Lemon Macarons
Hello friends! We have Lemon Macarons on the menu today! They are filled with Lemon Buttercream and Lemon Curd.
Make sure to watch the video on this page or on YouTube to see how I made these delicious Lemon Macarons.
I first published this recipe for Lemon Macarons in May 2018, over 1 year ago. And a lot has changed since then. I’ve evolved a lot in my macaron baking, and also in my photography skills, which is why I am also updating this post to include new pictures!
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Below is the first picture I took when I made the recipe for Lemon Macarons in 2018. So what do you think about the evolution?
First picture I took of the Lemon Macarons in 2018.
Since then, a lot has changed. This Lemon Macarons recipe is the most visited on my blog for months, along with my Chocolate Macarons recipe.
I have posted many many more Macaron recipes and ideas.
Check out below some of the most popular ones:
- Brownie Macarons
- Strawberry Lemonade Macarons
- Strawberry Mint Macarons
- Blueberry Macarons with jam filling
- Cookie Dough Macarons
- Dulce de Leche Pecan Macarons
- Toffee Macarons
- Blackberry Macarons
- Pomegranate Macarons
And I even made a vegan version of Lemon Macarons, my Lavender Lemon Vegan Macarons.
In today’s post, I have something to say concerning macarons. I want to talk about their storage!
That’s a big question I had one day. How to store macarons?
Last year, for my son Luke’s first birthday party, I wanted to make Pistachio Macarons for party favors. Turns out I was making all the food for the party from scratch, by myself.
And it would be nice to be able to make the macarons beforehand.
I searched up and down on the internet: HOW TO STORE MACARONS?
And found a bunch of different information. So I just decided to see for myself.
I made my Pistachio Macarons, filled them with Pistachio Buttercream, placed them neatly in air tight containers, and went for it!
The macarons were stored in my freezer for about 20 days!
And the results: Beautiful!
The day before the party, I removed them from the freezer and placed them in their little treat containers, wrapped a pretty bow around them with a little paper saying: Thank you for coming!
And that was that! Easy peasy! Saved me so much time!!
How to freeze French Macarons?
Freezing macarons works better for macarons with buttercream or cream cheese fillings, instead of macarons with jam type of fillings. However, I froze macarons with blueberry jam filling and they held up pretty well, but my jam was very thick, not a whole lotta wet.
So, after you are done baking your macaron shells, you may fill them as you wish.
I like to stick my macarons in the fridge at this point, so they will be cold enough for me to handle them and be able to place them in my air tight container.
The air tight container I use is this one, I got it on Amazon.
Seriously, this container is everything! I use it for a thousand things, specially for freezing cookies and such.
Anyway, after my macarons are cold and the buttercream in the middle is solid, I place them in the air tight container, and in the freezer it goes.
You can store them in the freezer for up to 2 months.
If you want to eat a macaron, simply pull one out of the freezer 20 minutes before you intend to do so, and let it sit at room temperature. It will be ready for you! Easy like that!
Check out some more Macaron Recipes and Macaron Ideas HERE!!
How to store French Macarons?
In general, if you want to store French Macarons, it will depend a lot on what filling you choose for it.
For example, these Lemon Macarons have a shelf life of about 1 week in the fridge and up to 2 months in the freezer because that’s the basic shelf life of the lemon curd.
Depending on what kind of macaron you’re dealing with, that might change. Just try to get informed about the shelf life of the fillings you choose.
Macarons that are only filled with buttercream made without milk, might keep well outside of the fridge for a few hours. But it’s always best to try to keep them refrigerated.
My Lemon Macarons lasted no time at all, I didn’t even have time to think about freezing them. I shared these lemon macarons with guests. And I also made more of the Lemon Macarons for my son’s second birthday party! You can check out how that party went here!
You can see the Lemon Macarons in this pic (right behind my Matcha Macarons!)
About the lemon curd
Any lemon curd leftovers can be frozen in a Freezer Bag for up to 3 months, or kept in the fridge for up to 1 week. Or, you can get creative and make other recipes with it. Such as this delicious Lemon Coconut Layer Cake. Or, if you’re classy like me, just eat it with a spoon!!
When you fill your macarons, first pipe some of the buttercream around the edges like this.
And then, spoon some of the lemon curd inside.
And voila! There you have it.
If you would like more tips on how to make macarons, please go over to Macaron School, where I publish lots of helpful articles if you are learning how to make macarons, with all the science behind macarons, plus a lot of tips, tricks, troubleshooting guides!
