Lemon Curd Filled Macaron
I received a glut of lemons from visitors and then got some more arrive on my doorstep from my neighbour! With a sweet tooth and a hankering for macarons, I decided I would give the notoriously challenging dessert a go and why not fill them with lemon curd to use up even more lemons. The result was delicious and I reckon not a bad attempt for a macaron maker first timer or beginner. They say practice makes perfect, so I guess I’ll just have to try again and make some more!
Click the following link for my ASMR process video on how I made these macarons or just click the video below:
I must credit the following blog/websites for their contribution to the creation of this recipe. My googling found their recipes and I took what I thought would work for my tastes, baking style and ingredients on hand then modified each one slightly to result in the lemon curd filled macaron recipe I ended up using.
Useful Information
I found there are a few tricks that every baker needs to know if they are looking to make good macarons. The first that comes to mind is how long to mix the batter for. The aim is to be able to lift some batter with a spoon and you should be able to easily draw a figure eight using the mixture.
Where the recipe states to let the piped macarons rest, let them rest. It is an important step to make sure a shell develops on the top so that when it comes to baking them, air escapes through the bottom, creating the much desired ‘foot’ that is distinctive of these fancy delectable biscuits.
To make sure the macarons cook evenly, make sure to remember to turn the oven tray after about 7 minutes or halfway through the cooking time. Otherwise, worse case scenario, you may find half or your macarons are burnt whilst the other half are still raw! Of course this all depends on how well your oven distributes heat. If you reckon your oven is awesome at this then by all means just leave for the whole cooking time… but I did warn you.
Take care where piping a perimeter of buttercream on one side of each macaron. Its purpose is to act like a dam preventing teh lemon curd filling from spilling out and making a mess. Be sure the buttercream dam is as continuous as possible by making sure the consistency of the buttercream is thin enough to allow a smooth stream of icing to be piped whilst still being able to hold itself together. If you watch(ed) my video, you will see that I needed to add more almond milk to my buttercream as I struggled to pipe a continuous buttercream dam.
Do not fill these macarons with hot or warm lemon curd. Make sure your lemon curd has cooled completely before placing a dollap inside your buttercream dam. The heat will likely melt your buttercream…making a mess!
Lemon Macarons
Ingredients:
150g almond flour
135g icing sugar
1tbsp lemon zest
100g egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
80g caster sugar
3 drops yellow food colouring
Method:
Prepare oven tray with baking paper marked with 2-3cm round circles or use a macaron tray/mat. I use baking paper, trace around a scone cutter using a pen then flip it over and place onto my baking tray.
Place almond flour and icing sugar into a food processor and process until fine and airy. Sift contents of food processor bowl into another bowl. Discard contents of sieve. Return to food processor and process again; then return to bowl.
Add lemon zest to bowl.
In a stand mixer, whisk room temperature egg whites until foamy.
Add cream of tartar whilst whisking.
Add caster sugar tablespoonfuls at a time whilst whisking.
Add vanilla and food colouring.
Whisk until stiff peaks form.
Fold in the dry ingredients 1/3 of the mixture at a time – fold gently.
Keep folding until the mixture falls off the mixing utensil and a figure eight can be formed without breaking.
Spoon into a piping bag. Use dollops of mixture in corner of the baking tray to ‘glue’ the baking paper to the baking tray.
Pipe mixture into the circles on the prepared baking tray.
Tap the tray a few times onto the counter to get rid of air bubbles.
Rest the macarons for 30-40 minutes.
Bake at 150 degrees celcius for 12-15 minutes, rotating the tray at 6 or 7 minutes.
Cool completely before removing from tray.
Lemon Curd Filling
Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest on 1 lemon
Method:
Place all ingredients into a saucepan and heat over a medium heat whilst stirring.
Once ingredients are combined. Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.
Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool at room temperature.
Once cooled, place in refrigerator until ready to use.
Buttercream Filling
Ingredients:
50g butter
100g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
almond milk (optional)
Method:
Add butter and icing sugar to a stand mixer, and beat until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla essence, beat to combine.
Beat in teaspoonfuls of almond milk until smooth, creamy and pipe-able consistency is achieved
Assembly: Putting it all together to make lemon curd filled macarons
To assemble these lemon curd filled macarons…
Take one half of a macaron, pipe a ring of buttercream just inside the edge of the biscuit – this will act a dam for the lemon curd.
Fill the ring with a small spoonful of lemon curd.
Take another half macaron shell and place on top of the filling; sandwiching it. Press gently to ensure the macaron will stick together.
Repeat for remaining macaron shells, lemon curd and buttercream.
Reflection
I realise my macarons did not have what most believe is a perfect ‘foot’ but I found these delicious and they did not last long in my household. They were crispy on the outside and the inside was gooey, a little bit chewy and satisfied my sweet tooth craving. Yes, i would have like a ‘puffier’ biscuit with more height like what we’ve come to associate a macaron should look like but nevermind I’ll just have to try again and make more.
Enjoy and thanks for visiting my blog, hope you found it interesting.
Happy baking!
Mel Crafting.