make macarons. Measure out all ingredients. Line two baking sheets with silicon mats. And fit a large piping bag with a large round tip, I use a 0.5" diameter. You want everything ready to go when you need it.
- Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together. Set aside.
- Place the aquafaba and cream of tartar in the bowl of a mixer.
- Start whipping on low speed for about 2 minutes, until it starts to get white and thick.
- At this point, raise speed to high, start to add granulated sugar, slowly, a bit at a time.
- Continue to whip until the aquafaba achieves stiff peaks.
- The whole whipping, from beginning to end, should last about 10 minutes. It can last more or less time depending on what mixer you are using, and what speed.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients to whipped aquafaba. Start folding with a spatula slowly.
- Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
- Fold forming a letter J with the spatula.
- Fold until the batter is flowing slightly. You don’t want the batter to be flowing continuously off the spatula. When it comes to vegan macarons, the folding time is very very brief. You are basically just looking to incorporate the dry ingredients with the meringue. Please watch the video to see what the consistency should look like. If you grab a spatula full of batter and hold it over the bowl, it should still be separating in chunks, and not flowing continuously on a ribbon. Do not get to the ribbons stage! If you get to the ribbon stage, the macaron feet will spread out in the oven.
- Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
- Pipe 1 1/2” circles on a baking sheet lined with silicon mat. I usually use 2 sheets. This will depend on how big you pipe your macarons.
- Bang the trays against the counter to release air bubbles.
- Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
- If using sprinkles, make sure to sprinkle them before the macaron shells dry. Sprinkle them on half of the sprinkles, as you will want the other half to be used as the bottom of the macaron sandwich.
- Let the trays rest for 30-45 minutes until the shells are dry. Test this by touching a macaron gently with your finger. Depending on humidity levels and weather, it might take longer or less time for your macarons to dry.
- Pre-heat oven to 285ºF.
- Bake one tray at a time.
- Bake for a total of 20 minutes, or until the macarons are easily coming off the silicon mat.
- Remember to rotate the tray every 5 minutes, to ensure even baking.
- Baking time might vary depending on your oven.
- Let macarons cool down before filling.
Vegan Vanilla Buttercream
- Place the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Whip on medium for about 1 minute, until fluffy and combined.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined. Raise speed and cream for another minute.
- Add vanilla.
- If you notice the buttercream is too stiff or dry, add a bit of non-dairy milk, or water, 1 teaspoon at a time.
- If the buttercream is too runny, maybe the butter is too hot. If the butter is room temperature, then maybe you need to add more powdered sugar to the buttercream.
- I divided my buttercream into 4 bowls and colored 3 of the bowls with blue, purple, and pink food coloring.
- Then, I laid a piece of plastic on the counter, and made one strip of each different color buttercream lengthwise on the plastic. Rolled the plastic onto a log, and inserted it in a piping bag fitted with my tip of choice.
To assemble
- Pipe a dollop of buttercream on each bottom shell. Top with a shell with sprinkles.
- Make sure to let macarons mature in the fridge for 24-48 hours before serving. They will have a much better consistency and flavor.
- Let macarons sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before enjoying.
To store
- Keep the macarons in the fridge for up to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
What If we do not have a silicon mat? Should we use parchment paper?
Yes you can!
thinking about trying the recipe. But have you tried making it wait any other flour besides Almond?
with*
with*
I have never made it with another flour, but some people make it with stuff like sunflower seed flour, all-purpose flour, etc. But I have never attempted it.
hi! is there any alternative to cream of tartar/can I omit it? I
Thanks!
I believe some people use the same amount of vinegar instead. You can try omitting it also. It helps make the meringue more stable, but you can go without.
I frequently use your recipes for regular macarons (non vegan) and they come out great, but I followed this recipe to the letter and they had huge feet that all ran into each other, and they were stuck to the silpat. They looked perfect until about 5 minutes into the baking. Went straight in the trash, not sure what happened there?
over mixed batter, oven temperature being too high, under whipped meringue, all of the above can cause your macarons to do that. if you are not used to baking vegan macarons, you have to keep practicing to improve your technique, because they are different than regular macarons
Hi Camila ..i tried your vegan macaron recipe couple of times..it came out good on my 3rd attempt but after that it’s just not working ..I am not sure what I am doing wrong as I following the same way I did before ..I also bought oven thermometer, measuring all ingredients on scale and been following every step but just not getting it right..will keep trying but am not sure where and what is the problem.
what is the issue that’s happening?
