The Care (of macarons) & Feeding (of you)
Depending on the filling, macarons freeze extremely well. Frozen and defrosted properly, they taste the same as fresh ones. In fact, I have tasted them at various stages of frozen/defrosted and they are all delightful with different characteristics.
That being said, here are the various life-stages of a macaron and what I do after I make them:
Macarons generally need a 24 hour "maturation" period. While they're already plenty awesome freshly assembled, sometimes they taste rather like how they look - two separate crunchy/semi-chewy cookies with some frosting in the middle.
However, if you're patient enough to let them sit for 24 hours, the shells will start to absorb some of the filling's moisture and flavors, it'll get a little bit chewier, and the flavors will start to meld so that it tastes a bit more like a single unit rather than two or three different entities. Sometimes, I depend on this as I balance the sugar in the shells with a filling that is more on the tart side.
So, for the most part, before I hand macarons off to someone, I'll let them sit in the fridge for a day. Then, if it's going to be longer before I get to gift the macarons, I'll wrap them and freeze them.
Now, if you receive frozen macarons, you've got several options (lucky you):
You can keep them frozen. Kept in an air-tight container (or, I sometimes double-wrap the macarons in plastic wrap and stick the whole thing in a baggie) they should last a month or more. You can also eat them frozen - most times, the filling has enough fat content that it won't freeze up into a chunk of ice, and my brother has described eating one as rather like eating a slightly crunchy ice cream sandwich. Keep in mind that the outer skin of the shells can be very brittle at this stage - you may want to pop the whole thing in your mouth rather than trying to bite it in half, unless you have a hand or plate ready to catch the shell bits that break off.
You can let them defrost a bit in the fridge. To enjoy macarons over several days' time, you should keep them in the fridge. They keep excellently for several days, possibly up to a week depending on how moist the filling is. When enjoyed straight from the fridge, the shells are slightly more chewy than if they were frozen, and depending on the filling content, it will still be firm but somewhat softer than if frozen. Note that the longer you leave it in the fridge, the more moisture the shells will absorb, so they will continue to get chewier over time.
You can let them come up to room temperature. If you're really into the chewy macaron with soft rich filling, then you should let it come up to room temperature. Obviously, most fillings will contain a touch of perishable ingredients (though butter, which is usually the largest component by far, is fine at room temperature) so you don't want to leave it out for a whole week, but it should be fine for at least a day or so (as long as your room temperature is not the middle of a Southern California summer without air conditioning - please use some common sense where that's concerned). Set it out, make sure there are no pets or little brothers around, and then go run an errand or two before coming back to enjoy.
One note on the shell's flavor: depending on the type of flavor, it can either get deeper or fade over time. More delicate ones like lemon-scent/flavors will tend to fade as the sugar absorbs moisture and takes over. Other fruit-flavored ones like strawberry can intensify over time. Usually it stabilizes after a day or two, so it's not unusual for flavor profiles to shift as you enjoy.
(So, why do I even freeze my macarons when some of them seem to be sold in stores as shelf-stable? And no, I'm not throwing shade on anyone for adding preservatives or what-not. It's because butter and sugar by themselves are generally fine at room temperature for several days, but I don't like five cups of sugar in my sweets. To both reduce the sugar and to allow me to add flavors that don't usually come in powder form (such as more exotic fruit juices), I often add moisture and play other structural tricks to help give the buttercream some physical body while not melting away at room temperatures. But, this also means that they start to edge more toward the perishable side of shelf-stable foods. So to play it safe, I suggest keeping things chilly, and don't leave at room temperature for more than a day or two.)
That being said, here are the various life-stages of a macaron and what I do after I make them:
Macarons generally need a 24 hour "maturation" period. While they're already plenty awesome freshly assembled, sometimes they taste rather like how they look - two separate crunchy/semi-chewy cookies with some frosting in the middle.
However, if you're patient enough to let them sit for 24 hours, the shells will start to absorb some of the filling's moisture and flavors, it'll get a little bit chewier, and the flavors will start to meld so that it tastes a bit more like a single unit rather than two or three different entities. Sometimes, I depend on this as I balance the sugar in the shells with a filling that is more on the tart side.
So, for the most part, before I hand macarons off to someone, I'll let them sit in the fridge for a day. Then, if it's going to be longer before I get to gift the macarons, I'll wrap them and freeze them.
Now, if you receive frozen macarons, you've got several options (lucky you):
You can keep them frozen. Kept in an air-tight container (or, I sometimes double-wrap the macarons in plastic wrap and stick the whole thing in a baggie) they should last a month or more. You can also eat them frozen - most times, the filling has enough fat content that it won't freeze up into a chunk of ice, and my brother has described eating one as rather like eating a slightly crunchy ice cream sandwich. Keep in mind that the outer skin of the shells can be very brittle at this stage - you may want to pop the whole thing in your mouth rather than trying to bite it in half, unless you have a hand or plate ready to catch the shell bits that break off.
You can let them defrost a bit in the fridge. To enjoy macarons over several days' time, you should keep them in the fridge. They keep excellently for several days, possibly up to a week depending on how moist the filling is. When enjoyed straight from the fridge, the shells are slightly more chewy than if they were frozen, and depending on the filling content, it will still be firm but somewhat softer than if frozen. Note that the longer you leave it in the fridge, the more moisture the shells will absorb, so they will continue to get chewier over time.
You can let them come up to room temperature. If you're really into the chewy macaron with soft rich filling, then you should let it come up to room temperature. Obviously, most fillings will contain a touch of perishable ingredients (though butter, which is usually the largest component by far, is fine at room temperature) so you don't want to leave it out for a whole week, but it should be fine for at least a day or so (as long as your room temperature is not the middle of a Southern California summer without air conditioning - please use some common sense where that's concerned). Set it out, make sure there are no pets or little brothers around, and then go run an errand or two before coming back to enjoy.
One note on the shell's flavor: depending on the type of flavor, it can either get deeper or fade over time. More delicate ones like lemon-scent/flavors will tend to fade as the sugar absorbs moisture and takes over. Other fruit-flavored ones like strawberry can intensify over time. Usually it stabilizes after a day or two, so it's not unusual for flavor profiles to shift as you enjoy.
(So, why do I even freeze my macarons when some of them seem to be sold in stores as shelf-stable? And no, I'm not throwing shade on anyone for adding preservatives or what-not. It's because butter and sugar by themselves are generally fine at room temperature for several days, but I don't like five cups of sugar in my sweets. To both reduce the sugar and to allow me to add flavors that don't usually come in powder form (such as more exotic fruit juices), I often add moisture and play other structural tricks to help give the buttercream some physical body while not melting away at room temperatures. But, this also means that they start to edge more toward the perishable side of shelf-stable foods. So to play it safe, I suggest keeping things chilly, and don't leave at room temperature for more than a day or two.)