Lemon Macarons with White Chocolate Lemon Filling and Chocolate Macarons with Nutella Filling

Lemon Macarons

2.25 cups  (8 ounces) confectioner's sugar

2 cups (6.7 ounces) Almond Flour*

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

5 egg whites (have them at room temperature)

1 tablespoon very finely grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Combine the confectioner's sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. 

Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks.  Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks. **

Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine.  If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time.  Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches.  Be gentle.  Don't overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (e.g., Ateco #806).  You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off.  It's easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

Pipe one-inch-sized mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners or parchment paper.  Let them sit for about 20 minutes before baking.

Bake the macarons for 5 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375 degrees. Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back  in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.   (I did 6 minutes, but I think my oven is a little hot).   Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield:  10 dozen.  (Note: My yield was less than this.)

*Almond Flour is not generally a hard to find item.  If your grocery store carries Bob's Red Mill organic products, you can usually find it there.  Also, most health food stores carry this product. 

**Stiff peaks is when you remove the beater and the egg white peak stands straight up.

White Chocolate Lemon Filling

8 ounces white chocolate, melted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix together until smooth and then let set until thickened up.  When macarons are cooled, sandwich about a teaspoon between two cookies.

Chocolate Macarons with Nutella Filling

Follow directions for Lemon Macarons, but leave out lemon zest and substitute about 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder.

When cool, place a layer of Nutella between two cookies.

The Italian Dish Food Blog