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The Kitchen Gent | Raspberry Lemon Macarons

Raspberry Lemon Macarons

A delicate French cookie with the sharp tang of lemon and raspberry.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 12 cookies

Ingredients
  

For the cookies

  • 3 large egg whites
  • 200 g powdered sugar
  • 110 g almond flour
  • 10 g freeze-dried raspberries (finely crushed or ground into a powder)

For the filling

  • 1/2 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • zest and juice of one lemon

Instructions
 

  • Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and raspberry powder together into a bowl. Make absolutely sure there are no lumps, as you want it to incorporate into the egg whites as easily as possible!
  • Start whipping the egg whites on high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until they are glossy and hold soft peaks (the stage where the whites will form a peak that droops a few seconds after you pull the whisk out of them). Watch them carefully, as this stage can happen quickly.
  • Once the eggs have reached the soft peak stage, gently fold the dry ingredients into them. Don't overmix or undermix the batter; instead, fold about 30 turns of the spatula. until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated and the mixture is still stiff enough to pipe.
  • On a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat, pipe 24 even discs of batter. They should be relatively flat, but not spread uncontrollably. Leave them to sit on the counter at room temperature for an hour, or until a skin forms on the top of the shells. It should be smooth to the touch, and no longer tacky.
  • Heat your oven to 285 degrees F. Bake the macarons for 12-18 minutes, or until the shells have puffed well and dried out a bit. Once they leave the oven, let them cool for an hour to set up. If you try to remove them from the mat while warm, they will almost definitely crack.
  • As the shells cool, beat the butter for 2 minutes on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer, until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat again until incorporated. Add the lemon zest and juice and beat one more time to combine. Once your cookies are cooled and the buttercream is made, pipe a small amount of icing onto half of the cookies and sandwich them together with an uniced cookie.

Notes

  • The recipe is adapted from this one I found here.
  • Make sure you're using weights, because they are much more precise than volume measurements. If you're feeling really frisky, you can even make sure that your egg whites weigh 100g (but honestly, who has time for perfection?).
  • I prefer using a silicone mat rather than parchment paper, because the macarons come off of it easier. If they stick a bit, you can always lift the mat and peel them off like a sticker.
  • The dried raspberries give it a pinkish color naturally, but you can enhance the color by adding a bit of pink gel food coloring. Make sure you use gel instead of liquid, because you don't want to alter the consistency of the batter too much!