Pucker up! These little heart macarons have a delightful lemonade flavor. This cookie is crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside with a lemon buttercream zing.
One way to achieve a perfectly smooth cookie is to keep the outside shell from cracking during baking. To do this, let the macarons dry to the touch before baking. After placing the macarons on the cooking mat or cookie sheet, let them sit for at least 20 minutes. Then test them by touching one. If the cookie batter sticks to your finger, they need to dry for a longer time. On a humid day, it might take an hour for the macarons to form a dry shell on top.
To remove air bubbles from the cookies before you bake them, tap the cookie sheet on a countertop. As you tap, you will see air bubbles rise to the top of the cookies and pop. Tapping also helps smooth the batter so that the cookies are not rough and lumpy.
To color the macaron shells, always use gel food coloring instead of liquid coloring. A liquid coloring can put too much extra water into the batter. To achieve a blush color like these macarons, use one to two drops of pink gel coloring. For thicker paste-like gels, use the tip of a sharp knife or the tip of a toothpick to pick up some gel color. Always start with a small amount of food coloring and build on it to achieve the perfect color.
Also, there is always some confusion about whether this cookie is a macaron or macaroon. It is a mac-a-ron with the last part of the word ending in -ron and pronounced like the name Ron. Macarons are meringue-based cookies, and macaroons (its cousin) are coconut-based cookies that do not have colorful shells.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 12-15 minutes |
| Passive Time | 45 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cream or whole milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pastry bag with medium round or star tip (or quart zipper bag with small hole cut in bottom corner)
Ingredients
Lemon Buttercream
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- In a clean mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar, cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Pipe frosting on half of the macaron cookies and then add the other cookie halves to make a sandwich cookie. Macarons can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 5 months.