Thank you for reading my blog, leave a comment below or tag me on instagram if you make these Lemon Macarons recipe!
Lemon Macarons
Ingredients
Shells
- 100 grams egg whites
- 100 grams white granulated sugar
- 105 grams almond flour
- 105 grams powdered sugar
- One drop of Lemon Yellow Food coloring
Lemon curd
- 3 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (66 grams, 2.3 oz)
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature (42 grams, 1.5 oz)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/8 tsp salt
Buttercream
- 1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar sifted
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 -1 tbsp whipping cream as necessary
- 1/2 tbsp lemon zest optional
Instructions
Shells
- Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/2” diameter tip. Set aside.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- Measure out all of the ingredients.
- Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set it aside.
- Whisk the sugar and the egg whites in a bowl. Place it over a pan with barely simmering water to form a double boiler. Whisk until sugar is completely melted. It will take a couple of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking the mixture over the water bath.
- Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
- Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
- Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high, or medium-high and whisk for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
- Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending down to the side.
- Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
- Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
- Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I added some yellow gel food coloring!
- How to know when to stop folding the batter: It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
- First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
- There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
- If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds.
- Test again.
- Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.
- You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
- When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
- Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
- Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
- Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
- Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.If using sprinkles on top of the shells, make sure to add them before the shells dry, or the sprinkles won’t stick.
- Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
- Pre-heat the oven to 300ºF.
- Bake one tray at a time.Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
- Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.
- I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.
- Remove from the oven and bake the other tray. Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Lemon Curd
- Cream butter at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer. Slowly add sugar and lemon zest to butter and keep creaming at medium speed for a few minutes, until mixture is light in color and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, waiting until egg has been completely incorporated before adding the next one.
- Add salt. And finally, add lemon juice, and stir on low speed.
- Pour mixture in a small sauce pan and cook it over medium-low heat, while stirring nonstop.
- You are looking for a very thick and creamy curd. Don’t stop stirring, don’t look away. And don't let the curd actually come to a boil.
- The temperature of the curd should be reaching 170F.
- When that happens, remove from heat and pour into a heat proof bowl.
- Let it cool in the fridge.
- STORAGE: The shelf life of lemon curd will be up to 1 week in the fridge, and up to 3 months in the freezer, if well protected.
Buttercream
- Cream butter at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 1 minute. With the mixer off, add all of the powdered sugar, and lemon zest in.
- On low speed, beat the sugar and butter together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy.
- Add vanilla and cream in, beat for another 30-45 seconds. Only add 1/2 tablespoon of cream if necessary, sometimes you may find that the consistency of the buttercream is already perfect and doesn't need any more liquid. If the buttercream seems too stiff, add a tiny bit of cream as necessary. If the buttercream seems too runny, add more sifted powdered sugar until you obtain a firm, but smooth and creamy consistency.
- STORAGE: Store buttercream in the fridge for up to 1 week.
How to assemble
- Pipe a circle of buttercream around the edges of the macaron, in a way that you have a little hole in the middle. Fill the little hole with a bit of lemon curd. Don't overfill it. Place another shell on top.
- STORAGE: This Lemon Macaron's shelf life is up to 2 months in the freezer, and up to 1 week in the refrigerator. I don't recommend keeping it out of the fridge unless it's for just a couple hours.
Notes
Nutrition
hello! i’m planning to make these today and freeze them for about a week. do you think i should just make all the lemon curds/buttercreams/shells separately, and then assemble on the day i serve them or just do the whole recipe and freeze them all already assembled?
So, it depends on the curd and the macarons. Let me explain. If the curd is very thick, and the macaron shells aren’t under baked, I’d say yes. If the shells are on the under baked or soft side, that’s risky because the curd, being kind of wet, might make the macarons soggy. If the curd is on the thick side that can also help. So I’d say you can assemble them beforehand and freeze them as long as those conditions are met.
Also, if you do assemble afterwards, make sure to assemble at least one or 2 days before, because the macarons need a day to mature in the fridge in order for the consistency and flavors come together nicely.
For clarification, I could bake and freeze the shells (before filling is added). Then thaw the shells, fill and refrigerate for a couple of days before serving? Want to make for Christmas but need something I can prepare in stages so I’m not trying to make everything in one day). Thanks!
yes, no need to thaw though, you can immediately fill them from the freezer. And then you can refrigerate them for up to 5 days or so, or you can even freeze them again also.
