This recipe was inspired by my friend Danelle, her lemon and lavender shortbreads in particular. I love making macarons, as finicky and temperamental as they can be. For the lemon flavour I added some zest into the batter and juice into the buttercream. To infuse the lavender flavour, I boiled a simple syrup with a generous amount of fresh lavender to blend into my buttercream. The result was a zesty macaron with a floral filling. Such a great combination! Let’s get started! For some helpful tips and this base recipe check out Beth’s blog here!
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
50 grams white sugar
200 g powdered confectioner’s sugar
120 g sifted almond flour
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
lemon zest, 1 lemon
yellow food colouring (preferably gel/paste)
2 Tbsp lavender + more for decorating the tops of the macarons if you want
100 g butter, softened
100 g white sugar
powdered sugar, to taste
1) Beat egg whites and add white sugar, salt and cream of tartar. Beat on high until the peaks stand upright (around 10 minutes).
2) Add the food colouring. Make it a bit darker than you want them to be because once baked, they will be slightly lighter. Add in the sifted almond flour and powdered sugar. Add the lemon zest here as well.
3) With a rubber spatula, turn the mix around 60-75 turns, until fully combined. Preheat the oven to 300F.
4) Line baking trays with parchment paper or a Silpat. In a piping bag, add your macaron batter which will be glossy and slightly sticky. Pipe equal rounds onto your sheets. Add some lavender on top if you want. Give the sheets a couple of drops on the counter to release air bubbles. Let sit out for around 30 minutes to get a “skin” on the tops of the cookies, which helps create the “feet” of the macarons.
5) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a drying rack.
6) For buttercream, I usually start with equal amounts of butter and sugar. I did this one a bit differently. I had 100 g of butter that I whipped once it had softened. I made a simple syrup with white sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, and around 2 Tbsp of lavender. I boiled this until it thickened slightly, cooled and then added to the butter. I adjusted the consistency and taste with powdered sugar. I find icings too sweet so I just kept adding until it was to my taste. Remember the macarons themselves are quite sweet, so your filling shouldn’t be cloying.
Enjoy your macarons!
-TSP
The Simmering Pot 