
I had a day off and felt like making macarons. Macarons are the sort of food you just can’t make in a hurry. It’s always a pleasure figuring out what kind of flavor you’re going to make, since there are a zillion different combinations. I browsed at my ever-expanding collection of food extracts and settled for lemon. Two reasons: a) Indian summer is almost over so it will be the last time in a long time that I feel the need to bake something with lemons (for readers in the southern hemisphere, this is the perfect treat for spring!), and b) I recently bought some Chivers© lemon curd in a specialty shop so I found good use for it (also, I hate making lemon curd from scratch). Anyways, I feel like I finally learned making macarons and I proudly rate these cuties 5- out of 5! A real Pierre Hermé macaron would get a 5.

Macarons au Citron: Pierre Hermé - Macarons, via Bilingual Butter
Ingredients for macaron shells:
- 300g almond powder
- 300g confectioner's sugar
- 110g "liquified" egg whites (placed in a bowl and put in the refrigerator for at least 72 hours before use)
- 0,5g golden yellow food coloring
- 10g lemon yellow food coloring
- 300g granulated sugar
- 75g mineral water
- 110g "liquified" egg whites
Ingredients for lemon curd: (I used a store-bought lemon curd)
- 225g eggs
- 240g granulated sugar
- 8g lemon zest
- 160g fresh lemon juice
- 350g high-quality butter
- 100g almond powder

Instructions:
- A day prior to making the macarons, prepare lemon curd. Rince and dry lemons before grating them. Rub zest and granulated sugar together with both hands.
- Mix lemon juice, zest/sugar, and eggs together in a bowl. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water. Beat until mixture is up to 83-84°C. Let it come back down to 60°C, and add butter cut into pieces. Beat until curd is smooth, and beat with a stand mixer for another 10 minutes.
- Pour curd in a large, shallow dish. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the curd. Store in fridge.
- The next day, sift confectioner's sugar and almond powder together. Add food coloring to the first bowl of "liquified" egg whites and mix. Pour onto the sugar-almond mixture, without mixing them together.
- Bring water and sugar to a boil, 118°C. When the syrup reaches 115°C, start beating second batch of egg whites with a stand mixer. Pour syrup onto the whites (which should be at soft peak stage by now), continue beating and wait until mixture is down to 50°C before incorporating it into the sugar/almonds mixture.
- Pipe mixture onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet, making round shapes approx. 3,5cm in diameter. Space them approximately 2cm apart from one another.
- Tap baking sheet on kitchen counter, and let macaron tops crust for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F. Bake tops for 12 minutes, opening oven door twice. After removing them from the oven, place parchment paper on counter or table.
- Mix lemon curd with the remaining almond powder. Pipe onto half of the macaron tops, covering them with the remaining tops.
- Place macarons in the fridge for 24 hours, bringing them back to room temperature for 2 hours before eating.
* If you prefer to work with cups, you can use this recipe. Substitute the red food coloring for yellow, and add a few drops of lemon extract to the batter. Also, I've written down some helpful tips here.



16 comments:
It's been a while sicne I saw someone make a macaroon that looks THIS good. Wish I had a few of these to nibble on right now.
They look great - I'll be making these for sure!
Superbe!! You have done well ~ I tried to make macarons twice but alas disastrous!
but these look so.. yummy!! maybe I will try again ~ I must remember to put those egg-whites in the fridge 3 days ahead.
~Dianne~
wow these look really amazing *.*
How delicious! My husband actually brought home lemon macaroons for me today as a special treat. They were good but def not the same from the streets of Paris.
your macarons look lovely and have formed a great pied.... it is truly an art to making macaron... they look delicious!
xo
Mmm I love lemon curds and those macaron shells look perfect!
That's true, they do look and taste special and take a lot of dedication to perfect. Lovely
They look divine, & I appreciate your tip about leaving egg white in fridge for a few days. My one & only attempt at these was a disaster, tho they tasted good, they didn't look good. So I might try again. beautiful photos too.
What cuties! These look excellent. I agree about macarons being something you need to take your time making; the first time I attempted them I started work at around 9:30 on a school night, and I ended up rushing through them. Of course, they turned out like little brown puddles, but I eventually got them right (I hope that doesn't jinx my future attempts >_<).
Macarons are my newest passion!!! I love them - I might just have to squeeze one into my week ahead. I won't be making them but I know an excellent baker that does :)
Thank you for sharing the lemon ones look divine x
These macaroons look so darn perfect! I am really impressed, and SO wish I could try one, I really love lemon curd.
Paris .... these macarons look divine, delectable and delicious(my new favourite saying when one adjective is not enough!) You are so clever! I am just thinking back to my macaron debacle so congratulations they look incredible as good or better than the Laduree ones! Cheers
Frances
Looking good! Lemon macarons are my favorite--but I'd have to say, a super buttery lemon curd has a lot to do with it!
These are fabulous! I attempted baking macarons only once and they came out flat and cracked. I decided I was much better at nibbling them rather than baking them.
Wishing you a beautiful week!
xoxo, B
I have recently just discovered lemon curd and I am in love. It is the most amazing thing. That, coupled with macarons, is heaven. Yours look just as good as Pierre Herme! :)
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