Golden Lemon Macarons

By Karlee Flores, Olive and Artisan
Images
Golden Lemon Macarons
Serves
Makes 12-16
Ingredients
For the Macarons,
  • 100 grams egg whites, room temperature
  • 100 grams granulated sugar, divided
  • 100 grams super fine almond flour
  • 100 grams powdered sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 2 drops yellow gel food coloring
  • Food grade gold leaf

For the Lemon Buttercream,
  • 1 cup sweet cream butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • Zest of lemon
  • Juice of ½ lemon


Procedure
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix the egg white with 3 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Place over a double boiler and cook for about 5 minutes until the sugar granules melt.

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Continue to whisk while slowly pouring in the rest of the granulated sugar. Add the food coloring if using and continue to whisk until stiff glossy peaks appear.

Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt twice through a sieve. Add to the egg whites all at once and fold together. Continue to fold the batter until you can form a figure 8 with the batter without the batter breaking from the spatula.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2A or Ateco 805 tip. Pipe silver-dollar-sized rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bang the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Let the cookies sit on the counter until the tops and sides of the cookies dry out. This could take 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the moisture in the air. If the cookies aren’t drying, sit them next to a fan on low speed and rotate every 5 minutes.

Place the macarons in the oven on the middle rack for 6 minutes, then rotate and continue to bake for another 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the tops with gold leaf.

For the lemon buttercream, beat the ingredients together until a creamy frosting appears, about 2 minutes. Place into a piping bag fitted with a small star tip of your choice. Pipe the frosting on the bottom of one cookie and sandwich together with another.

Note

Cookies will keep up to 2 days, covered on the counter.

As with most meringue-based items, macarons are best left to execute on less humid days.

Take your time folding the batter. If you go too far and fold out too much of the air, it’s not possible to recover the batter. If this is your first-time trying macarons, see video to visualize the best batter consistency.

Golden Lemon Macarons

By Karlee Flores, Olive and Artisan
Serves
Makes 12-16
Ingredients
For the Macarons,
  • 100 grams egg whites, room temperature
  • 100 grams granulated sugar, divided
  • 100 grams super fine almond flour
  • 100 grams powdered sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 2 drops yellow gel food coloring
  • Food grade gold leaf

For the Lemon Buttercream,
  • 1 cup sweet cream butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • Zest of lemon
  • Juice of ½ lemon


Procedure
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix the egg white with 3 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Place over a double boiler and cook for about 5 minutes until the sugar granules melt.

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Continue to whisk while slowly pouring in the rest of the granulated sugar. Add the food coloring if using and continue to whisk until stiff glossy peaks appear.

Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt twice through a sieve. Add to the egg whites all at once and fold together. Continue to fold the batter until you can form a figure 8 with the batter without the batter breaking from the spatula.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2A or Ateco 805 tip. Pipe silver-dollar-sized rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bang the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Let the cookies sit on the counter until the tops and sides of the cookies dry out. This could take 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the moisture in the air. If the cookies aren’t drying, sit them next to a fan on low speed and rotate every 5 minutes.

Place the macarons in the oven on the middle rack for 6 minutes, then rotate and continue to bake for another 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the tops with gold leaf.

For the lemon buttercream, beat the ingredients together until a creamy frosting appears, about 2 minutes. Place into a piping bag fitted with a small star tip of your choice. Pipe the frosting on the bottom of one cookie and sandwich together with another.

Note

Cookies will keep up to 2 days, covered on the counter.

As with most meringue-based items, macarons are best left to execute on less humid days.

Take your time folding the batter. If you go too far and fold out too much of the air, it’s not possible to recover the batter. If this is your first-time trying macarons, see video to visualize the best batter consistency.