When Life Gives You Lemons...

Here is the first recipe from Pierre Herme’s “Macaron” book this time its for Lemon Macarons.  Yeah, I'm on Macaron "madness" lately, LOL.  What can I say, these Lemon Macaron with Lemon Butter Cream Filling are my latest creation.  Which they were amazing!

Printable Recipe
Ingredients for macaron shells
300g ground almond powder
300g powdered sugar
110g "liquified" egg whites ( placed in a bowl and put in the refrigerator for at least 72 hours before use)
1/2g  yellow golden food coloring ( or 1/4 tsp. coffee)
10g lemon yellow food coloring
300g granulated sugar 
75g mineral water
110 g "liquified" egg whites
Instructions
Sift powdered 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, 244F. When the syrup reaches 239F, 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 122F before incorporating it into the sugar/almonds mixture.
Pipe mixture onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet, making round shapes approx. 1 inch in diameter. Space them approximately one-inch apart from one another.
 Tap baking sheet on kitchen counter, and let macaron tops crust for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake tops for 12 minutes, opening oven door twice.  After removing them from the oven, place parchment paper on counter or table.
The Lemon Cream Filling

You could fill your macarons with regular lemon curd (store bought or homemade).  This lemon buttercream recipe is in both Tartine Bakery cookbook and in the Pierre Herme cookbook.  Its so much better than regular lemon curd. 
For this recipe you will need a blender as well as a good hand held electric mixer, or better a Kitchen Aid.
1 cup superfine sugar
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice ( about 4-5 lemons)
2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons best unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into tablespoon-sized lumps
Instructions
Put the sugar and zest in a large metal bowl that can be fitted into the pan of simmering water.  Off heat, work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs followed by the lemon juice.
Transfer this to a double boiler and cook over simmering water, stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels to the touch. Keep whisking until the mixture is very pale and thick, about 10 minutes. The whisk must leave tracks in the mixture.  Once you get to this point, keep cooking for another few minutes then remove from the heat.
Strain the mixture into the container of a blender or, into a large bowl (that of your stand mixer, if you have one).  Discard the zest.  Let the cream rest at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
Turn the blender to high and, with the machine going, add about 5 pieces of butter at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, keep blending until the cream is smooth.
 Transfer to a stand mixer beat on medium speed, using the balloon whisk attachment, for 5 minutes.
 Cover and store for up to 5 days in the fridge.
This recipe makes way more than you need for filling this quantity of macarons. So you can use it to make a lemon (meringue or otherwise) tart, or make more macarons!
Pair up your macaron shells, pipe a circle of the chilled lemon cream onto half the shells and top with a second shell.
Place macarons in the fridge for 24 hours, bringing them back to room temperature for 2 hours before 
eating.
 

I baked these for my brother couple of weeks ago.
Flavors: Pistachio, Raspberry, Mocha, and Chocolate.  Aren't they cute! Pin It