Never-Hollow Macaron Shells Using A Thermomix

Thermomix Recipes

Never-Hollow Macaron Shells Using A Thermomix

Name: Never-Hollow Macaron Shells Using A Thermomix
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 32 shells
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 egg whites; granulated white sugar; 1/4 tsp cream of tartar; 1/4 tsp Kosher salt; gel or powder food coloring; fine almond flour; confectioner's sugar

Hollow macaron shells can be a thing of the past with this effortless Swiss meringue recipe that uses a Thermomix and countertop oven for simplicity and consistency.

By Victor Amos | September 6, 2026

Photography by Victor Amos

Thermomix Recipes

Hollow macaron shells can be a thing of the past with this effortless Swiss meringue recipe that uses a Thermomix and countertop oven for simplicity and consistency.

By Victor Amos | September 6, 2026

The Perfect-Shell Obsession

Spend any amount of time in macaron Facebook groups and you’ll see an obsession with tall feet and perfectly full shells. Personally, I find it hilarious! I’ve traveled to Paris—the epicenter of macaron royalty—and learned that while home bakers idolize and chase perfection in appearance, the legendary bakeries do not always achieve it themselves. I bought hollow macarons with crushed shells at premium prices, and they were still proudly tucked into beautiful boxes and sold by some of the most celebrated names in pastry.

The rise of AI-generated food photography hasn’t helped. We’re surrounded by images of flawlessly smooth, perfectly symmetrical macarons that may never have existed in the first place. Those images give people unrealistic expectations for a confection that is notoriously susceptible to “failure” due to humidity, temperature, equipment, and technique.

I have been baking macarons for more than a decade, and I quickly learned that achieving full shells relies less on making the absolute perfect batter and more on understanding your oven.

For me, the key was finding the balance between enough heat to quickly cook and set the interior structure of the macaron, but not so much heat that the exterior browns or dehydrates into a fragile eggshell. Once I stopped treating every imperfect shell as a batter problem and started paying closer attention to heat, everything changed for me.

My Oven Technique

I finally struck the right balance by finding a way to stabilize the heat using a countertop oven and two sheet pans. Letting go of using my stove was the turning point in my journey.

I place one sheet pan on the top rack of the countertop oven, where it shields the macarons from the upper heating element and helps prevent the top of the macaron shells from browning. I place a second sheet pan upside down on the center rack and allow it to preheat with the oven. The piped macarons are then slid directly onto that hot, center rack sheet pan, giving them immediate and even heat from below. The sheet pans ensure an evenly-distributed temperature cooking the shells from the top and the bottom.

Thick, high-quality pans are essential to this technique. I exclusively use USA Pan quarter sheet pans and jelly roll baking sheets because they retain and distribute heat evenly without creating hot spots.

That immediate heat conduction matters. When your pans are pre-heated, the macarons begin rising less than 1 minute after entering the oven. The steam that causes the macaron shells to rise has a limited duration, and the macaron interior structure needs to set while that lift is happening. If the centers remain too wet after the steam rise period ends, the shells may look beautiful in the oven, but they will likely collapse inside as they cool. The excess moisture that didn’t escape will make the under-cooked interior structure dense and prone to fall.

I’ve had the most success using a thin piping surface, such as parchment paper or a reusable teflon sheet. I pipe and dry the macarons, then slide them directly onto the preheated pan like a pizza. This technique has given me consistently full macaron shells—even when the humidity isn’t ideal, the batter is slightly over-folded or under-folded, or I’ve made another small misstep during the process.

Macarons may be finicky, but they are not quite as unforgiving as the internet sometimes makes them seem.

Why I Use the Thermomix

A Thermomix is obviously not required to make macarons. I made them successfully for years without one. However, of all the methods I’ve used to prepare Swiss meringue, the Thermomix is the easiest, fastest, and most consistent.

Swiss meringue traditionally requires heating egg whites and sugar while stirring, monitoring the temperature, and deciding when the sugar has completely dissolved. The Thermomix handles the heating, stirring, timing, and temperature control all in one bowl. It removes much of the guesswork and produces repeatable, almost factory-like results without requiring me to rely entirely on intuition to determine doneness.

Once the egg whites and sugar are heated, the Thermomix whips the mixture into a glossy, stable meringue. I don’t have to worry about over-whipping or under-whipping them. From there, the dry ingredients are incorporated and macaronage is performed to get you 75% to the final consistency. This is by design, in case you need to incorporate more food coloring, you still have a batter that can tolerate the additional folding.

The Thermomix does not make macarons completely foolproof—nothing does—but it makes the meringue stage much more predictable. When you’re working with a recipe that already has enough variables, eliminating even one of them is helpful.

The Tools I Recommend

I see silicone macaron mats used frequently on social media, but I’m not their biggest fan. In my experience, silicone does not conduct heat as immediately as parchment paper. So while the pre-templated rounds and reusable nature are nice, they don’t serve my goal unfortunately.

When I pipe onto parchment and place it on the preheated sheet pan, the macarons begin rising within about 45 seconds. That quick response helps the interior begin setting while the macarons are actively lifting, resulting in shells that are fluffy, full, and moist inside.

Silicone mats can still work, particularly if you already know how your oven behaves. I simply get better and more consistent results with parchment paper or thin reusable teflon sheets.

There are also many piping tips you can use, and there isn’t one that is “the right one.” I tend to prefer smaller round tips, such as the Ateco #802, because the batter flows more slowly and gives me greater control over the size and shape of each macaron.

I’ve provided a complete equipment list based on the tools I personally use, but please don’t feel as though you need to buy everything before you begin. You can make what you already have work. The important part is learning how your particular tools—and especially your oven—behave.

Never-Hollow Macaron Shells Using A Thermomix

The Perfect-Shell Obsession

My Oven Technique

Why I Use the Thermomix

The Tools I Recommend

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21-Inch Disposable Piping Bags

Wilton #12 Piping Tip

Wilton #2A Piping Tip

Ateco #803 Piping Tip

Ateco #804 Piping Tip

Ateco #806 Piping Tip

Duralex 9-Piece Glass Bowl Set

Muji Silicone Spatula

Lotus Countertop Convection Oven

USA Pan Quarter Sheet Pan

Fat Daddio's Dough Scraper

USA Pan Jelly Roll Sheet Pan

2 Quart Bain Marie

200Pcs Parchment Paper Sheets

Teflon Sheets

AmeriColor 12 Bottle Gel Paste Set

Flour Sifter

A Few Things to Remember

How to Cook Along

Ingredients

Instructions

Pre-heating

Macaron Batter