Lemon Cheesecake Macaron Recipe

Method

• 1)

  Make the Lemon Cheesecake Filling by adding ⅓ Cup Whipped Cream Cheese, 3 Tablespoons Lemon Curd and Zest from 1 Lemon into a bowl, let it sit out for about 10-15 minutes then stir well with a whisk until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it.

• 2)

  Pre-heat oven to 275°F. Make sure the mixing bowl and whisk is clean of any oils / fats, since fats will prevent your meringue from forming stiff peaks. Place 65g Almond Flour and 65g Powdered Sugar into a mesh strainer and sift the mixture.

• 3)

  Place 65g Egg Whites into a stand mixer bowl. In a separate bowl add, 65 g Granulated Sugar, ⅛ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar, ½ Teaspoon Dried Egg White, stir to combine, then add to the bowl of Egg Whites. Place about 1 inch of water into a sauce pan and bring to a boil, then turn to med-low heat so it’s simmering. Place the bowl on top of the pan (like a double-boiler), the bowl should not be touching the water and stir constantly with a whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites look foamy, usually takes about 1-2 minutes. Don’t let the eggs get “cooked” the temp should be around 125 °F

• 4)

  Attach the mixing bowl to your stand mixer, use the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed (#6 on KitchenAid) until stiff peaks form, this can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes, depending on humidity and egg whites (see stiff peaks photo above for reference). Add Gel Food Coloring and mix for another 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and remove the whisk attachment, knock off any meringue that’s on the whisk into the bowl.

• 5)

  Add half of the Almond Flour mixture into mixing bowl with meringue. Fold until it’s absorbed, sift the rest of the Almond Flour mixture into the bowl. Continue folding until the batter is like molten lava and if you scoop up some of the batter and drop it back down, it should fall like ribbons & start to blend back into rest of the batter within 10 seconds. Watch this short clip from Indulge with Mimi to see what the macaron batter should look like. Another way to test is, take a spoonful of batter and put it onto a plate, if the little peak blends into the rest of the batter within 10 seconds, the batter is ready – if there’s still little peak then continue to mix.

• 6)

  Place the batter into a pastry bag that’s fitted with a round piping tip (Wilton #12 Tip 5/16 in). Place a silpat, teflon sheet or parchment paper onto a baking sheet. There is enough batter for about 40 1.5 inch macaron shells which will fit on one standard baking sheet, (template here). *I pipe my shells 1.25 inches in diameter and after tapping the tray they spread to around 1.5 inches

• 7)

  Lift up your baking sheet about an inch off the table and gently tap it down onto the table 2-3 times to help pop air bubbles. Use a toothpick or icing needle to pop large air pockets. Place the baking sheet onto the middle rack in your oven that’s been preheated to 275°F. Use oven mitts or a large wooden spoon to keep the oven door cracked open about 2 inches for exactly 3 minutes 30 seconds. Close the oven door and increase the oven temperature to 310°F and bake for 15-19 minutes. *Time will depend on how accurate you oven temp is, how big you piped the macarons, the type of pan that you used and if you used parchment vs silpat. The feet should be set when they are done, if you gently touch them and it feels sticky, they need a little more baking time, but they should not be browned. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a rack to cool completely.

• 8)

  Place the lemon cheesecake filling into a piping bag and pipe a dab of filling into the middle of a macaron shell and top it with another shell. Place them into an airtight container and refrigerate them for at least 12 hours or up to 4 days. Let them sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!