Lemon Macarons

HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!!! Can we please all jump up and down for joy?! I am getting closer and closer to mastering the French Macaron. We are jumping for joy because tonight, in this very batch of lemon macarons, I figured out the exact time I need to bake these pesky little treats in my oven! Since day one, under-baking my macarons has been a SERIOUS PROBLEM. They always came out with the bottoms slightly stuck to the parchment. On my second tray, however, (I like to bake each tray one at a time)  I stopped my macs between the 20 and 21 minute mark and they were perfect! No opening the oven, and no checking on them until then, and woohoo they turned out great. My tip for mac makers out there would be to not hesitate to bake them for longer than the recipe calls for if they keep coming out under-baked. My recipe said they would take 18 minutes tops, but that time never worked for me. It will take a few batches to learn the habits of your oven, but I have faith in you, you will figure out how to make the perfect macarons!!

One more tidbit…the second tray ended up being a lot more beautiful because the macarons rested for longer…I would say at least 40 minutes…definitely doing that for next time!!

For these macarons, I used the basic french macaron recipe that I used for the Macarons with Blueberry Mascarpone Filling . I just added 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest and a small bit of yellow gel food coloring to the meringue before mixing in the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture.

I filled them with my 5 Yolk Lemon Curd , and yum yum yum, were these beauties delicious.