These lemon macarons are absolutely delicious. My neighbor shared this recipe with me a couple of years ago, and I crave them constantly. Macarons are fickle little fuckers, so make sure you really follow the steps and instructions!!! Don’t skip the numerous times you have to sift. Don’t overfold the batter. Shinee does an excellent job in her post of showing you all of the steps! I’m going to include some of my own photos and how I adapted the recipe some on my own.
I decided to make these last summer when Young Living launched a new soap called Lushious Lemon foaming hand soap. It smells like these french macarons taste, so you’ll definitely want to grab some for the kitchen and bathroom sinks! It’s sold as a single, in a 3 pack, and as a refill. Soon Young Living’s website will have a ‘subscribe and save’ function – you’ll want to just go ahead and do this and get this goodness shipped out every 3 months or so.
I adjusted a couple of things when making these macarons. I left out the food coloring. You’ll notice mine are not bright yellow. I try to avoid artificial colors if I can, and since I don’t care if they’re neon yellow when I eat them, I just leave that out! I also added a couple of drops of Lemon Vitality oil to the icing. It takes the icing from delicious to holy fucking shit this is amazing, with just 3 drops. The lemon buttercream icing in this recipe is legit one of the best icings I’ve ever had. It would be incredible on cupcakes, and I can assure you that will be happening in my house before you know it!
You really have to whip the egg whites into a meringue as shown in the first photo. The second photo is actually the buttercream icing. I could have just eaten this by the spoonful. The third image is how the shells look after baking. Some may say these are a little too “golden” but they tasted perfect, were slightly crunchy but mostly chewy, and I wouldn’t change that at all!
In the recipe it says that after you pipe the macarons onto the parchment paper, they need to rest to form a crust. This is legit and you absolutely cannot skip this step. Macarons are not hard to make, they’re just very time consuming. So plan on this taking an afternoon broken into periods of work. Especially if it’s humid outside, the macarons may need to rest for an hour or longer before you can actually bake them. I used a ziplock bag to pipe mine because I can never find my damn pastry bag and tips.
Fun fact – these will taste better on day 2 or 3! The flavors really absorb and make them extra good. But if you’re a fat ass like me, there may not be any left on day 2-3, so know they’re also hella good on day one, especially if you can’t wait until they’re fully cooled and you basically eat them off the pan #nojudgementshere
EXACT RECIPE FROM SWEET AND SAVORY BY SHINEE
For macaron shells:
- ▢ 100 gr almond flour
- ▢ 100 gr powdered sugar
- ▢ 70 gr 1/3 cup egg whites
- ▢ ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ▢ 50 gr sugar
- ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ▢ ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ▢ Yellow gel food coloring (OMITTED BY Meagan)
For lemon buttercream:
- ▢ 3 tablespoons 40gr unsalted butter, softened
- ▢ 1 cup 130gr powdered sugar
- ▢ 2 teaspoons heavy cream
- ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ▢ ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 3 drops Lemon Vitality essential oil (ADDED BY Meagan!)
Helpful Equipment:
- ▢ • Pastry bag with Wilton Extra Large Round Tip #1
Note: I test all my recipes with both measurements for the most precise and accurate result!
INSTRUCTIONS
- In medium bowl, sift together almond flour and powdered sugar twice. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until hard peaks. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and yellow food coloring. Beat on medium speed for one more minute. (Watch this meringue video for more information.)
- Sift the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture over the whipped egg whites. Gently fold the mixture running the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half, as shown in the video above. The batter will look very thick at first, but it will get thinner as you fold. Be careful not to over mix it though. Every so often test the batter to see if it reached the right consistency. To test the batter, drop a small amount of the batter and count to ten. If the edges of the ribbon are dissolved within ten seconds, then the batter is ready. I repeat, do NOT mix again. If you still see edges, fold the batter couple more times and test again. I posted a few pictures above to show you how just couple of folding changes the consistency of the batter. This step is so crucial, so please make sure to test often to ensure not to over mix the batter.
- Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. (I use this Wilton A1 large plain round tip.)
- Pipe out 1.5-inch rounds about an inch apart on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. If you don’t release the air bubbles, they will expand during baking and crack the beautiful macarons shells. And who wants cracked macarons, right?
- Let the macarons rest and dry for 15-30 minutes. On a humid day, it might take an hour or so. To see if it’s ready to be baked, lightly touch it. If the batter doesn’t stick to your finger, then it’s ready. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
- Bake the macarons for 18-20 minutes. To check the doneness, remove one macaron. If the bottom does not stick, they are done.
- Let cool the macarons on baking sheets for at least 15 minutes, and then remove from the baking sheets onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- While macarons are drying, prepare the lemon buttercream. In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt and beat until well combined.
- Transfer the buttercream into a pastry bag and fill the macarons. It’s best to serve macarons the next day.
- Store the filled macarons in airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze the filled macarons in airtight container for up to 5 months.
TIPS & NOTES:
- For additional tips and notes, read the post above.
- For more tips and visual troubleshooting guide, check out this post.
- You can now watch a full macaron tutorial video here.
GRAM TO CUP CONVERTER: I really should get a kitchen scale.
meagan meier 