Strawberry Lemon Macarons are beautiful and bright, and they’re the most lovely treat you’ll eat this summer! I used to be unafraid of macarons, which is almost unheard of. I was brave and faced the task boldly. That was back in high school. Now, after not having made macarons for three years, I was a little skittish. My first three attempts were terrible. The first cracked, the second bubbled, and the third had no feet! Having tried two recipes already, I was devastated and losing hope. Then, I tried one last time. And it worked! I am so proud of these guys! They have beautiful feet, gorgeously smooth tops and the perfect chew! I love these for the summertime, and so will you!

Food Photography:

Food photography is something that I have been wanting to really get into for the longest time. Macarons are the perfect way to get into it. I think that macarons, especially these strawberry lemon macarons, are extremely photogenic, which makes my job as a photographer easy. I had never really gotten too much into decorating my food. In the past, I had attempted to make prettier cakes and cool cannoli, but I had never gone all out with decoration. This time I did, and I think it really paid off. Of course, if you are just making macarons to make them, then you really do not need the added pizzazz. On the other hand, adding pizzazz is a very fun way to pass time in quarantine, so please feel free to make them as pretty or plain as you see fit! If you do happen to make them pretty, I would love to see them!

We are Baking with Lemon… for real this time! Another exceptionally exciting thing is that this is the first recipe I am publishing when I am actually baking with lemon! I always love to have lemon recipes because of the title of my blog and the expectation it sets. I hope you are not disappointed with these babies, and I can’t wait to put out more macaron recipes for you in the future!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Strawberry Lemon Macarons

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time18 minutes mins

Drying Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 18 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: french pastry, lemon, lemonade, macaraon, macarons, strawberry, strawberry lemon macaron, strawberry lemonade

Servings: 15 macarons

Ingredients

For the Macaron Shells:

• 3 Egg Whites (100 grams)
• ½ cup Granulated Sugar (100 grams)
• 1 cup Almond Flour (100 grams)
• ¾ cup Powdered Sugar (100 grams)
• ⅛ teaspoon Lemon Extract
• Food Coloring (optional)

For the Strawberry Lemon Curd:

• 3 Egg Yolks
• 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Zest
• 2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
• ⅓ cup Freeze Dried Strawberry Powder (or 3 tablespoons strawberry jam)

For the Lemon Buttercream:

• ½ cup Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons Cream Cheese
• 1½ cups Powdered Sugar (add more to taste)
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Zest
• 3 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• Yellow Food Coloring

For the Toppings:

• 2 ounces White Chocolate
• ¼ cup Freeze Dried Strawberry Powder
• 3 tablespoons Gold Sprinkles
• Yellow Food Coloring
• Pink Food Coloring

Instructions

For the Macarons:

• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. For best accuracy, trace 1-inch circles onto the paper. Flip it over so the side that was drawn on is on the bottom and will not touch the food side.
• In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar, set aside.
• In a small or medium sized bowl, combine the egg whites and granulated sugar. Place over a pot of boiling water to form a double boiler. Whisk the mixture until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixture is warm to the touch and frothy. This will take 4-6 minutes.
• Take off the heat and using a hand mixer, whip the egg whites until you achieve stiff peaks. This will take 4-10 minutes.
• Once you have stiff peaks, pour in the sifted almond flour and powdered sugar mixture along with the lemon extract and food coloring.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients into the meringue in a "U" shaped motion. Continue folding until the batter becomes "drippy" and you can consecutively form a figure "8" in the batter. Youtube tutorials are very helpful for determining when your batter is just mixed enough, and when it is overmixed.
• Once the batter is totally mixed, fill a piping bag with the batter. The piping bag should have a ¼-inch circle tip, or something around there.
• Pipe macaron circles onto the parchment paper on the baking sheet. If you drew circles on it, follow the outline. If you did not, try your best to make them the same size.
• Once all of the macarons are piped, bang the tray on the tabletop hard. You want to make sure all of the air bubbles are out of the macaron shells, so you want to bang them at least 10 times to make sure there are no hidden bubbles.
• Once you have hit the air bubbles out of the batter, the tops should be fairly flat. Carefully pat down any points that might have resulted from piping them, but they will probably resolve themselves in the drying stage anyways.
• Next, preheat the oven to 325°F and allow the shells to dry for 20-40 minutes until the tops are not sticky when touched. While the shells are drying, you can make your curd and buttercream.
• After the shells have dried, bake the shells in the preheated oven. Rotate them after 5 minutes, of baking, and allow them to bake for a total of 16-20 minutes depending on your oven.
• Once the macarons are baked, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool before filling.

For the Strawberry Lemon Curd:

• Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
• Pour into a small saucepan on the stove and heat over low heat until thickened. This will take 3-8 minutes.
• Once thick, remove from the stove, place in a heatproof container, and store in the freezer until cold.

For the Lemon Buttercream:

• In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
• Add the powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and food coloring. Beat together until smooth. If too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar, if too thick, add a bit more lemon juice.
• Place in a piping bag and put in the fridge until ready to use.

For the Toppings:

• Melt the white chocolate and color it with your desired food coloring. I split my white chocolate in half and dyed half of it yellow and the other half pink.
• Put the melted chocolate in a piping bag and pipe in stripes over the top of the macaron shells.
• While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle freeze-dried strawberry powder or gold sprinkles on the white chocolate so they stick when it dries.

For Assembly:

• Place a penny-sized dollop of the strawberry lemon curd in the center of a macaron. Pipe around it in a circle with the buttercream. Take another macaron, and place it on top, sandwiching the filling in between two.
• Place in the fridge for best results and easy storage.

Follow me on Instagram @BAKINGWITHLEMON and hashtag your posts #BAKINGWITHLEMON if you make one of my recipes! I adore seeing you guys get creative with baking!