For Easter I have decided to make lemon macarons. They feel like a nice spring dessert to bring to my Nana’s house . I’ve made macarons a few times before, but only vanilla. I’m going to be adding the lemon flavor by putting zest into the batter for the shells and juice into the filling. The recipe I’m using is for French macarons, as those are the ones I’ve made before.
Okay! Here we go! First thing I did was get all my tools and ingredients out. I like to use a scale when making macarons as I feel it’s more accurate, and you want exact measurements for them to come out right.
I just got the silicone mats for making macarons so this will be their first use. Hopefully I’m able to get identically shaped shells. That’s something I struggled with when I made them before. Along with those I have a spatula, piping bags, food coloring, and baking trays. Oh, and of course my mixer!
Ingredients
Shells
- 3 egg white, room temperature
- 50 grams of sugar
- 120 grams of almond flour
- 200 grams of powdered sugar
- Lemon Zest, I used the zest of 1 whole lemon
Filling
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1tbsp lemon juice
The first thing I did was sift my almond flour and powdered sugar together. Then I measured out the rest of my ingredients and set then aside.
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
Add in the granulated sugar gradually, and mix until the soft peaks turn into stiff peaks. This is also where I added in the yellow food coloring.
Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer and use the spatula to fold in the dry ingredients. Only do half at a time, and fold it in slowly in order to keep the air in the egg whites. Continue to fold until the ingredients are all incorporated and the batter falls off the spatula in ribbons.
Fill the piping bag with the batter using the round piping tip. Then pipe circles about 1 1/2 inches across onto the silicone mat. Once that’s done, tap the tray on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Let the shells rest for an hour, this allows a skin to form over the top.
Preheat the oven to 300 F , and bake for 15-18 minutes. If yours are smaller put them in for less time. You want to take them out before they start to brown. Let the shells cool completely before removing from the tray.
While the shells cool, I made my filling. I mixed the softened butter, powdered sugar, and lemon juice together until fluffy and well combined.
I washed my piping bag and the tip to reuse for the filling. Fill the bag, and if your shells are cool it’s time to assemble.
Take a shell and pipe a circle onto the flat side. Then sandwich it together with another shell. Continue until all your shells have been sandwiched.
And tada! Your macarons are done, enjoy!
Lemon Macarons
Equipment
- 1 Mixer optional
- 1 Cooking Scale optional
- 1 Measuring Spoons
- 2 Silicon Macaron Mat optional
- 2 Baking Trays
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Piping Tip round
- 1 Spatula
Ingredients
Shells
- 3 Egg Whites room temperature
- 50 grams Sugar
- 120 grams Almond Flour fine
- 200 gram Powdered Sugar
- 1 Lemon for zest
- 4 Drops Yellow Food Coloring
Filling
- 1 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup Butter softened
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
To Make The Shells
- Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together. Repeat if necessary to remove all the clumps.
- Use the mixer to whisk the egg whites into soft peaks.
- Slowly add the granulated sugar while beating until stiff peaks form. This is where to add in the food coloring.
- Gradually fold in half of the dry ingredients into the egg whites.Be careful not to squash the egg whites. Try to keep them fluffy.
- Fold in the other half of the dry ingredients. Keep folding until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter flows slowly to create ribbons that disappear into the rest of the batter in about ten seconds.
- Put the batter into a piping bag, use the round piping tip. Pipe even circles about 1 1/2 inches onto the silicone mat. Tap the baking tray on the counter a few times to release the air bubbles.
- Let the shells rest at room temperature for about an hour, until they form a skin, they will no longer be sticky when touched.
- Preheat the oven to 300 F and bake for 15-18 minutes. Let them cool before removing them from the tray
To Make The Filling
- Use the mixer to whip the butter and powdered sugar together until fluffy.
- Mix the lemon juice in.
Assembly
- Fill the piping bag with the lemon filling. Use the round piping tip again.
- Pipe onto one of the macarons then sandwich it together with another.
Notes
- You can add more or less lemon juice depending on your preference
- I like to use the cooking scale to get a more accurate measurement to make the shells.
- Don’t skip the resting step, they need to rest in order to rise properly.
