Do you love lemon-flavored desserts like me? One of my favorite desserts is lemon bars. I really could eat them every day! These macaroons give you a lemon bar flavor in the form of a macaroon.
Now, I am NOT a macaroon expert. I sometimes over-whip my egg whites, my oven cooks unevenly, and I also can be in a hurry and pipe them totally wrong! BUT…every time, they still taste just fine. So, don’t let worrying about being perfect prevent you from making something delicious that your family or friends would enjoy.
Life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about living and loving.
And I love these macaroons. I hope you will too.
Keep in mind, I am at a 4400 ft elevation where it’s usually very dry. Different locations and humidity levels affect baking more than anything. So, just experiment and have fun.
Many people are better experts than me. You can find great info on this website. I mean look at these macaroons! So if you want to become better, read more info and keep practicing. I am going to do that too!
For this recipe you will also need my lemon curd recipe and my lemon buttercream frosting recipe. I suggest making the lemon curd the day before you make the macaroons. The curd needs to be well chilled for this recipe. The buttercream frosting you can make while the macaroons are resting.
Lemon Macaroons
Equipment
- 1 hand mixer with beater attachment
- 1 large glass bowl
- 2 sheet pans
- 2 silicone liners
- spatula, measuring cups & spoons, etc
- 2 piping bag with tips
Ingredients
- 100 g egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 60 g sugar
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 110 g almond flour, sifted
- 200 g powdered sugar, sifted
- 2-4 drops yellow food coloring
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together and mix. Set aside
- In a large glass bowl, add egg whites and beat until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat to mix in. Add sugar slowly while beating on low-med speed. Keep mixing until stiff peaks form. Don't over mix. Check for those peaks regularly.
- Add lemon extract and food coloring. Mix until stiff peaks again. This should not take long.
- Gently fold in half of the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture. Then fold in the other half. You should fold 50-60 times total. By this point it should "flow like lava". If it is too runny add just a bit more powdered sugar/almond flour. If it is too thick try whipping the batter to get some of the air out. This may or may not help.
- Scrape batter into a piping bag. Using a piping bag(I don't even put a tip on) gently, but firmly, squeeze the piping bag making 1 inch rounds onto prepared baking sheet with silicone liner. Once the tray is completed drop the sheet pan onto the counter several times to bring the air bubbles to the surface.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Let the macaroons sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or until a "skin" has formed on them and they are slightly firm to the touch.
- Bake for about 13 minutes. Macaroons should not be soft or move when done. They should not brown either. Let cool on baking sheet for 2-5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
- When cooled, put a dollup of lemon curd in the center of one macaroon and pipe lemon buttercream frosting in a ring around that using a piping bag with a small round tip. Place a macaroon of similar size on top and press VERY gently.
- Store in the fridge or freezer. When thawing from freezer, place in fridge for 24 hours before serving.
I hope you have fun making these macaroons. My kids actually just love to eat the macaroons without any filling. Less sugar, so why not!
Happy Baking!
Emma
[…] them? Well, you make lemon curd. It is so delicious! And you can use it in fruit dips, fillings for macaroons, doughnuts, lemon bars, fruit dips, and cupcakes…the possibilities are […]