Go Back
+ servings
Lemon French Macarons filled with lemon buttercream.
Print

Lemon Macarons

A crispy, light and delicate cookie filled bursting with lemon and filled with a sweet lemon butter and your choice of lemon curd or rapsberry jam.
Course Dessert
Keyword Lemon Macarons, Lemon Macarons Recipe, Lemon Raspberry Macarons
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Drying Time and Filling Time 1 hour
Servings 30 macarons
Calories 108kcal
Author Heather

Ingredients

Macarons

  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 cup finely ground almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt *divided (See Note #6 below)
  • 3 egg whites *room temperature (See Note #1 below)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 4 drops yellow gel food coloring *optional

Lemon Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter *room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar *sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 drops yellow gel food coloring *optional
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream or half and half *add 1/2 tablespoon at a time
  • zest of 1 lemon *optional

Filling

  • 1 small jar lemon curd *see Note #5 below
  • 1 small jar raspberry jam

Instructions

Macarons

  • Prepare 3 cookie sheets with baking mats and parchment paper.
  • Place powdered sugar, almond flour and half of the salt (1/2 tsp) in the bowl of a food processor. Process with the S shaped bladed until fine consistency is achieved, about 2-3 minutes. Sift mixture into a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside.
  • Place egg whites and other half of salt ( 1/2 tsp) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on second to highest setting until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar and continue beating at the same speed until firm peaks form. (See Note #2 below)
  • To the egg whites add extract and food coloring. Blend just until incorporated making sure to not over beat. Remove bowl from mixer.
  • Add 1/3 of the almond flour mixture and fold until just incorporated. Repeat process two more times with remainder of almond flour mixture. Continue folding until the batter falls off of the spatula like a ribbon and can easily form a figure 8. (See Note #3 below) At this point stop folding. 
  • Transfer batter to either to a pastry bag with a round tip such as #12 or to a freezer bag substituting as a pastry bag. (see Note #4 below)
  • Using the circle of the baking mats, pipe the batter into even circles.
  • Once the cookie sheet is full, tap on the counter approximatley 5 times to remove the tiny air bubbles and preheat oven to 350℉.
  • Let cookie sheets sit at room temperature to allow the tops of the cookies to dry. The drying process will take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the level of humidity in the air. You should be able to run your finger over the top of the cookie and not have any batter stick to you.
  • Bake cookie halves for 15-17 minutes. Note: You will know they are done baking when the cookies no longer wobble, the base of the cookie have risen and the cookies no longer stick to the parchment paper. 
  • Once baked, let sit on cookie sheets for a few minutes and then transfer to wire wracks to cool completely before filling. 

Lemon Buttercream

  • Add butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
  • Add the sifted powdered sugar and lemon extract and food coloring. Beat until combined and then add 1/2 tablepoon at a time of cream until desired consistency is achieved.
  • Scrap down the sides of the bowl and continue beating for an additional 2-3 minutes on highest speed.
  • Transfer buttercream to a pastry bag with a rounded tip or to a freezer bag substituting as a pastry bag.

Forming Macarons

  • On the flat surface of a macaron shell pipe a circle of buttercream around the parameter of the shell. Add a dollop of lemon curd or rapsberry jam to the center of the buttercream. Top with another macaron shell. Repeat until all macaron shells are filled.
  • Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Notes

Recipe Notes
Note #1- Whole eggs will take approximately 3-4 hours sitting on your kitchen counter to come to room temperature. It is best to let the whole egg come to room temperature and then separate the egg whites. 
Note #2- The egg whites should be beaten to a firm peak that is well on its way to becoming a stiff peak. For more details on this see the section above in the post titled "firm egg white peaks vs stiff peaks".
Note #3- The video shows the best representation of how the batter should fall off of the spatula like a ribbon.
Note #4- Gallon sized freezer bags can easily be substituted for pastry bags. Please use the section above in the post titled "using a freezer bag instead of a pastry bag" or the video for reference. 
Note #5- I purchased both the lemon curd and raspberry jam at Trader Joes. 
Note #6- When using Maldon's salt for baking it is important to first grind the salt using a mortar and pestle and then measure. This is because the flakes are very large. 

Nutrition

Calories: 108kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 83mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 97IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg