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Lemon Vanilla French Macarons

Lemon Vanilla French Macarons

If you have never had French Macarons (pronounced mah-kah-ROHN) before, I strongly recommend you try them.  They are light and delicate meringue sandwich cookies that can be made in a variety of flavors. The basic ingredients for the cookie shells are egg whites, powdered sugar, sugar, and almond flour.

I’ve only made these once before and I had to make the recipe twice because I missed a step in the video tutorial of which I will be sharing with you here. I discovered this recipe from Entertaining with Beth. She gives you an amazing step-by-step tutorial on how to make these cookies, and it’s really foolproof if you just follow her guidelines.  The version my daughter and I made was lemon-vanilla cream-filled, however, you can make them in any flavor you wish; chocolate, peppermint, pumpkin spice, maple, raspberry, or blueberry.  You’re only limited to your imaginations.

I’m including Beth’s recipe below, but please click the link above to view her video tutorial and learn how to make these amazing delicate treats!

Now let’s get baking!

 


 

Lemon Vanilla French Macarons

December 16, 2020
: 24 sandwich cookies
: 40 min
: 20 min
: 1 hr
: Medium

Lemon Vanilla French Macarons are light and delicately sweet little sandwich cookies.

By:

Ingredients
  • 3 egg whites at room temperature
  • 1/2 white sugar
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • Food coloring of choice
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • LEMON VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
  • 1/4 cup salted butter
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
  • Step 1 Preheat oven to 300F degrees
  • Step 2 Beat egg whites until foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar, and white sugar for 8-10 mins.
  • Step 3 Whip until they form high peaks that stand upright.
  • Step 4 Add food coloring of choice.
  • Step 5 Sift almond flour and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on. You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top of your cookie.
  • Step 6 Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture. About 65-75 good strokes.
  • Step 7 Transfer batter to a pastry bag.
  • Step 8 Pipe out 1-inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  • Step 9 Tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.
  • Step 10 Let them sit out for 20-30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be “tacky” to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can’t spread out in the oven and are forced to rise up. That’s what creates the feet!
  • Step 11 Bake for 20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise, they will stick to your tray.
  • Step 12 Meanwhile, mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar.
  • Step 13 Add lemon juice and vanilla to the buttercream, and whip until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ ” in diameter)
  • Step 14 Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell.
  • Step 15 If not eating right away, keep refrigerated.
  • Step 16 NOTES:
  • Step 17 Be sure to start with room temperature eggs. If you forgot to take your eggs out just set them in some warm water for 5-10 minutes.
  • Step 18 The color tends to fade with baking so add a shade or two darker of food coloring past the desired shade, when they bake it will fade.
  • Step 19 In my experience 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding in the dry ingredients, is about the right amount of time.

 

Once you’ve made these beautiful cookies you will be so proud of your accomplishment, you will want to try them again with a variety of different flavors and colors.  Have fun and don’t be intimidated, these are so worth the time and effort and truly make very special gifts.

Bon Appetit,

All 4 One Home

 

 

 


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