Macarons with Lemon Buttercream
It’s not difficult to make macrons, but what I will say, read the recipe to the end including the Tip Box and the What Can Go Wrong box before starting.
I’ve tried recipes that turn out super sweet, recipes that have a thousand steps and even recipes that use dried eggs, out of all of the recipes, this is the one that always works for me.
Very few steps are needed to end up with amazing macarons that have the iconic crispy outer shell with a chewy centre and those ‘feet’ that make them look like tiny mushroom tops.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Macarons with Lemon Buttercream
Crispy top, chewy middle and little feet to hold them up!
What You Need
Macrons
55g Ground Almonds
100g Icing Sugar
50g Egg Whites – See Tip Box
25g Castor Sugar
Gel Food Colouring of choice – See Tip Box
Very stiff meringue then gently fold in the colour and almond mix
Buttercream
150g Butter – softened
100g Icing sugar
1 Lemon – Rind and some of the juice – See Tip Box
Fill the piping bag the easy way
How It’s Done
Macron
Cover a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment and set it aside until needed
Sift the icing sugar and ground almonds into a bowl – See Tip Box
Place the egg whites into a separate bowl and whip until the eggs turn white, are tripled in size and are super stiff - See Tip Box
Add the castor sugar one teaspoon at a time making sure that it is mixed in really we before adding another
In batches and using a metal spoon, start to fold the ground almond and icing sugar mix into the egg whites – See Tip Box
This is when to add the food colouring too - See Tip Box
Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe circles 1 ½ inches apart - See Tip Box
Tap the tray on the counter top a couple of times – See Tip Box
Set the tray aside until the tops of each macaron has a dry top when touched – 30-40 mins – See Tip Box
Set the oven to 150c and let it heat up
Place the tray in the hot oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the they are firm to the touch
Once baked, remove from the oven and transfer the paper including the macarons, onto a wire cooling rack
Leave to cool completely.
Pipe them all the same size
Buttercream
In the meantime, place the softened butter into a bowl and whip until softened and pale.
Sieve the icing sugar into the butter and whip until it starts to comes together
Grate the lemon rind into the bowl along with a teaspoon of the lemon juice
Keep beating the mixture until it becomes very light in texture, pale and pipe-able - See Tip Box
Assembly
Gently peel the cold macrons off the baking paper
Pipe the buttercream or use a flat knife to place some of the buttercream onto the underside of one of the macarons and sandwich an other on top
Fill and sandwich
Storage
Store macarons in an airtight container.
The filled Macarons can be stored in the fridge for 4 days
Tip Box
Egg whites – 1) Having the egg white at room temperature helps them whip up
2) Weighing egg whites may sound crazy, but it’s the best way to make sure ratios are correct
Gel colouring – The mixture doesn’t need any more liquid, so if using food colouring, go for gel or powder
2) Adding food colouring at the same time as the almond mix ensures the colour gets mixed in at the same time.
Lemon – Adding the juice of the lemon adds flavour, but don’t add too much too soon. Too much will make the buttercream too soft so after adding the grated lemon rind, add the juice a teaspoon at a time.
Almonds and icing sugar – 1) Sifting the almonds and icing sugar ensures more air is incorporated into the mixture.
2) When sifting, if there are any pieces that are left in the bottom of the sieve, then discard them
Folding – Folding means very gently using a metal spoon to cut through and fold over the mixture.
Folding helps keep as much air in the mixture as possible. Using a metal spoon means it’s easier to cut through the mixture.
Filling the bag – An easy way to fill a piping bag is to place the empty bag into a tall cup and pulling the open end over the top of the cup.
Tap the tray – Tapping the tray on the counter brings all the bubbles to the surface which stops air pockets in the macrons.
Set them aside – The tops of the macrons should feel slightly firm to the touch and not sticky.
Buttercream – The buttercream needs to be light and fluffy so keep beating it until it is very pale in colour too.
Goey centre
What can go wrong?
No feet?
Feet are a distinct feature of a macaron and should be visible when baked.
One of the reasons for no feet may be that the mixture is too wet and runny.
This can happen for a couple of reasons, it could be that the meringue wasn’t dry enough when whipped, could be too humid or even that the mixture was over mixed when folding in.
A running lava like consistency is what you’re looking for.
Flat?
Once again over-mixing and taking out all the air could be the reason for flat macros when baked, using a thin metal spoon when fold in the mixture should help with this.
But, just make sure that once the mixture is folded in, you stop folding – don’t over mix.
The mixture should be shiny, flow like lava and when the spoon is lifted up, the mixture should disappear into itself after 15 to 30 seconds.
Cracked?
Under mixing could putting too much air in the batter and, while they are baking, the air bubbles expand in the oven and crack the tops.
Tapping the tray to release the air bubbles goes a long way to stop this.
It could be that the macrons haven’t rested enough to get that much needed skin on the top before baking.
The skin is needed so that when baking, the heat pushed downwards rather than upwards which could cause cracks in the top.
Proper skin development ensures that when baking the heat pushes downwards (to create the feet) rather than upwards (which could crack the tops).
Humidity?
Humidity is a killer for macron making.
It is possible, but it will take forever to have a the skin form on the top of the macaron
Humidity affects the moisture in the macron making it harder to whip the egg whites to a super stiff stage. and harder for the macron to form its shell.
Uneven Feet?
This may be an easy thing to change, it may just be a case of having the oven temperature up too high. 150c is my perfect temperature.
Not Drying?
Finding a dry area for the macaroons to develop the skins will solve this, but sometimes this isn’t possible, especially in humid days.
On a non-humid day, 30 -60 minutes will probably be enough, with high humidity, I’ve let mine rest for up to 4 hours when making them before.
After resting the surface should be dry and not sticky and look matte and not shiny.
Having a skin on the macaron, gives that crunchy shell which is one of the things macrons are known for, it also pushes the heat down creating ‘feet’ another feature if macarons.
Hollow?
Over beaten egg whites, resting too long during the drying stage or an oven temperature too high can all make a macron hollow.
Creamy lemon buttercream
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