Pink Lemonade Macarons

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day! No one let that commercial holiday go to their head I hope? If you didn't get a gift from that special someone, don't sweat it. There isn't only one day a year you can show affection, you know! So, if you didn't get something this year, (or even if you did) you can still make yourself some lovely macarons. 
I can't take all the credit for this recipe. The Pink Lemonade flavour was my sister's idea. They are tart but slightly sweet and packed with lemon flavour. They are so cute too! Would you just look at the colour? They just cheer "love"!

Pink Lemonade Macarons

Shells

100g                         ground almonds
200g                         icing sugar
100g                         egg whites
4 tbsp                        castor sugar
2-3 drops                  red food coloring

Sift the ground almonds into a medium sized bowl. Dispose of any large lumps. Measure them out again, add more if needed, sift again with the icing sugar. Set aside. In a large bowl whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar 1 table spoon at a time and whip until it holds stiff peaks. Dump 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the egg whites. Fold from top to bottom scraping down the sides. Add the second 1/3 and repeat. Add the last 1/3 and fold until it forms ribbons. When dropped from a spoon it should take 15 seconds to flatten out. Don't over mix!
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe onto a trays lined with parchment paper. Don't pipe too big, 1" is enough. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Let your cookies sit at room temperature until they form a dry "skin", this will help for feet. When you tap them it shouldn't be sticky. Bake for 8-10 minutes. You can test by touching the sides, if they wobble they are not done. Let the shells cool before removing from the sheet.

Lemon Buttercream

1/2 cup                      butter
2 cups                        icing sugar
1 tbsp                        lemon zest
3 tbsp                        lemon juice
1 tsp                          milk

In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the icing sugar one cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between each addition. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, and combine. If the icing is still too thick, add the teaspoon of milk. Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe onto the backs of half the macarons. Sandwich two macaron sides together. Repeat with the remaining amount.
Store finished macarons in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!

I have been making quite a lot of macaron recipes lately. Almost every other recipe I post now is a macaron. Hope you guys aren't getting too tired of them! They are just so fun to make. Now that I've had more practice with them they are more enjoyable and less of a hassle.
If you wanna try your hand at some other flavours, scroll to the 'macaron' section here.

Elanne Boake <3