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Lemon mascarpone macarons
It’s been a while since I made my first macarons and since this evening we are going to visit my parents in law I figured it would be a perfect day to make a new batch of these delicate cookies. I think officially I am not supposed to call them cookies, but for lack of a better word…
The first time I had successful macarons (I am not counting the first failed attempt) I had made a filling of chocolate ganache and while that was truly delicious I did think it was a bit heavy. After two macarons we were feeling very full, so this time I wanted to attempt something a little bit lighter in taste and texture. I still had a jar of mascarpone in the fridge and had bought fresh limes and lemons at the market this morning. And since I love lemon I figured that would be a perfect filling for the macarons. I had incorporated a little bit of lemon zest into the meringue while making the macarons and added a tiny bit of yellow powdered coloring. Ofcourse a tiny bit of that very potent powder means that my macarons are bright yellow instead of the more subtle color I had in mind, but ok… I really have to get a better feel of how much is needed when it comes to coloring the macarons! I go from bright pink to bright yellow! 
Nevermind; the meringue did have a slight hint of lemon taste which is what I wanted to achieve.
Getting the mascarpone to the correct taste I had to add quite a bit of lemon and lime zest plus some juice of both. O and I added a bit of lemon curd as well that I still had leftover from the Daring Bakers august challenge.
As for the macarons themselves… hmm, not so successful! While baking them I could tell that the top of the macarons became a bit wrinkled almost. Not smooth as they were before putting them in the oven. I had rested them for an hour prior to putting them in the oven. Could that have been too long? They also didn’t rise as good as the previous time and getting them off the parchment paper was a nightmare, to say the least. The ones you see here are the only ones that came out in one piece – more or less. As I have mentioned before; my oven is really not the best and doesn’t warm evenly. The macarons at the end of the oven where ok, they came of the paper the easiest. But I couldn’t keep them in any longer as the shells began to brown a tiny bit. But the ones on the other end of the oven where no where near done.
Other then buying a new oven (which is in the planning, but you know how those things go) I am not sure how to solve the oven issue.
As far as taste goes, they were totally delicious but they are hardly something I can bring to my parents in law this evening. It’s mainly all broken bits and pieces. I am sure they will still eat it, but well, I am sure you can understand why I don’t want to bring them!!
A bit disappointed… but no one ever said that making macarons would be easy right? I do think I overbeat the meringue possibly. Initially it was too thick as the meringue didn’t flow in a thick ribbon from the spoon, but rather in chunks. So I gave it a few more folds, but that was maybe a few too many? On to attempt number four then…
The recipe for french macarons can be found in various forms on the blog of Helen aka Tartelette aka the Macaron master…
For the mascarpone filling I really just added it to taste but it was more or less the below quantities:
250 gr mascarpone
zest of 1 lime and zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lime and halve a lemon
few tbsp of lemon curd
oh these look just lovely! so delicate and elegant. a lovely flavor too!
Lovely! They are beautiful and YUM lemon! Great filling I must try. And a bunch of us are starting a monly Mac event to help each other perfect our macs and try new things and we’d love for you to join us!
O that sounds like Jamie, but I’m not sure I have time to do another monthly event thing… But let’s see!
I like that you’ve gone down the lemon route with these…what a shame they all didn’t work out. I’ve had four goes at them now and they never work, for one reason or another! AAaaah! (and I’ve followed Helen’s advice as well!) I might give the Italian version a go. We’ll see! But I do love your yellow macarons Simone!
I thought the Italian version was even more difficult to do then the French version… I don’t know I think I’ll stick with the French one. There has to be some point in time when I actually manage to make perfect macarons!
What a lovely treat for your parent in laws! I love the fresh combination with the mascarpone!
This is perfect. I also like this picture
Love the colour! The macarons look delicious and lusciously light =D.
I think your parents-in-law would have loved them! I know I would have, even if they were just a bunch of broken pieces.
I’ve had the same problems with macaroons. Sigh. I have trouble getting up for yet another try when I can go down the street and buy them. How sad is that?
Thanks for these gorgeous photos–the flowers are perfect with these!
You are lucky you can buy them down the street Kate! I would have to go to Paris to get them!! Which is – well only 500 km or so….
I haven’t been brave enough to attempt macarons yet, so kudos to you! These look absolutely lovely, even if they didn’t get to your in-laws. I love the combination of lemon and mascarpone. I made a delicious parfait using those ingredients back around Easter. They make a great combination.
All I can do right now is just stare at the beautiful pictures!! & a beautiful combination of lemon & mascarpone.
Beautiful pictures… your macarons look perfect!
Even though they didn’t turn ou tthe way you wanted them to, they look absolutely beautiful! I am always looking forward to your photos and posts!
But they tasted good and those four are just beautiful
Nice Photos! the macarons are cute
You’re getting really good at the macarons! I love the color and flavors in these.
I am not an expert on macarons, far from that, but I do think these look as real beautiful treats!! Don’t be so hard on your self!! 8)!!!!
We, the readers, can’t tell the difference in your lovely appetizing pictures!!
I love those yummie combined flavours!!!
visually very appeasing and nice colors combination.
They look gorgeous!!! I’ve never made them but am seeing them pop up everywhere. I have to give them a try.
Tasty! I made a lemon mascarpone cream layer cake not to long ago that reminds me of these bit size beauties.
Those pictures are beautiful. I found ur web thru’ foodgawker.com. I’ve always wanted to try macarons but…I don’t see any of it here in America yet. I wanted to try to taste ‘em before making ‘em. It looks delicious! I am going backpacking in Europe in a couple of years and that’d give me an opportunity to taste different macarons!
Just came across your blog. Beautiful photos and those lemon-mascarpone macaroons look lovely. I must try this!
Simone, these are almost too pretty to eat..almost!
[...] do prefer the method that I am sort of familiar with now that is described here as for me that seems to get better results. Not perfect results (yet) but at least I had a few [...]