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 tablespoon 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.
📖 Recipe
Rose Lemonade Macarons
Ingredients
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- Pinch cream of tartar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Yellow gel food coloring
- 1 batch Rose Buttercream (recipe below)
Rose Buttercream
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoon ground dried rosebuds, finely ground
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3-3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
- Pin food coloring
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse confectioners' sugar and almond flour until combined. Sift the mixture two times into a large bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), whisk egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add in cream of tartar and lemon zest and continue to whisk until soft peaks form.
- Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and add in the granulated sugar and gel food coloring. Increase speed back to high and beat until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes.
- Using a spatula, fold the almond flour mixture into the egg whites. Continue to fold until the mixture is smooth and shiny (about 25-35 folds, scraping the spatula against the side of the bowl each time).
- 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. Leave macarons alone for about 30 minutes to an hour to let set a bit. 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.
- While macarons are resting, heat oven to 375 degrees. Once macarons are ready, lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Place baking sheet 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 before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- 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, using a little buttercream or simple sugar to adhere.
Rose Buttercream
- Bring milk and ground dried rose buds to a simmer over medium heat in a saucepan. Let them steep for 15 minutes and then strain roses from the milk.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter with one cup of confectioners' sugar. Add more sugar one cup at a time (until 3 cups have been added), beating well in between each addition. Mix in the pink food coloring and 3 T of the rose milk. If the buttercream is too runny, add in the extra ½ cup sugar.
Notes
- Macaron base recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
These are so pretty and definitely the most perfect spring and summer macs!
Odetta says
Marvelous macarons! I hope you win!!!
Christina@A Soulful Twist says
How cute are these, and the flavors sound divine!
Kitchen Belleicious says
so so so beautiful and how perfect these would be for a spring tea or bridal or baby shower
Monique says
too pretty to eat!!!!
JUST KIDDING!
they look amazing.
kimz says
Just gorgeous! I am certain they taste as delicious as they look. Congratulations!
Chantal says
Hi there!
I'am Chantal from Travelling Papilles I just found your blog and really like it. It is so beautiful and the recipes as well.
Your macarons are successful, congrats and thank you for sahring this with us.
Chantal
Danielle says
These look AMAZING! I love how you used the rosebuds to flavor the milk - so creative!
I've made macarons twice before and both times they turned out great. Picky Palate has some wonderful recipes you should check out - including Cinnamon Toast Crunch which were fabulous!
Michelle Lahey says
These are beautiful!! I'm not sure my first try at macarons would look this good, haha.
Justine says
Oh my gahhhh. These look incredible!!
Leah | So, How's It Taste? says
Your macarons are so pretty!
Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic says
How pretty! I love the pairing of pink and yellow. I've never made macarons before!
Emily aka The Three Bite Rule says
Wow! I'm so impressed! I'm no baker so I hope you feel like a celebrity! Lovely!
Megan says
These are gorgeous! I love the colors. And the feet are perfect! I've made macarons a few times but they're still a work in progress for me!
SRM says
Ocean State Jobs Lots has a good selection of Bob's Red Mill products. They're priced better than in the grocery stores and they sometimes have a 25% off sale. Macarons are on my "To Be Baked" list. I think you've given me the courage to try them!
Sharon says
Macarons are fairly labor intensive which is why I made them with three of my friends. Making them all by yourself was a real challenge. Your results were incredible and proof of your talent and creativity…Beautiful job, Sues.
Shannon says
oh man, these came out fantastic!! beautiful, and i want to try that flavor 🙂
Sarah & Arkadi says
wow! these macarons are beautiful! we have yet to attempt to make some ourselves! good for you!
Phoebe Lapine @FeedMePhoebe says
These are adorable - it looks like a lot of work but they came out wonderfully! Can't wait to try making my own sometime.
Kyler says
These look so good, I'm trying to plan on making them but had a quick question.
Could you replace the rose buds with rose extract or no? If yes, how much rose extract would I need?
Sues says
Hi Kyler- I haven't tried this, but I definitely think it would work. I don't have a lot of experience with rose extract... If it's quite strong, you might only need 1/4 tsp, but I'd add a little and taste it to see if it's strong enough. Instead of heating the milk, you can just make the buttercream and add the extract in with the milk!