Thank you for responding so quick…Everytime it’s different..sometime no feet, sometime cracked shells, expanded sides..that’s the reason I am not understanding what I am doing wrong
are you letting them rest until they are dry to the touch? is it more humid or hot weather now?
watch the macaronage and stop before forming the figure 8 stage. fold less time if they are expanding to the sides.
That will also cause cracked shells.
So bummed. I made these today and everything was looking gorgeous until the last 8 or so minutes. They expanded sideways and ran together. Hoping to try again soon but I was so bummed. Not sure if the oven was too high or if they didn’t dry as much as they should’ve. I was extra bummed because I’d already made the buttercream and it went to waste😔
Hi! I’m a beginner trying my hand at macarons (vegan or otherwise) for the very first time. I tried whipping my aquafaba, but it simply could never reach stiff peaks. I added the cream of tartar, and made sure my stainless steel bowl was free of oils/grease, and let the aquafaba chill in the fridge for a few hours. I used a hand mixer to mix it, but it always stayed at soft peaks. I ended up spending about 2 hours waiting for the aquafaba to whip but it never did. Any help would be appreciated, thank you!
The other day this happened to me, I whipped my aquafaba forever. I had to discard it because it wasn’t forming any peaks at all. I suspect it was the brand I was using, which was a new brand. Also, I haven’t been reducing my aquafaba anymore, and it works this way. Maybe it had something to do with the aquafaba I’m not really sure, but this literally happened to me this week. And when I used a different brand (I have like 3 types of chickpeas in my pantry) it worked and whipped. But experiment next time also without reducing the aquafaba, it should work fine, and eliminate that step. Buy a couple of different brands of chickpeas and experiment with them.
I made these macarons today! Everything was going very very well until about 15 minutes into baking. The bottoms of the macarons became wider and expanded not only up but outwards while baking. The bottoms became golden brown and the inside became hollow…. please help.
That means the heat is too high. What temperature did you bake them at, and most importantly, do you have an oven thermometer?
I’ve made non-vegan macarons before and they came out pretty good. I was excited to try a vegan recipe. I’ve tried this twice both with no success. First first time is my fault since I didn’t see you were supposedly to store the aquafaba reduction overnight and I was impatient. The second time, I had the all aquafaba set. Things were going great until it came to the sugar and flour mixture. I folded and folded and still, it’s not right. I can’t even get to the baking stage it’s that off. I followed the directions exactly so I’m pretty mad. I see in other comments that maybe more aquafaba can help but it’s too late to save this current batch and I’m not wasting time or ingredients on this recipe again. ☹️ Buttercream was great though so I guess that’s a bonus.
The same way there’s a learning curve with regular macarons there is also one with vegan macarons. Better luck next time. Wish you a great day
I’ve made this twice now, and neither attempt worked out perfectly, but I’m still learning the overall macaron-making technique. I’m learning so much more with each batch I make, and your blog is a huge part of that journey. Your instructions are very thorough and I especially love your videos – I hope you continue to make more!
Quick question – how long does the reduced aquafaba store in the fridge? I saw on another comment that you wouldn’t recommend freezing, but can I create several batches of aquafaba at once to use over the course of a few days? Planning to attempt macarons 2 or 3 more times this weekend and it would save lots of time if I can prep all the aquafaba at once.
Hello Samantha, thank you so much for your comment! I will definitely continue to make videos!Right now I am working on a book so for the next few weeks I will be slow on the video making, however I have lots of video content planned for the next few months! 🙂
So, the aquafaba in the fridge will last a few days, maybe 3 or 4. Just make sure to look at the appearance of the aquafaba, give it a stir, and make sure it looks fine before using it.
Thank you and let me know if you have any questions!! Have a great day!
Thanks!
Another quick question – I tried this recipe again this morning, but no matter how much I folded, the batter never seemed to thin… Is it 110g of almond flour pre-sifting or is that measurement for sifted flour?
1/3 Cup reduced akwaaba of 3/4 Cup garbanzo bean brine. Please tell me how much exactly in grams is ready confident aquafaba?
Reduce it from 150 grams to 70-75 grams.
Hi friend!
I followed your recipe and everything was going perfect until the 12 minute mark in the oven. The macarons expanded, cracked and expanded out rather than up. What did I do wrong?
Thank you!
Megan
It could be oven temperature. Do you have an oven thermometer? It is essential to have an oven thermometer when baking macarons
It could be over mixed batter, you may have folded the batter too much.