Second time attempting macarons and it was a success! Smooth tops, nice feet. I did bake at a lower temperature though – I tried to keep it around 285 but my oven is unreliable so it varied between 280-325 during the baking time. I haven’t filled them yet but I’m so excited and happy they actually look like macarons! I just have to work on size and shape consistency!
Great recipe
Thank you so much!!! 🙂
My macarons feet rise but then redrop. Any idea why?
Do you have any pictures to send me? How are the tops of the macarons?
These did not turn out pretty or objectively “right” for me, but they tasted great!! I’ve never tried making Macarons, so it was all personal error, and I really look forward to trying again! I didn’t stir my batter long enough and I made the buttercream too runny, so the filling spills out the sides when you take a bite. The curd turned out perfect, I LOVE lemon curd so I make it all the times anyways 😛 great recipe, can’t wait to try it again and see the improvements!
Hey Wesley! Thanks so much for your comment!! Took me several tries to start getting them right!! Stay with it! They are super fun!!! I am so glad you are giving macarons another try!!! I have some videos on youtube that can help, and for any future tries, I can also answer any questions you may have about your macarons here, or on instagram dm! If you have pictures of your cookies even better, so I can help find out what didn’t go right! And yes I also love lemon curd! it’s the best 🙂 thanks and have a great day!!!
Such a great recipe and the macarons turned out so well!
Can we just use the buttercream instead of the lemon curd and pout the lemon flavor in the shells? I loved the macarons!!!
Hello Kate! I really don’t recommend putting any flavoring in the shells. Whenever I’ve tried flavoring my shells, the experiment didn’t go so well. The only flavoring that works for me are powders, such as cocoa powder, matcha powder, espresso, or other ground nuts, so besides those, I recommend leaving the shells without flavoring.
Extracts, specially if oil based, will impact the meringue, which will have a serious impact on the shells, and your final product. Oil doesn’t react well with meringue at all. And any added liquid to the shell should be done so very carefully, since it will also affect the results. It’s such a delicate cookie, and any little deviations might result in a failed batch. The amino acids in the whites don’t react well with water at all, so if you add liquid to your meringue, the amino acids that protect the air bubbles needed to keep the meringue fluffy and airy will be destroyed, since they are hydrophobic. And if you add anything that’s oil based, the fat will completely destroy the air bubbles in your meringue as well.
I’ve heard of people successfully adding dried zest to the shells, but they would have to be very dry, powdered and added to the dry ingredients, and would make very little impact on the taste, which makes it kind of pointless to even use them. And I’ve never done it myself so I can’t vouch for it.
I recommend just sticking to flavoring the filling of the macarons, you can add zest or extract to the buttercream if you don’t want to use a lemon curd.
Anyway, thanks for your question and please let me know how it goes!
Thank you, thank you! I made your lemon macaron yesterday and for the first time since I embarked on this journey of macaron making and they came out great. Thank you for the fantastic directions that were easy to follow. I have two questions that I would love if you could answer.
Can you use less sugar to make the buttercream less sweet? How did you get that yellow and white swirl as shown in the picture but not in the directions? Thanks again!
If you use less sugar than the buttercream might be runny, cause the sugar helps the consistency, but you can certainly try adding less. You can add a pinch of salt to the buttercream too to help offset the sweetness. Also it helps if the butter isn’t too soft, the softer the butter the more sugar youll need. And for the swirls it was a technique i have on many of my videos, I will link an example here: https://youtu.be/zxp4soMrJ-A but instead of pink and white I did yellow and white for this one.
Do you use convection setting when you bake the macarons?
Hello I don’t have a convection oven, however, I believe you should decrease the temperature a bit when baking with a convection oven. However, I have never used a convection oven before so I am not really sure about this.
This article has a lot of tips on how to bake macarons using a convection oven https://www.indulgewithmimi.com/correctly-using-your-home-oven-for-baking-macarons/
I made these yesterday and they are excellent! Half of the batch is gone already! I appreciate all of the details in the recipe. My only feedback is that the recipe says that it takes a total of 55 minutes (30 minutes prep time and 25 minutes for baking). I could probably make the shells in an hour but not the whole thing… Thanks for an excellent recipe – I’m already thinking about when I can make them again!
You’re right Sue! I should update the time! Thank you so much for your valuable feedback! I am so happy you like the recipe!!! Have a fabulous day!!!
Those are beautiful. Came for sourdough tortillas and left with goosebumps from a picture of macaroons!
awe thank you so much! What a lovely comment, it brighten up my day! Have a fabulous day!!!
