Lemon Macarons

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French macarons are one of my absolute favorite desserts. I have been wanting to try and make them for years, and just haven’t. Until now! Quarantine has me baking like nobody’s business. Turns out my new lemon tree is the perfect ingredient to a nice fresh baked lemon macaron.

For starters, I scoured the internet for any and all macaron recipes, read reviews, asked for tips on baking from others, etc. Finally, I decided to narrow in on this lemon recipe from Pies & Tacos. I made some minor adjustments like amounts of lemon zest in the curd or bake time which varies based on oven, etc. I added my own little touch to decorating with some white cookie icing, yellow sprinkles and lemon leaves straight from the backyard tree.

I strongly suggest this recipe. See below for a few tips of my own. These macarons are absolutely delightful. And the lemon curd + buttercream filling to die for! Enjoy xo RCN

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Some tips:

  1. The Pies & Tacos video is super helpful. I watched in segments pausing, rewinding here and there in order to follow along as closely as possible as I mixed all ingredients, etc. Follow along with recipe instructions here.

  2. Let piped macarons sit for at least 20 minutes before going into oven.

  3. If using one tray only, just bake straight through, took me roughly 12 minutes until macarons were complete

  4. I used a pre-marked macaron silicone mat. Only pipe just up to the circular border otherwise macarons will be too large and merge with it’s neighbor on the mat. Also place mat onto a cookie tray - no spraying or pre-treating necessary

  5. Add as much or as little food coloring as you wish, same goes for zest in the curd, though some is preferred.

    Ingredients:

    Macaron batter

    3 egg whites

    1/2 cups granulated sugar

    1 cup almond flour

    3/4 cup powdered sugar

    1 drop of yellow food coloring

    Lemon Curd filling

    3 tablespoons lemon zest - I used about 1 1/2 TBSP

    1/4 cup lemon juice

    1/3 cup granulated sugar 

    3 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature

    2 large eggs

    1/8 teaspoon salt

    Buttercream

    1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar sifted

    4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1/2 -1 tablespoon whipping cream as necessary

    1/2 tablespoon lemon zest optional