Choosing almond flour for macarons

For smooth, pale macaron shells, start with finely ground, blanched almond flour. Check the bag for those words and look at the flour itself: it should be a loose, fine meal rather than coarse pieces or a damp paste.

Almond flour or almond meal?

Blanched almonds have had their brown skins removed. Skin-on flour has darker flecks, which show in a light shell. The terms “flour” and “meal” aren't a reliable guarantee of grind size; brands use them differently. King Arthur's almond flour guide explains the difference between blanched and natural almond flour.

Our older popcorn macaron recipe calls the ingredient almond meal. For that recipe, choose a fine product suitable for macarons, rather than a coarse meal sold for breading.

What to check on the bag

• Ingredients: plain almonds. A baking mix with sweeteners or other flours will change the recipe.
• Texture: fine and evenly ground, with no large skin fragments.
• Freshness: follow the storage instructions and keep the bag sealed. Bob's Red Mill recommends cold storage for almond flour to protect its freshness.

There isn't a tested brand winner in this guide. The grind and condition of the flour matter more than a “best” label.

Sifting and processing

Weigh and sift in the order your chosen recipe specifies. A recipe that weighs flour before sifting may handle discarded pieces differently from one asking for an already-sifted weight.

If your recipe calls for processing almonds with powdered sugar, use the sugar allocated to that step. Brief pulses help break up the mixture; long processing can release oil and move it toward almond butter. Mimi's macaron flour method demonstrates grinding with powdered sugar and removing coarse pieces.

Don't force large almond fragments through the sieve. If a large proportion won't pass through, a finer flour is a better starting point than repeatedly grinding an increasingly oily mixture.

Can another flour replace it?

Wheat flour, coconut flour, and almond butter aren't direct swaps in an almond macaron recipe. For a nut-free version, choose a recipe developed for that specific alternative rather than replacing the almonds gram for gram.

The same caution applies to eggs: the egg substitute guide explains why a swap that works in a muffin may fail in a macaron shell.

Ready to bake? Try the banana macarons, then use the macaron storage guide once they're filled. If the sugar names are unfamiliar, here's the caster sugar guide.