Lemon & lime macaron recipe with some colouring tips (with pics)

I find it really exciting to discover new recipes and try out new techniques and approaches to macaron baking. Recently I have heard that baking with aged eggs can improve the quality of the meringue and I of course wanted to test it out. Below I have shared with you a very practical lemon and lime macaron recipe. When you are baking macarons there are always lots of yolks left out, and I hate wasting food. That is why I like this recipe as you can use those yolks for making your lemon and lime buttercream filling. And no food is being wasted or thrown away! See below the recipe.

Lemon & Lime Macaron Recipe

Prep time: 45 minutes Sitting & cooling: up to 1 hour

Baking time: 15 minutes per tray Yield: up to 10 filled macarons

Ingredients for the shells

2 aged egg whites (around 65gr)
50 gr caster sugar
100 gr ground almonds
100 gr icing sugar
Yellow & green colour gel

Method for shells

Preheat your oven to 150 degree C and prepare your baking trays and silicone mats.
Combine almonds with icing sugar and sieve it well.
Put your egg whites (directly from the fridge) into a clean and dry bowl. This is really important for a positive results. Start mixing for a few minutes on low speed, then start increasing the speed. This is what you should end up with:

4. Add first half of the sugar, and continue mixing for a few seconds, and then add more sugar.

5. Your meringue is ready when you can put your bowl upside down and your meringue doesn’t fall on the floor 🙂

6. Divide your meringues in two parts to create two different colours (one yellow, and the other one will be green). When it comes to colouring you can mix gel into the meringue, it is pretty much straight forward: add it into the meringue. Note that after baking the colour might change a bit, so make it slightly darker than the colour you want to get in the end.

7. Now you are ready to start adding your almond-sugar mix in the meringue. Add it in the meringue spoon by spoon and mix with spatula. You will know that your batter is ready, when it slowly floats back into the mixing bowl when you lift spatula. If you are not sure check out my recent video on Instagram (click the link).

8. Pop your batter in the piping bags and start piping them on the silicone mats. Leave some space between your macarons, so that they do not stick all together. Then you need to tap the air out of your macarons. Carefully tap your baking tray. Ensure you do it on all sides. You will see how some air pops out and your macarons get into better shape. If you still spot some of the air bubbles in the macarons, then just use tooth pick to remove them. Check out video on my Instagram to know how to deal with air.

9. Now just leave your macaron to sit for around 30 minutes to 1 hour. Batter should dry and not stick to your finger. When it happens, then you are ready to begin baking. Bake your shells tray by tray. Baking time is 15 minutes. If it is your first time, then check your macarons after first few minutes to be sure that all is fine and your oven is not too warm.

10. When macarons are ready let them to cool down for a few minutes. Do not try to stick them off when they are still warm.

Ingredients for the lemon & lime buttercream

2 egg yolks
50gr caster sugar
3 1/2 table spoons of milk
100 gr of butter (it should be softened)
lemon & lime zest (amount depends on your taste)

Method for the lemon & lime buttercream

Grab a small source pan and add your egg yolks in there. Whisk them with sugar until fully combined.

2. Add milk to this mixture and whisk again.

3. Once ready put in on the low heat and keep whisking, you do not want your eggs to cook too fast. Once you start the heater, you need to be all the time with your cream, keep whisking it. At some point it will start to look bubbly and change colour to slightly lighter one. All is going well, so keep whisking.

4. After some time your mixture will start getting thicker. It means it is ready. It might take some time though, so do not give up! Keep whisking. Below an image of the cream that is fully ready:

5. Remove it from the heat and let it cool down.

6. Add butter and mix well. Do not start adding butter in the hot cream!

7. Add lemon and lime zest, depending on the taste. I usually add just a bit, so the taste is not too strong.

8. Your cream is ready! Well done.

The macaron creation

Take macaron shell and add some filling on it, then put other macaron shell on top. Repeat until all macarons have been build up. Leave your macarons in the fridge for a few hours, so that the cream is absorbed by the macaron shell for better eating experience. Enjoy!

🗣Did you try out this recipe? Please share your results and tag @macaron_adb on Instagram with the hashtag #macaronadb to show your creations! And as always: any questions? Contact me via website, Instagram or Facebook.

Sweet times!

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