It could be under whipped meringue.
Hi! I only have regular chickpeas, not sodium free, is that okay?
I do hear of people making with regular not sodium free chickpeas so I’d give it a go, but I feel like when I use them my results aren’t the same, which could also be due to other conditions, and not the chickpea itself.
Thank you
I just tried your recipe. I followed to the tee. The aquafaba reached nice stiff peaks. I used a brand new package of super fine almond flour, ultra-fine bakers/caster sugar, sifted twice and used your measurements. I did not get past the folding, which was nearly impossible because the batter was way too thick. I have yet to find a recipe online that is accurate or that works so I was hoping maybe yours woujld. I understand that they are difficult and finicky to make, but you must start out with proper measurements. I used a gram scale. Sorry, but the recipe did not at all work for me and I just wasted another batch of ingredients.
Sorry if the recipe didn’t work for you. It does work for me and it has worked for many people who have tagged me on instagram and reported success with the recipe. And some also came to me asking for help because theirs didn’t work. When it comes to macarons, it’s about technique, and practicing until you get the hang of it. Hope you someday find a recipe and method that works for you once you’ve practiced enough. Next time when that happens and if the batter is too thick that you can’t even fold it, add a bit of whisked aquafaba to thin it out and keep folding, and it will come together nicely. Just keep adding by the teaspoon until you have achieved a nice consistency. Have a lovely day.
I had the same problem. 🙁 The aquafaba whipped up really great, but I think it was just too much dry ingredients to incorporate. I would have tried adding more aquafaba, but I didn’t have anymore to add. I’m going to give it another attempt soon, but don’t know how many chick peas I can eat!. They say you can use liquids from other beans. Does that work as well? Every recipe I looked at says “from chickpeas”. Thoughts?
Yes try adding a couple more tablespoons of aquafaba next time! I hope it works for you! And you can use liquid from other beans, I’ve seen people make it with black beans, northern beans, white kidney beans, fava beans, etc…
Second attempt was better but now I got volcanoes. First tray attempted at 310F second tray at 280. I saved a few to try the silicone mat. No volcanoes but stuck to mat. 😰 any ideas what to try next?!?
very important question, do you have an oven thermometer?
The ones that got stuck to the mat probably just had to bake a little longer.
The volcano ones probably happened due to high temperature, so lowering the temperature will help. And if they are stuck to the mat they need to be baked longer.
Hello! Is it really important to rotate the tray? Aren’t the macs gonna go flat if I open the oven and do that? Thank you for the recipe!
Hey there, the macarons aren’t going to go flat, it’s actually good to open the oven every now and then when making macarons specially if your oven is like mine and tends to spike up the heat. And yes it’s very important to rotate the tray not to have lopsided macarons. They is no leavening agents in the macarons such as baking soda and baking powder, so you don’t have to worry about the macarons going flat or sinking because of opening the door.
Thank you for your question! 🙂 have a happy day!
Can you freeze the aqua fabba after you reduced it down to 1/3 cup and still use it after it’s defrosted?
Once I froze my aquafaba, and when I defrosted and went to use it it looked super weird so I didn’t even attempt to use it because I didn’t want to risk wasting all the other ingredients. But maybe it was just that specific aquafaba, or maybe it would have turned out fine if I had used it. So I guess it’s a matter of experimenting.
Is there an alternate for almond flour?
some people use coconut flour, or sunflower seed flour, I havent experimented with those so I am not sure if the amount would be the same. I assume you might need less coconut flour since coconut flour soaks up a lot of humidity.
Hello! Thank you for your recipe. I’m going to try it tomorrow. How much in gms would you say aquafaba is in your recipe?
Hello, I start with 150 grams and reduce it to about 70 grams!
Thank you!!
In your post recipe notes you say that you used to reduce the aquafaba but don’t anymore…but in many comments I see you giving reduction instructions. I’ve made vegan macs before but lost the recipe that I used so I’m on the search for a new one and your recipe seems promising. But before I invest these ingredients and time (and patience) I’d love to know this bit of information. Thanks!
those are old comments, before I stopped reducing it. I don’t reduce it anymore. Here are some helpful articles: https://www.piesandtacos.comtag/vegan-macaron-tips/
and also this is the most updated recipe: (the same as this one, but doesnt have the comments saying I reduce the aquafaba) https://youtu.be/NHyDhnYdmX8
Gosto muito de macarons e o sabor de baunilha então….. fica mais gostoso ainda!!!!!!
Obrigada pai😃