Lemon and Blueberry Macarons are simply perfection! This is one of my favorite flavor combos for a dessert, and they pair so well together in these tiny little treats. The lemon blueberry curd really gives the macarons a pop of flavor, and they feel super light and refreshing. This is only the second time I’ve made macarons and I think I’ve really got the hang of it – any other flavor combos I should try next?
Lemon Blueberry Macarons
Ingredients
Macarons
- 100 g egg whites, room temp (about 3 large eggs)
- 1 cup fine almond flour, sifted (110g)
- 1 2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted (200g)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (60g)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- yellow gel food coloring
Lemon Blueberry Curd
- 3/4 cup blueberries (135g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 large whole egg
- zest of two lemons
Instructions
Lemon Blueberry Curd
- Make the curd first, up to the night before, as it needs to chill in the fridge for some time and can be made ahead of time.
- In a small saucepan, add the blueberries and place over medium heat. Stir constantly as the blueberries start to cook down, continuing until they've mostly burst, are giving off juices, and are starting to bubble. If the blueberries aren't very ripe and instead are sort of just burning on the bottom of the pan, you can add 1/8 cup (really just a splash) of water to help keep them from burning and get the cooking process going.
- Once the blueberries have begun to bubble, remove from the heat and with either an immersion blender or a regular blender, blend the blueberries (it doesn't need to be a super fine blend). Transfer to a new small bowl and add the 1/4 cup lemon juice. Stir until combined and set aside.
- In a small dish, roughly whisk the two egg yolks and one whole egg together and set aside. Prepare a double boiler by placing a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with simmering water, making sure the water level is below the bottom of the pan.
- Add the butter to the double boiler, and stir occasionally until the butter has melted. Add the granulated sugar and whisk to combine, continuing until fully combined. Next add the blended blueberries, lemon zest, and beaten eggs. Continuously whisk this mix for 10-20 minutes (depending on moisture content, just be patient!) until it thickens, it will be pretty noticeable, it should be the consistency of a light jam. Continuously whisking is important, or else you can accidentally scramble the eggs you added.
Macarons
- Sift the almond flour and the powdered sugar together into a medium bowl, and then whisk to thoroughly combine, and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites on medium-medium/high speed until they are foamy, then add the cream of tartar. On medium high speed, gradually add the granulated sugar, pausing if necessary to scrape down the sides, it can be easy for sugar to get stuck to the side of the bowl and not get whisked. Once all the sugar has been added, turn the mixer up to full speed and whisk until it's forming soft peaks.
- Add 3-4 drops of yellow food coloring, or until your desired yellow color is reached. Be careful though, eventually it won't get any more yellow and the added liquid from the food coloring can mess up the macarons! I think 3-4 good drops is enough, and gives a nice pale yellow color. Continue to whisk until stiff peaks.
- Gently add half the dry ingredients to the egg whites and fold in by hand with a spatula. Repeat with the second half. With each addition, it will start out very dry and sticky, but keep folding and it will incorporate. Once all the ingredients are added, continue to fold until you can form an unbroken figure 8 with the batter as it drips off the spatula (this is a classic macaron batter test). Once you reach this point, stop mixing, or else you risk over mixing.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet ( recommend the amazon basics ones that have the macaron template printed right on them). If using parchment paper, you can print out macaron templates to place underneath to making piping easier. Don't worry about removing the templates, as macarons don't bake at a high enough temperature to burn paper (thanks Ray Bradbury!)
- Add the batter to a piping bag with a large round tip (like a Wilton 1A). Carefully pipe 1 inch rounds onto your prepared baking sheet. This recipe makes 30 filled macarons, which is 60 halves, so you will need 2 prepared baking sheets if making the full recipe. Once piped, lift the baking sheet off the counter by a couple of inches and drop down onto the counter a couple of times to help air rise to the surface, and then carefully with a tooth pick pop any bubbles you can see in the macarons.
- Let the macarons sit at room temp for 30-40 minutes, or until they've formed a skin and you can touch them and they feel dry. While they are resting, preheat the oven to 300°F. Once ready to bake, bake the macarons for 13-15 minutes. To test if they're done, gently touch the top of one and it shouldn't move independently from their feet when touched (i.e. no jiggle). Be careful not to overbake, as burning will show quite easily on this pale colored macaron.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely to room temp before removing from the baking sheet. Once cooled, carefully peel off the parchment or silicone, and match them up as best you can (there will always be some minor size differences) and flip over to prepare for filling. Add the chilled lemon curd to a piping bag with a small tip (or just the tip of the bag cut off) and pipe a dollop of curd onto the center of half of the macarons, sandwiching it down with the other halves.
- Macarons are actually NOT best fresh, so I recommend placing them in some airtight container and back into the fridge for 12-14 hours, letting the curd sort of infuse with the macaron. The patience is worth it I promise! Not that a few going missing right after assembly isn't the end of the world. They'll keep for a few days in the fridge, if they last that long!
- Enjoy!
