Cookies are one of my favorite foods. I adore macarons, but whenever I see them in a bakery they are so crazy expensive. Surprisingly, they are not that hard to make! As almond flour is used, that part of the recipe is a bit more expensive, but these little pieces of heaven are so worth it. Don’t buy macarons when you can do it yourself. These Fresh Lime Macarons are perfect for a summer dessert, and would also make a lovely gift.
Fresh Lime Macarons
Cookie Ingredients
3 Egg whites
3 tbsp. Granulated sugar
1 cup Almond flour
1 1/3 cups Powdered sugar
¼ tsp. Cream of Tartar
Zest of 2 Limes
Yellow and Green Gel Food Coloring
Instructions
Place the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and run for 2-3 minutes, occasionally scrape the sides.
Sift the mixture into a large bowl
In a large metal bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tartar.
Whip on medium-high using a whisk attachment until the eggs become frothy and white.
Scrape the bowl, and add a tbsp of granulated sugar and whip again for 40 seconds, repeating until all sugar is used.
Whip at medium-high just until stiff peaks form.
Add the lime zest and a few drops of yellow and green gel food color
Sift about ⅓ of the almond-powdered sugar mix into the bowl.
Gently fold the egg whites
(Folding is scraping the sides to the bottom of the bowl and then back over the top until the sugar flour is incorporated.)
Repeat until the all the sugar flour is mixed
DO NOT OVER MIX the egg mixture with the almond powder sugar mix it will destroy the consistency of the batter.
Spoon into a pastry bag prepped using a 1 inch round tip and pipe circles onto baking sheets that you cover with parchment paper.
Lightly tap the baking sheets again a flat surface to release any air bubbles and level out the batter
Place the macarons to the side to rest for 20-60 minutes
Bake in a 300 degree oven for 13 minutes
Lime Curd Ingredients
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Zest of 1 large or two small limes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
Lime Curd Instructions
Add eggs, sugar, salt, juice, and zest in a saucepan away from the heat .
Whisk the ingredients together until smooth.
Place on low heat.
Stirring often until the mixture thickens, about 4-5 minutes.
Turn the heat to low and add the butter.
Stir until smooth.
Remove from heat and spoon into jars.
Putting it all together
Take ½ of the cookies and flip them upside down where the flat surface is facing up .
Using a small spoon or a pastry bag, place a dollop of curd on the cookie, filling it enough to where the curd covers ¾ of the cookie, leaving edges of the cookie visible.
Lightly place another cookie on top with the flat edge on the curd. Place the cookies in the refrigerator until serving.
Wanda McHenry says
I can’t wait to try those! Thanks for the recipe.
Donna Hup says
I didn’t realize they were gluten free! I can’t wait to make them. Thanks!
Mai T. says
I’d love to know how this tastes. Very interesting idea!
krystel says
never had macroons but these macroons look really delicious
Sandra Watts says
These look so good and in my favorite color of green. I can’t believe how perfect you got them. I can never get them so nice looking.
Elisa says
Wow, these look lovely! How many macarons does this produce?
Alyson says
Based on some other macaron recipes I’ve seen, I think this recipe might be off a little bit on the proportions of egg white to almond flour/powdered sugar. I attempted this particular recipe, and my batter was extremely dry (I know the batter can look too thick if you haven’t mixed the meringue with the dry ingredients well enough, but I definitely mixed well enough). I’ve made macarons before with success, but this time my batter never reached the correct consistency. Other recipes also call for three egg whites, but only have 2/3 cup almond flour and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. I’m not trying to be negative, but just giving my review on what happened when I tried this exact recipe.
Kelly Stilwell says
Thanks for the feedback, Alyson. Recipe creation is hard, and sometimes something I make once (and is so delicious!) turns out terrible the next time. I’ve made black bean burgers several times, and was trying to make them to update my photos from a couple of years ago, and I completely flopped it twice! So many factors can be the reason why. I will go back and make these again as soon as I can and see if I went wrong somewhere in the calculations. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know. I’m so sorry you went to all that work to have a recipe not turn out.
C. Calcinari says
I am going to adjust the ratio as you suggested and let you know how they turn out.
Jilly says
These Macaron’s were so delicious and easy to make!!! The recipe was simple to follow and there weren’t that many confusing steps in the process. I suggest that anyone should try them!
Kelly says
So glad to hear that, Jilly! Happy 4th of July! Thanks so much for sharing.
Mayra says
Hello, thank you for your recipe. Although I used a different one for the macaron shells, I followed your lime curd recipe. My question is, the picture shown looks like a buttercream rather than the curd. I noticed that the curd (first time making it) was sipping out the sides of the macaron. So I did a vanilla buttercream near the rim of the macaron and “filled” the macaron with the key lime curd. It really came out delicious nonetheless. Was just curious to see f you did anything different. Thank you
Allisha says
These turned out fantastic for me! I might have made them too big because I needed to bake them for about 16-17 minutes and I used a lime buttercream instead of the lime curd only because it was faster to make. I’ll have to try them again with the lime curd! Thanks for the recipe!