This is as awesome step by step lemon macaron recipe made with fresh lemon for a light and fun flavor. You can easily recreate this macaron with the lemon macaron filing when you follow the instructions below.
Brunch Week 2020
Welcome to #BrunchWeek 2020 hosted by Love and Confections and A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures. We have gotten 22 bloggers together to share our favorite brunch recipes.
We have all kinds of recipes from french toast to danishes and cocktails and mocktails and tons of desserts. Today, I am super excited to share with you these lemon macarons.
If you you have not made macarons before, it is a laborious baking adventure. We have done our best to make it as simple as we can with very specific and detailed instructions.
For years, I found baking impossible because as a cook, I always wanted to changes things to try different flavors or change out the types of flour. Cooking is more of an art where you can add splashes of flavor very easily.
Baking however is a science and that is never more true than with a macaron. To get the perfect macaron, you have to stick to the script or you will not get the perfect french macaron you are dreaming of.
Of course, if you make a mistake, the macaron will probably still taste delicious, but it will not look perfect.
Lemon Macaron Recipe
It takes time to master making macarons, but I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! I believe in you and that you with practice following the instruction to the T, you can make the perfect macaron.
If all else fails you can buy macarons from the macaron queen or from Costco.
Ingredients in Macaron Shells
- Powdered sugar
- Almond flour or almond meal
- Salt
- Egg Whites
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
The lemon flavored macarons get their flavor from the filing and not the macaron batter.
Lemon Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients
You can make a lemon buttercream or make a lemon cream cheese filing like we did here.
Here is a simple buttercream recipe you can add lemon to in order to create lemon butter cream.
You can also add raspberry and/or blueberries to the butter cream to make raspberry lemon macarons or blueberry lemon macarons.
The variations are endless, but these flavors go well together. The flavor of the macaron is mostly defined by its filling.
- Unsalted Butter, Softened
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Lemon, zested and juiced
- Vanilla Extract
Tools & Supplies
- Microplane
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper or Silicone Mat (see notes)
- Lemon Juicer
How to Zest a Lemon?
Using a microplane or a grater, go in one direct against the lemon and do not grate the same spot twice.
You goal to grate the yellow zest off of the lemon and not grate the white pulp which is bitter.
Before we dive in, here are some awesome macaron recipes that are big hits on our blog: Fresh Strawberry Macarons Recipe, Vanilla Macarons Recipe, Coffee Macaron Recipe, and and we even made Keto Macarons.
They all turned out great and we are super excited to share this new macaron recipe with you!
How to Make Lemon Macaron Shells?
Line a few trays with parchment paper. Use a round object like back of large piping tip (about 1 inch in diameter), draw circle on your parchment paper with about a half and inch space in between.
You will need at least two baking sheets and parchment paper. You might need more , depending on the size of your trays.
If you are using a silicone mat, you will need to increase the baking time to 18 to 20 minutes. Take out at 18 and if you need to, you can add back in for another 2 minutes.
Start by placing the almond flour, powdered sugar, and a half teaspoon of salt into a food processor. *
NOTE : * Although your almond flour might say that it is “finely ground” it still needs further processing.
This helps avoid lumpy macarons. Pulse a couple dozen times and you should be able to tell that the mixture is more powdered than it was.
Using a sifter, tip the contents of the food processor out and gradually sift the dry ingredient mixture into a bowl.
This step is very important and also helps with getting a smooth top on the macaron. Once you are done, set the dry ingredients aside.
Carefully crack three eggs into a bowl without puncturing the yolk. Using clean hands, scoop out the yolk one by one and hold it above the bowl so that all of the egg white slides off. Repeat this with the two remaining yolk.
Add a half teaspoon of salt to the egg whites and begin to whip. Cream of tartar is also traditionally used as a stabilizer.
Using a whisk attachment on a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until they get fluffy and granulated sugar and vanilla extract along with dd 1 to 2 drops of the yellow food coloring.
Get the color you want before the stiff peaks form. Do not add color after the eggs meringue becomes stiff.
Continue to whip them until you get stiff peaks. **
NOTE: ** Sometimes you will get peaks that appear stiff, but if they tip over at all, they are not stiff enough. Properly whipped, the egg whites, now a meringue, will not come out of a bowl even if you tip it upside down.
Grab a spatula and begin adding the dry mixture to the meringue a quarter at a time.
When adding it, make sure to fold the merginue and dry mix together by scooping from the bottom of the bowl upwards and folding it over.
Continue this until all is incorporated and keep folding.
You will know it is ready by doing the figure 8 test.
This means you can dip the spatula and pick it up and to a complete, continuous figure as the batter drips off.
Use a little dot of the batter on the underside of the four corners of parchment paper. This helps keep the paper in place while you are piping.
Fill a piping bag with a half inch tip and begin piping small circles of batter onto the parchment paper. ***
NOTE: *** Keep the bag straight up and fill about 2/3 of the circle so that when you knock the air out in the next step.
Pick up each tray and drop them onto the counter to knock any loose air out from under the macarons. ****
NOTE: **** You can do this a few time to get the air bubbles out. If you see an air bubble pop up, you can pop it with a tooth pick at this stage only. Don’t do it after the film has formed.
When all the batter has been piped, let it sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes.
This is an important step! It causes a film to form over top of the macaron, and will help it retain its shape while it is baking and help make macaron feet.
If you don’t do this, the result might not look as close to what you envision when you picture a macaron.
