Lavender Honey Macarons
Macarons: A French delicacy that has swooped us all off our feet. Proudly Petite
Servings: 24
Ingredients
For the Macarons
- 120 grams almond meal/flour
- 200 grams confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried lavender
- 90 grams egg whites (~3 large egg whites), room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 50 grams granulated sugar
For the Honey Filling
- 8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 - 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lavender essence (optional)
Instructions
For the Macarons
- Line two KitchenAid® Sheet Pans with parchment paper. I used a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter to draw circles on the parchment paper and flip over the paper (drawing side down). Prepare a pastry bag with a round tip. I used Wilton 2A.
Using a KitchenAid® Pro Line® Series 16-Cup Food Processor, pulse the powdered sugar, almond flour and lavender into a fine powder. Sift several times until there is less than 1 tablespoon of almond bits left. Add these to the mixture.In the bowl of your KitchenAid® Stand Mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar. Beat until egg whites are foaming. With the Stand Mixer on medium high, sprinkle in the sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, about 5-7 minutes.Sift the dry ingredients over the meringue and fold with a rubber spatula. Gently fold to deflate the meringue by pressing against the side of bowl and scooping from bottom until batter is smooth and shiny; about 20-25 folds. To check consistency, drop a spoonful of batter and it should have a peak that quickly relaxes back into the batter in about 20 seconds. Start checking the batter after 20 folds.Transfer batter into pastry bag and pipe into the pre-traced circles on the baking sheet. Tap baking sheet hard on counter to release any air bubbles trapped in the batter. Let shells sit on counter for 20-30 minutes to dry. Once a shell forms on the macarons, you are ready to bake.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until shells are hard, rotating cookie sheets halfway through baking time. Cool completely on cookie sheets before peeling from the parchment.
For the Honey Filling
- Whip the butter until light and creamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix on low until combined. Increase speed to medium and whip for additional 2-3 minutes.Match equal size macarons up to make a sandwich. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large round or star tip, fill macarons with honey buttercream. Store macarons in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
To make plain almond macarons, leave out the lavender in the shells and substitute milk for honey in the filling.
