Citrus Macarons

This time around I have used the French method to make these lovely citrus macarons. They were very tender, tasted heavenly (thanks to 'J's' lemon curd used in the filling) and well worth the effort. They were nearly macawrongs - the colour was a little insipid (well!!! maybe a lot insipid), the feet were stickier than usual and I forgot to bang them on the bench so I ended up with a few air bubbles.

Ingredients:

100 grams egg whites (aged for 3 days)

75 grams castor (superfine) sugar

zest of 1 orange

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

pinch of cream of tartar

green food colour with a few drops of orange food colour for highlight.

175 grams icing sugar

125 grams almond meal

Preheat the oven to 150˚C.

Beginning slowly, whip the raw egg whites to a soft peak foam. Add the cream of tartar and lemon juice. Gradually add the second measure of castor sugar (1/3 at a time), increasing to a medium high speed (adding the sugar gradually incorporates more air and tightens and stabilizes the meringue). Add the food colouring and keep whipping until you reach the stiff peak stage. You should end up with a glossy meringue that can be turned upside down without falling out of the bowl.

Making the tant pour tant (almond/sugar mixture):

In a food processor, grind the almond meal and first measure of castor (superfine) sugar into fine granules. Mix the orange zest in with the tant pour tant. Most recipes state that to get a delicate smooth macaron, you should sift the almond powder through a fine sieve at least twice. I haven’t found this necessary, as my food processor is quite powerful.

As the technique for French, Spanish and Italian methods for making the macaronnage, piping and finishing the macarons is the same, see my recent blog Macarons: Tips, Tricks and How to Macaronnage for mixing, piping and baking the macarons.

For the Lemon filling:

50g unsalted butter

50g almond meal

100g confectioners (icing) sugar

200g lemon curd

Process almond meal and icing together same as for the macarons. Cream the butter and gradually add almond mixture. Add the lemon curd.