Que lindos e saborosos!😋😋😉
Obrigada 🙂
Just made this recipe with my son. Amazing flavor! This was my second attempt at macarons, and I so appreciated the extra explanations in the recipe. I’ll definitely be trying more of your macaron recipes!
Thank you so much Shannan!! I am so happy you liked the recipe!!! I hope to keep on adding lots of information and tips on how to make macarons on my posts that will be helpful to everyone!! Have a lovely day!!! I appreciate your comment! 🙂
How did you get bright yellow Macarons? I can’t get my color past pale.
Hey Katie, I use wilton gel food coloring, and I use a lot of it. Probably half a teaspoon, I never measured it before, next time I make this I will measure it and come update the post with the measurement. But just think that your macarons are going to lose some of the color as they bake, so you want to add a little more than the color you want them to actually be. If you are using gel food coloring, it shouldn’t alter the batter, I don’t recommend using water based food coloring.Thank you happy baking!
The lemon curd is amazing but my macarons came out really flat and not smooth on the top… I might have folded them too much? I didn’t put enough food colouring in either but I think the brand I use is just weaker than others.
Flat you mean no feet? And not smooth do you mean with bumps? Lots of things could have went wrong. Lumpy macarons could mean you didnt sift your ingredients well. Macarons with no feet could mean you folded your batter too much, your meringue could have been broken or not beaten enough, maybe the baking temperature was too low. It’s hard for me to tell without being there in the kitchen right next to you, as there are lots of things that could have went wrong. If you have a picture of the macarons you can send it to my email and might be easier for me to tell.
Plus, what kind of food coloring do you use? I recommend gel based one, because water based food coloring might ruin your batter, as water does not go well with macaron batter, and might break the structure of the egg whites.
I recommend you keep practicing, making macarons takes a lot of practice.
Yes, the macarons didn’t have feet and there were lots of air bubbles in the shell so I think I need to bang the tray harder next time and leave them to dry longer? I also might have made them too thin. I did actually use a water based one so I’ll try a gel next time too. Definitely going to keep practicing, thank you!
I have a question. I’m looking for a lemon macaron recipe. This is a plain macaron with a lemon filling. Do you ever flavor your shells?
Hello Eileen, I don’t flavor the shells unless I am using dry ingredients such as matcha, espresso, cocoa powder, etc.
Additional liquids can ruin the macarons because they are such delicate cookies, and the proteins in the egg whites are hydrophobic and extra liquid in the batter can destroy the proteins that protect the air bubbles that are formed when you whip the meringue. Which is why typically you’d only flavor the filling of the macarons.
I don’t know if I followed the recipe right or not, but my macarons when I made them tharted to crack, collapse, and loose it’s feet. I’ve made macarons multiple times before and they had a better result than the ones I made with this recipe. I decided to try something different so I came to this website… I didn’t really have a good experience. Sorry.
Hey Arienna, that’s totally cool. I always say that recipes don’t always work the same for everyone. And specially with macarons. Macarons are very particular, and you need to find the best method that works for you. I have experimented with all methods, Swiss, French, Italian, and I have found this to be the best method for me. Maybe you just need to keep searching to find the method that works best for you! Also, the ingredients can really have a huge impact on macaron results. For example, when I make macarons with the French Method I prefer King Arthur Flour. However, King Arthur Flour doesn’t work so well with the Swiss method for me, because it’s kind of wet comparing to Bob’s Red Mill. Anyway, this is just an example of how particular and finicky it is to make macarons.
Now, reasons for cracking, collapsing and loosing feet could be:
1- Your oven temperature was too high, which is usually the case for me when my macarons crack. Having an oven thermometer and experiencing with different temperatures can help fix this particular problem. Also, if your oven has hot spots, you can simply adjust at what level you place your baking tray.
2- You didn’t beat the meringue enough at the beginning, before adding the dry ingredients and folding.
3- You didn’t tap the macarons tray against the counter enough, which can cause air bubbles to trap inside the macarons and crack the shells as they bake.
Anyway hope you keep searching and find the best macaron recipe and method for you!! Have a nice day! 🙂
I just made these tonight for the first time ever trying to make macarons. Directions were outstanding. Flavor is amazing. I need to work on my piping skills. Fantastic results for my first try. Thank you!
That’s so nice to hear!! Thank you so much, Kim!!! Keep baking it, takes practice and love! Have a great day!!