How to Make Traditional French Macarons

10. Get Creative

Once you've mastered the traditional French macaron, you can get creative and experiment with countless flavor combinations. Here are some tasty variations you can try:

Raspberry macarons: Fold in 1 to 2 drops of pink food coloring to both the basic macaron recipe and vanilla buttercream. Pipe a circle of buttercream on your shell, leaving the center empty. Fill the space with a small dollop of raspberry jam.

Chocolate macarons: Fold 2 tablespoons of sifted dark cocoa into the basic macaron recipe. Fill with a chocolate ganache.

Lemon macarons: Fold 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and 1 to 2 drops of yellow food coloring into the basic macaron recipe. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the vanilla buttercream recipe.