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| Lemon-Poppyseed Macarons |
I am officially obsessed with these little dessert burgers of diet-doom now that I've learned I'm able to make them at home. They eat up lots of time (including preparation steps to be done 72 hours and 24 hours ahead of time), but they're totally worth it if you're into creating things on your own and bragging about it later.
Today, I worked with lemon-poppyseed and chocolate shells. For the filling/icing, I made a batch of plain buttercream frosting, and then I divided it into 3 parts in order to make a lemon filling for the lemon-poppyseed shells, a mint for half of the chocolate shells, and a peanut butter for the other half of the chocolate shells. And so, hold on tight. Here we go:
To have:
6 eggs, whites only (use the yolks for a rich, mega-yellow omelet!)
1 tsp cream of tartar
10 tbsp superfine (yes, supa-fine) granulated sugar
2 c almond flour, sifted 2-3 times
12 c powdered sugar, divided
3-4 tbsp blue poppy seeds
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 c butter, softened
1 tsp for real, yo lemon extract, divided
2 tsp for real, yo mint extract
3 tbsp peanut butter
1-2 tsp pure--like Madagascar pure--vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk or substitute
juice of 2-3 lemons, filtered of pulp/seeds
zest of 2-3 lemons (without pith), divided
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| Chocolate-Mint Macarons |
Separate the eggs into whites and yolks. Cover the whites with plastic wrap, poke a hole across the top, and let sit at room temperature in a dry area of the kitchen. This is to remove as much moisture as possible from the eggs. Moisture is the mortal enemy of a good macaron. As a quicker method, I think you can heat the whites in the microwave on medium-high to dry them out, but I haven't tried it yet.
To do, 24-48 hours before:
Zest the lemons, being careful not to get the pith--it's crazy-bitter. Cover the zest with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature in a dry area. Again, this is moisture-removal. Also, if you find that your almond flour is slightly moist, pour it onto a baking tray, cover with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the wrap, and let it sit out overnight.
To do, for Plain Buttercream Icing, day-of:
1. Cream butter.
2. Add in 4-6 cups of powdered sugar, around 1 cup at a time. Use an electric mixer and go slowly, or else you'll get it all over the place.
3. Add in the vanilla and the milk. Turn up the mixer and combine until you get a thick icing.
4. Divide into 3 bowls--1/2 in 1 bowl, 1/4 in another bowl, and the last 1/4 in a third bowl.
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| Buttercream variations: lemon, peanut butter, and mint |
To do, for the Lemon-Buttercream Icing, day-of:
Use the biggest portion of icing--around 1/2 the batch. Add in the juice of the lemons, 1/2 of the tsp of lemon extract, and about 1/2 tsp of the lemon zest. Blending with a whisk, add powdered sugar if it's too runny and milk--1 drop at at time!--if it's too stiff. Your ideal texture should start to form a thin crust on top when left to dry for a few minutes
To do, for the Peanut Butter-Buttercream Icing, day-of:
Using 1/4 of the batch of icing, add in around 3 tbsp peanut butter. Blend well. Add milk 1 drop at a time if too thick!
To do, for the Mint-Buttercream Icing, day-of:
1. Using the last 1/4 of the batch of icing, add in around 1-2 tsp of pure mint extract. Blend well. Again, add milk to thin, powdered sugar to thicken.
2. Add powdered (not liquid!) green food coloring, a tiny bit at a time, as an option to make the filling pop.
To do, for the Lemon-Poppyseed Macaron Shells, day-of:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a food processor, blend 1c almond flour with 2 c powdered sugar, the remaining lemon zest, the rest of the lemon zest (around 1/2 tsp). Pour into a bowl and add the poppy seeds. Combine.
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| Dry ingredients, Lemon-Poppyseed Shells |
3. In a separate mixing bowl, use an electric mixture to beat 1/2 of the egg whites (around 3 eggs' worth). Beat until foamy throughout.
4. Add in a pinch of cream or tartar, and mix until soft peaks form.
5. In a technique the bakers on the street call, "letting it rain," slowly add in the 5 tbsp of the superfine sugar, being careful to mix (on medium-high) as you are letting that sugar-rain fall down. Mix until you have hard peaks. Be sure that you can turn the bowl upside-down without losing the mixture.
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| Hard peaks in the meringue mixture |
6. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold the dry mixture into the egg mixture. Go in the same direction in the bowl for between 30 and 40 strokes--you should see the mixture turn glossy. Once that happens, stop!
7. Using a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2 inch tip, pipe the shells onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, making circles of about 1 inch in diameter. Piping takes practice; if you need to finish in the center of the shell, be sure that the peak has disappeared after a few minutes; otherwise, your shells will be misshapen and shoddy. Yes, shoddy. Keep the shells from touching one another by piping them at least and inch away from each other, at least until you've realized how much they'll spread. Seemingly innocuous, raw macaron shells have a way of getting too mixed up in one another's business.
8. After you've finished piping, carefully tap each baking sheet onto a hard, flat surface to remove air bubbles and give the macarons their "feet." Do this a few times. Then, let the shells sit for at least 30 minutes so that they get their hardened outer shell.
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| Shells, piped and resting |
9. Bake! Check to be sure that the oven is at exactly 300 degrees F. Put one tray in for around 6 minutes, turn the tray, and leave it in for another 6 minutes. When you take it out, be sure to let the shells cool on the tray for a while until transferring them to a cooling rack.
10. Once the shells have cooled completely--seriously, I know it's delayed gratification to the maximum, but just watch TV, clean the kitchen, go for a walk, or something--fill each pair of shells with the Lemon-Buttercream Icing, being careful to choose "buns" of the same size for the icing burger. Also, be gentle when making the "sandwich;" these shells are as fragile as Justin Bieber's street cred.
To do, for the Chocolate Macaron Shells, day-of:
Follow the Lemon-Poppyseed Macaron Shell recipe, with these amendments:
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| Wet and dry mixtures, Chocolate Shells |
- Replace 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 5-6 tbsp cocoa powder.
- Leave out the lemon zest, lemon extract, and poppy seeds.
- Be extra-careful with space between shells when piping. These tend to be on the runny side.
- Fill half the batch with Mint-Buttercream Icing; fill the rest with Peanut Butter-Buttercream Icing.
- Try not to eat them all.
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| The Spread (left to right): Chocolate-Peanut Butter, Lemon-Poppyseed, and Chocolate-Mint |
