Earl Grey Macarons with Meyer Lemon Curd

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of these guys when I baked them. They were absolutely delicious though! You have the earl grey shells with lemon curd buttercream on the inside. There's a small dollop of lemon curd in the center to give an explosion of flavor. There's quite a few steps to these guys, but the results are so worth it.

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Recipe

Makes: 30 macaron sandwiches Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

Meyer Lemon Curd

• 2 eggs

• ½ c sugar (add more sugar if using regular lemons)

• 2 Meyer lemons, juiced and zested (roughly ¼ c juice)

• pinch salt

• 2 Tbsp salted butter, cubed

Lemon Buttercream

• 1 cup butter, room temperature

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

• 1/2 cup cold lemon curd

Earl Grey Macarons

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature

• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 cup almond flour

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 bags Earl Grey tea

Directions

Meyer Lemon Curd

1. Mix all the ingredients in a small sauce pan. Stir until the curd starts to thicken. You must stir frequently, especially near the end, to prevent the eggs from cooking in chunks.

2. Strain curd through a fine mesh sieve and chill in the refrigerator.

Lemon Buttercream

1. In a mixer, blend butter until fluffy. Add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Add 2 Tablespoons of heavy whipping cream and 1/2 cup of lemon curd, mix well.

Earl Grey Macarons:

1. Whip the egg whites on high until foamy. Once foamy, add in the granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.

2. Sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar and ground tea leaves. Gently fold into the egg whites until the the batter becomes like molten lava. You want your batter to pass the "figure 8" test. This means you should be able to make a figure 8 on the top of the batter before it sinks back into itself. It's too thick if the batter can't make a complete figure 8 and too thin if it sinks back into itself like pancake batter.

3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Place the batter in the piping bag with the round piping tip. Pipe into 1½-inch circles, spacing them ¼ - ½-inch apart. Tap the pan a few times on a flat surface to release the air bubbles. Allow the macarons to dry and form a skin on top. This can takes 30-90 minutes depending on the level of humidity.

4. bake in a 350ºF oven for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown and the macaron shells have hardened.

5. Let cool completely and then remove them from the parchment paper and/or Silpat.

Recipe adapted from Num's the Word's Lemon Buttercream Frosting, Curious Cuisiniere's Easy Homemade Meyer Lemon Curd and Kneed Bake Cook's Earl Grey Macarons with Chocolate Ganache.