So Spring is literally starting to shine through in Sweden, and what better way to celebrate than to have a an Extra Lemony Lemon Macaron!?? If youve been following me and have tried my Macaron recipe then this will be easy peasy for you! 😉

Here’s how you make them!

INGREDIENTS:

On a note – I will be making an Italian Merengue for the Macaron as I have felt through all my many tries that this is the best merengue that works for making it at home.

The Macaron Shell –

• 150g Almond Flour
• Lemon Zest from 1 large lemon
• 150g Icing Sugar
• 2x55g Egg White (can be the egg white of 2 or 3 eggs depending on how small or large they are)
• 50g Water
• 150g Granulated Sugar
• A couple drops of yellow food colouring

The Lemony Lemon Swiss Merengue Buttercream –

• 1/4 Cup Freshly squeezed Lemon juice
• Lemon Zest from 1 Large Lemon
• 4 Egg Whites
• 1.5 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1.5 cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature And Cut Into Small Cubes
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 3-4 teaspoon Lemon Extract
• 1 pinch Fine Sea Salt

Method –

The Macaron Shell –

1. Firstly grate your lemon zest and then leave them on a kitchen towel to dry up a little.
2. Next in a medium sized mixing bowl, add 55g of egg white to the flour mix. Mix until the dry ingredients become a paste like texture.
3. On medium to low heat boil the granulated sugar with water together. Do not stir, just let it bubble until it reaches 118 °C .
4. In a separate bowl whip the remaining 55g egg white until frothy and once the water/sugar mixture reaches the correct temperature pour into the frothy egg white slowly and from an edge of the bowl. This is to make sure that the water/sugar does not splash around or outside of the bowl. Mix while pouring at a high speed. Once the mixture starts becoming a thick merengue add the drops of your yellowfood coloring. And mix at low speed until the color is evenly distributed.
5. Pour in all the merengue mixture into the almond paste and mix with a spatula. This is a vital point in the baking – as you Must mix around the bowl and then cut through the dough making sure that there is air coming into the merengue and almond paste mixture. Don’t be too rough with the mixing. And mix only until the mixture falls off the spatula in a ribbon like manor.
6. Add in your lemon zet and mix a couple of times and not too rough, just so that the zest is fully incorporated.
7. At this point heat up your oven to 100 °C .
8. Pour the mixture into a piping bag and using a round plain nib make small disks about a 1/2 inch diameter on your baking sheet. You can always buy silicon sheets which are reusable and have the circle marking for you to pipe onto for ease. The silicone mats work just as well as regular baking paper. You should end up with around 30 macaron disks on one baking tray and this batch should make two trays.
9. Once all your Macarons are piped, tap your pan twice to release any air bubbles you may see. Sometimes it takes more taps – just make sure no bubbles appear and the disks look smooth. Leave for 20 min outside to rest. This period of resting helps the macaron create its ‘shell’ so once it starts baking that’s when the shell rises and you see the ‘foot’ which is a skirt like formation being created on the bottom of the macaron.
10. Once the 20 min are done turn your heat up to 150 °C and pop in one tray. (From my experience one tray at a time works best) leave to bake for 8 min, then open the oven for 10 sec exactly, close and bake for another 8 min.
11. Take out your Macaron shells and let cool on a cooling wrack. And now they are ready to be filled! YAY!

The Lemony Lemon Swiss Merengue Buttercream –

1. First we start with grating your lemon zest and set it aside. And Squeeze out your fresh lemon juice and set aside.
2. Place egg whites and sugar in a metal bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water, not touching the water. Whisk or stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to approximately 70ºC. If attempting without a thermometer, sugar should be dissolved with no graininess when a bit is rubbed between two fingers. It will be hot to the touch.
3. Immediately place the bowl on the stand mixer and whip on high using the whisk attachment until frosting has become thick and glossy, forming a stiff peak. Continue to whip frosting until the bowl feels room temperature to the touch, a total of about 10 minutes.
4. Switch the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, drop in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. If frosting appears curdled or clumpy at any time, increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth.
5. Add in your lemon zest and lemon juice, and whip on low speed until incorporated completely.
6. Add a food drops of yellow food colouring if you wish to make the yellow stand out a little more, I do this only for aesthetic reasons but its entirely up to you! 🙂
7. Once all has been incorporated, mix in extracts and pinch of salt. If needed, continue beating until smooth.
8. Your buttercream is ready to be piped into you macarons! YAY!

Decorating : For an extra jazz, I caramalized a few long strings of lemon rind and curled them and let them harden. Then with a little melted sugar i attached then to the center of the macaron shell. YUM!

Enjoy! 🙂