Lavender Macarons
Ingredients
Lavender Macaron Shells
- 1 tbsp dried lavender
- 100 grams egg whites
- 100 grams white granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 105 grams almond flour
- 105 grams powdered sugar
- A few drops of purple and blue gel food coloring
Lavender Ganache
- 250 grams white chocolate
- 2 tbsp dried lavender
- 83 grams heavy cream
Instructions
Lavender Macaron Shells
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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.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
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Measure out all of the ingredients.
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Place the lavender in a coffee or spice grinder and pulse until the lavender turns into a powder.
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Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and lavender together. Set it aside.
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Place a bowl over a pan with barely simmering water, add the sugar and egg whites to the bowl. Whisk the mixture until frothy and the 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.
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Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
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Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
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Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
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With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and then start increasing the 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 medium, 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.
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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.
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Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and lavender into the stiff meringue.
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Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I added some purple and a touch of sky blue gel food coloring.
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Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
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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.
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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.
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There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
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Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
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If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds. Test again.
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Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper or silicone mat, it’s ready.
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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.
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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.
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Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
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Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 to 5 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
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Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
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Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
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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.
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Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
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Bake one tray at a time.
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Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
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Continue to bake each tray for about 10 to 15 minutes, for a total of 15 to 20 minutes.
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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.
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Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
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Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
To decorate
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Dip the top shells in melted white chocolate, and sprinkle the top with dried lavender buds.
Lavender Ganache
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Add the lavender to the heavy cream, and heat in the microwave for 15 second intervals, until hot. Be careful so it doesn’t boil over.
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Pour the hot heavy cream over the white chocolate through a strainer to retain the lavender. Cover the bowl with a plate or with a towel and let it sit for 2 minutes.
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With a whisk gently stir the chocolate until completely melted.
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If the chocolate isn’t melting entirely place it in the microwave for 5 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until melted.
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Do NOT over heat the chocolate because it will separate and curdle.
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Do NOT use white chocolate chips from the store, those aren’t real white chocolate, and will not work well, causing you to waste ingredients and money. Look for white chocolate bars, or white callets by Callebaut or other brands that will tell you their chocolate has over 20% cocoa butter. Store bought white chips have additives, and lots of oils which makes them seize and separate when you try to melt them.
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Once the white chocolate has melted entirely, set it aside to let it cool down.
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After about an hour or so, the ganache should be ok to use.
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If you place the ganache in the fridge, and it becomes too hard, you can always whip it with a mixer, the whipping will make the chocolate smooth and creamy, easy to pipe.
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If the ganache is too soft, that’s because you either used white chocolate that didn’t contain 20% cocoa butter in it, or you added too much liquid, or it’s not at the perfect piping temperature.
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The ganache will pipe best if it’s at room temperature, but the whipping trick will work as well in case you want to make it ahead and keep it in the fridge. To assemble
To assemble
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To assemble the macarons transfer the ganache to a piping bag and pipe it on the bottom shells of the macarons.
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Top with a decorated shell.
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Let the macarons mature overnight before serving.
Storage
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Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 1 to 2 months.
Recipe Notes
Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar’s acidity helps the egg whites achieve their full volume potential, and makes them stable by helping hold the water particles and the air particles in place. I am making my Swiss method recipe but adding cream of tartar to it, because I frequently get asked about adding cream of tartar to this recipe. It made a sturdy meringue, with perfect peaks.
Vinegar: Before starting make sure to wipe down the bowls, whisks, silicone mats and everything you are going to use with vinegar, to avoid any grease particles of coming into contact with the meringue and batter.
Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring, not liquid. I love Americolor. If you are a beginner macaron baker, I recommend going easy on the food coloring, as it can alter your batter a lot, and it can take extra mixing time, specially if you continue to add the food coloring as you do the macaronage. Please read more about macarons and food coloring here.
Macaron amount: it will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.
Baking time/temperature: Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray.
Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.
Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.
Macaron Tools: Please visit this post to check out all the tools I use to make macarons.
White Chocolate: Make sure to use good quality white chocolate, don’t use white chocolate chips, or candy melts. Use bar white chocolate appropriate for baking. Most chocolate chips bought at the store are not actually white chocolate. To be considered white chocolate, it must have at least 20% cocoa butter. I use Callebaut callets, they have 28% cocoa butter and I get them on Amazon, it’s my favorite chocolate for baking.
Tips for ganache: If you have issues with the white chocolate ganache, first make sure you are using good quality white chocolate, as mentioned before. Also here are a few things you can do, add 2 tbsp of butter to the ganache after incorporating the heavy cream. And if the ganache has separated, add some slightly warmed heavy cream by the tablespoon, and whisk until it comes back together.