While waiting, preheat the over to 300 degrees.
Place the first tray in and bake for 15-18 minutes for parchment paper and DO NOT be tempted to open the over door while it is baking, because this can result in an uneven bake.
Take the macarons out.
If they are not perfectly dried out, then you can pop them back into the over for a few more minutes.
You will be able to tell when they are ready because they will come off the parchment without sticking at all.
Let them cool completely before adding any filling.
Once you finish one tray, set it aside, and start on the next.
How to Make Lemon Macaron Filing?
Start by adding the cream cheese to the stand mixer and using the paddle attachment. Whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy. This will take 2-3 minutes.
Then, slowly add the powdered sugar and the softened butter.
Slowly add in the vanilla extract.
Zest the lemon and put the zest into the mixture.
After zesting, slice the lemon in half and add the lemon juice into the mixture. Use something that will ensure that no seeds go into the mixture.
Continue beating the mixture on medium speed until the mixture is fully incorporated and once again light and fluffy in texture.
If the mixture gets too runny, add more powdered sugar in until it is nice and thick.
Add the mixture to a piping bag and pipe the macaron filing into onto one side of the macaron.
Lemon Macaron Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 Cup powdered sugar
- 1 Cup almond flour or almond meal
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Lemon Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 Oz Unsalted Butter Softened
- 6 Oz Cream Cheese
- 1 ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 Lemon zested and juiced
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Line a few trays with parchment paper. Use a round object like back of large piping tip (about 1 inch in diameter), draw circle on your parchment paper with about a half and inch space in between.
- You will need at least two baking sheets and parchment paper. You might need more , depending on the size of your trays.
- If you are using a silicone mat, you will need to increase the baking time to 18 to 20 minutes. Take out at 18 and if you need to, you can add back in for another 2 minutes.
- Start by placing the almond flour, powdered sugar, and a half teaspoon of salt into a food processor. *
- This helps avoid lumpy macarons. Pulse a couple dozen times and you should be able to tell that the mixture is more powdered than it was.
- Using a sifter, tip the contents of the food processor out and gradually sift the dry ingredient mixture into a bowl.
- This step is very important and also helps with getting a smooth top on the macaron. Once you are done, set the dry ingredients aside.
- Carefully crack three eggs into a bowl without puncturing the yolk. Using clean hands, scoop out the yolk one by one and hold it above the bowl so that all of the egg white slides off. Repeat this with the two remaining yolk.
- Add a half teaspoon of salt to the egg whites and begin to whip. Cream of tartar is also traditionally used as a stabilizer.
- Using a whisk attachment on a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until they get fluffy and granulated sugar and vanilla extract along with dd 1 to 2 drops of the yellow food coloring.
- Get the color you want before the stiff peaks form. Do not add color after the eggs meringue becomes stiff.
- Continue to whip them until you get stiff peaks. **
- Grab a spatula and begin adding the dry mixture to the meringue a quarter at a time.
- When adding it, make sure to fold the merginue and dry mix together by scooping from the bottom of the bowl upwards and folding it over.
- Continue this until all is incorporated and keep folding.
- You will know it is ready by doing the figure 8 test.
- This means you can dip the spatula and pick it up and to a complete, continuous figure as the batter drips off.
- Use a little dot of the batter on the underside of the four corners of parchment paper. This helps keep the paper in place while you are piping.
- Fill a piping bag with a half inch tip and begin piping small circles of batter onto the parchment paper. ***
- Pick up each tray and drop them onto the counter to knock any loose air out from under the macarons. ****
- When all the batter has been piped, let it sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes.
- This is an important step! It causes a film to form over top of the macaron, and will help it retain its shape while it is baking and help make macaron feet.
- If you don’t do this, the result might not look as close to what you envision when you picture a macaron.
- While waiting, preheat the over to 300 degrees.
- Place the first tray in and bake for 15-18 minutes for parchment paper and DO NOT be tempted to open the over door while it is baking, because this can result in an uneven bake.
- Take the macarons out.
- If they are not perfectly dried out, then you can pop them back into the over for a few more minutes.
- You will be able to tell when they are ready because they will come off the parchment without sticking at all.
- Let them cool completely before adding any filling.
- Once you finish one tray, set it aside, and start on the next.
How to Make Lemon Macaron Filing?
- Start by adding the cream cheese to the stand mixer and using the paddle attachment. Whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy. This will take 2-3 minutes.
- Then, slowly add the powdered sugar and the softened butter.
- Slowly add in the vanilla extract.
- Zest the lemon and put the zest into the mixture.
- After zesting, slice the lemon in half and add the lemon juice into the mixture. Use something that will ensure that no seeds go into the mixture.
- Continue beating the mixture on medium speed until the mixture is fully incorporated and once again light and fluffy in texture.
- If the mixture gets too runny, add more powdered sugar in until it is nice and thick.
Notes
More Lemon Desserts
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Yum! Such beautiful, bright macarons! They sound wonderful with the lemon zest and juice in the filling.
I actually might try to make these. I think I’m going to try coconut flour instead. I’m allergic to almonds.
These look amazing! I’ve only made macarons twice but you make it look easy. Love that yellow color too!
I absolutely love the bright yellow color!
I love macarons, they are definitely one of my weaknesses – I really must try some lemon ones as I love lemon too. So pretty!
Yum! My family would love these!
Such a vibrant color. I bet the flavor matches that bright color.