This time I bring you a new macaron called lemon basil macaron, if you do not add basil in this macaron, then that would be a pure lemon flavor macaron.


Lemon basil macarons


For the shells:

Icing sugar 200g
Almond powder 200g
Water 50ml
Caster sugar 200g
Egg whites 75gx2
Egg white powder 0.5 teaspoon<optional>
Pinch of yellow edible pigments

Formerly I would not add egg white powder, but I add it now for the function of egg white powder is to help whip meringue to stiff foam, if you add it would be easier to whip. Especially for the summer eggs that are rich in water content, add egg white powder would be suitable.

1.Mix almond powder and icing sugar together, mash them
3.Add 200g caster sugar to 50ml water in a little pan, heat with medium fire to 237.2F, add 0.5 teaspoon egg white powder to 75g egg whites in a cooking pot and whip to wet foam, and pour the syrup with heat to 244.4F-246.2F into the well-whipped meringue along with the pot wall
4.Keep whipping while pour the syrup, until the meringue is stiff and looks like every sticky and shinning, and when the meringue is turning to cold, use it immediately
5.Then reduce the speed of whipping to low, add pinch of edible pigments into step of 4, let the edible pigments melt utterly into the meringue, mix until you find the color you want
6.Add another 75g egg whites into step of 2, scrape with a spoon until the paste is wet
7.Add meringue of step 5 per 3-4 times into step of 6, mix well the first two times, later scrape with bubbles existing, and twirl the cooking pot with your other hand, scrape for 25-28 times would be okay, until the paste drops down continuously like a ribbon with a moderate pace
8.Preheat the oven to 338F
9.Pour the paste of step 7 into a pastry bag, and squeeze out little round paste. Shake the ovenware gently in order to make the round pastes more evenly and let go of the big bubbles. And use a toothpick to prick the rest bubbles on the surface of the paste
10.Put the oven into the middle level of the oven, bake for 10-12 minutes according to the size of the macarons
11.Take out the ovenware and pull out the baking paper, let cool and take away the macarons

1.Pour the syrup gently along the inner wall of the cooking pot, or the syrup would be reduced by sticking to the cooking pot wall. Continue to whip with a fast pace for 8-10 minutes until the meringue turns to warm around 86F
2.It has relation with your meringue but not the whipping when there is no need to dry the skins of macarons
3.Shake the ovenware can avoid the hollow hearts of macarons, sure it is not the only reason to make the hollow hearts of macarons, but at least it could make the macarons flat after baking
4.Make sure the ovenware be cold or the macarons would be cracked in the time of baking
5.Well-baked macarons must be crisp on the surface and moisture inside, if you break the macarons to half, you can hear the tinkling sound, it means that you bake the macarons too over, better practice yourself more
6.It would be sticky to your teeth when eating, and that’s normal, if you place macarons overnight, the flavor would be better
7.Put the macarons into sealed boxes and into the refrigerator for cold storage. If you want to keep a longer time, first seal up the macarons and then refrigerate for 2 hours, and then put them into the freezer, that way you can keep them for 3-5 weeks

For the lemon basil filling:

Lemon juice 150ml
Lemon chopping peels 1
Caster sugar 135g
Egg wash 120g
Butter 160g
Gelatin 2g
Almond powder 35g
Corn starch 15g
Basil leaves 10 pieces

1.Soak the gelatin in cold water
2.Caster sugar, egg wash and corn starch into a little pot, heat with slow fire until the caster sugar is totally melted
3.Add lemon juice, lemon chopping peels and keep stirring until the bubbles disappear and the mixture turns into sticky
4.Dry the gelatin put in the mixture, stir until the gelatin melts utterly into the lemon cream
5.Rive the basil leaves and into it, keep stirring<the fragrance would be lost if you put in too early>
6.Sift the mixture of step 5 into butter pot, sift almond powder in, and whip the mixture into a cream lemon jam with a stirrer
7.Let cool

For the combination:

1.Press the middle of the shells of macarons a little sunken with your thumb
2.Put the lemon basil filling into a pastry bag, and squeeze out on one shell of macarons with drawing a circle, and cover gently with another shell of macarons