Lavender Macarons


Yes, I'm obsessed with macarons. So?

Now that I'm getting better at this, why stop right? Also, I had to experiment a bit more to see for myself if I can take a few shortcuts. And yes, I can! I'm playing with a bit of colour too because it helps reinforce the flavour I'm working with and it just makes everything so pretty. C'mon. If my beautiful lavender macarons don't win you over to use a bit of food colouring, check out these pretty in pink raspberries macarons I made a few weeks ago. I'm in love!


Lavenders are blooming in our neighbourhood right now. We can smell them as we walk by and my naughty 4 year likes to pick a few of them. Um. Some times she just doesn't take no for an answer. But all this is reminding me of a year ago when we visited Valensole in the South of France. Lavender fields extend all the way to the horizon there. It was postcard perfect.

Valensole, France July 2019


Lavender Macarons
Makes 24-30 cookies
(Adapted from Tasty)

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 egg whites
1/5 cup sugar (bit less than 1/4 cup should do it!)
1 tbsp dry lavender
tiny bit of purple food coloring (or use blue/red to make your purple)

Filling:

170g cream cheese
3/4 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp almond flour
1 tbsp dry lavender + 1 tbsp sugar, grinded to dust
Purple food coloring

Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour and salt. Whatever is leftover and difficult to sift, add it to a Nutribullet or small blender and grind up, along with 1 tbsp lavender. Sift some more. Grind and sift one more time until most of it is sifted through. This is your dry ingredients. Leave the remaining bits in the grinder and add to this 1 tbsp of lavender and 1 tbsp of sugar and grind to a dust. Set this aside for the filling later.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks, then gradually add the sugar while mixing. Mix until stiff peaks. Use a toothpick to tint your whipped egg whites. Add your dry ingredients in thirds and fold gently. Mix until the batter can form an "8" as it glides off your spatula. Stop and transfer the batter to a piping bag. Quickly pipe rounds onto a silicone mat. Yes, silicone mat! They fit perfectly on a cookie sheet and macarons dry fine, as long as you place it on the rack closer to the bottom. Not the very bottom, the third level from the bottom. Once piped, slam the trays on the counter to get rid of the air bubbles inside. Turn on your kitchen fan, open your windows and let the macarons dry. If you touch them, they will have formed a skin on top and be dry. It might take 30 mins. Preheat your oven to 300F. Bake for 22 minutes, one tray at a time.

For the filling, beat all the ingredients for 3-5 minutes or until well mixed and fluffy. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip, and pipe the filling onto half of the macaron shells. Top with the remaining shells. Refrigerate to firm up the filling inside. Enjoy! The macarons taste better the next day as well.

Two colors here because I tried to rush the second batch by increasing the oven temp. Oops.

Comments

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...