Rose Lemonade Macarons

Summer in macaron form? These Rose Lemonade Macarons have a light and refreshing lemon flavor and are combined with a deliciously bright rose buttercream.

I wanted to start this post with some deep thoughts about macarons and how beautiful and lovely and French they are. But instead, all I can say is “You guys, I made macarons!! And they were smooth and not hollow and they had legs and omg I did it!!” And also, “No, I never thought I would be a person who knew what macaron legs are, but I do and I can do them! All by myself!” OK, now that I got that out of my system, I can continue on. A couple weeks ago, Sucré, a New Orleans confectionary specializing in macarons, asked me if I wanted to be a part of their macaron challenge. I’ve never made macarons on my own. And I’ve been meaning to test my hand at them after spending the day making them with my mom and her friends about a year ago. So, this was the perfect motivation!

First, Sucré sent me a box of their macarons. That’s when I realized I had a lot to live up to. I mean...

How stunning are these macarons?? They're seriously the prettiest!

I obviously tried every single one of them and determined that my favorite flavors were the Strawberry (hello pink glitter!). And Bananas Foster. But honestly, they're all delicious!

Sucré sent me their very own macaron recipe, but I know how finicky macarons are, so I stuck more closely to a tried and true Martha Stewart recipe. Generally, I’d never recommend making macarons without weighing ingredients, but the batteries died in my scale and I couldn’t find any AAA batteries anywhere (and am clearly too lazy or too in my pajamas to get myself to a store), so I crossed my fingers and everything ended up working out. Hooray!

Also, I reallyyyy wanted to make lavender lemonade macarons, but have somehow misplaced my giant bag of dried lavender. Weird thing to lose, right? Hopefully some day it will come back into my life… But for now, dried roses must suffice.

ROSE LEMONADE MACARONS RECIPE

If you've never made macarons before, you're probably wondering.... are macarons difficult to make? The answer is kind of complicated. I wouldn't actually say macarons are difficult to make; they're actually quite easy. The problem is, they're finicky. One little mistake can ruin the whole batch. It's funny because there are a million macaron recipes online and pretty much all of them have such a wide range of reviews. One person may say a recipe is the BEST ever, while another says it is an absolute failure. Practice definitely makes perfect when it comes to macarons, so find a recipe that feels good to you and then keep practicing with it. The more you do it, the more you'll get a feel for how to make them perfect. If you don't like the recipe I use here, you can always find another macaron recipe and just use the lemonade and rose components from this one.

Anyway, let's get going on the rose lemonade macaron making!

Start by pulsing the confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. And then sift the mixture two times. I don’t have a sifter and seriously hate sifting with my mesh strainer… But I promise that sifting is important, so do the best you can here. Also! In case you’re uncertain where to find almond flour, I highly recommend seeking out Bob’s Red Mill. It can be found in most major grocery stores… Or on Amazon (affiliate link).

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), whisk the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Then add the cream of tartar and lemon zest and continue to whisk until soft peaks form.

Now reduce the mixer speed to low and add the granulated sugar and gel food coloring. Increase speed back to high and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes.

Now you’re ready to fold the almond flour mixture into whites. Continue to fold until the mixture is smooth and shiny (I say about 25-35 folds, scraping the spatula against the side of the bowl).

Put the batter in a pastry bag with a plain round tip. On a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, pipe ¾-inch rounds of batter, about 1 inch apart, doing your best not to form peaks on the tops of the macarons. Tap the baking sheets on your counter a few times in order to release any trapped air in the macarons. Then leave the macarons alone for about 30 minutes to an hour. After letting them sit, you should be able to touch them with the tip of your finger and not have the batter come away on it. Letting them sit will allow your macarons to form a bit of a crust.

Now, the whole oven heating process is a bit strange, too, but it totally worked for me. While macarons are resting, heat oven to 375 degrees. Once macarons are ready, lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Pop one of the baking sheets in the oven, rotating it halfway through, until macarons are firm, but not browning, about 10 minutes.

If you have more than one tray to bake, maker sure you bring the oven temperature back to 375 degrees, letting it remain at that temperature for five minutes, and then reducing back to 325 degrees.

Let the macarons cool on their baking sheets for a few minutes (Look! My macarons have feet!) before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

While your perfect lemonade macarons are cooling, make your rose buttercream. I ground my rose buds up as much as possible with my mortar and pestle.

Bring the milk and ground dried rose buds to a simmer over medium heat in a saucepan and let them steep for 15 minutes before straining the roses from the milk.

Then whip up a typical buttercream by beating the butter and one cup of confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer). Continue adding more sugar one cup at a time (until 3 have been added), beating well in between each addition. Then mix in the pink food coloring and 3 Tbsp of the rose milk. If the buttercream is too runny, add in that extra ½ cup sugar.

Put the buttercream in a pastry bag and pipe it onto one of the cooled macarons. Top with another. You can add a little rose bud on top, too (I used a little simple sugar to adhere, but you can also use buttercream).

I’m just going to cheer one more time. Hooray! I made macarons.

These rose lemonade macarons were the most lovely amount of lemony. Not too overpowering since I only added zest and not juice (I was too scared to add any liquid to my batter). The buttercream wasn’t too rosy tasting either; but combined they made for a rose lemonade flavor that reminded me perfectly of summer.

Plus, I'm kind of partial to the colors.

And really, just the fact that I made macarons all by myself and that when I bit into them, they had the perfect crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside consistency. Just as they're supposed to!

Of course, I'm still absolutely in love with Sucré's macarons...

But to be honest, I'm ridiculously happy with how my rose lemonade macarons turned out. Now I can have macarons any time I want and in any flavor I want! Seriously, the options for macaron flavors are endless and I have so many ideas for what I want to do next. Maybe I’ll start by finding my dried lavender. Hmmph.

Have you made homemade macarons before? And also, what kind of macarons do you think I should make next?

If you're looking for more lemon treats, check out my Lemon Cookie Dough Bars and my Blueberry Vodka Lemonade. I also really want to try this delicious-looking Frozen Strawberry Lemonade Pie from NeighborFood.