the sun has been shining all weekend on the south coast, and a wander along the sea-front was significantly improved by the spotting of a rogue giant bubble!
I have been on a bread baking adventure this week, on Wednesday I made cider vinegar english muffins (yum), and for Sunday morning I prepared my mum's favourite...Brioche!
On my sea-front wander I also found some luscious lemons which were just to perfect not to buy; the majority were used up in an exceedingly delightful (and rather large) lemon layer cake. This did however leave me with a vast amount of egg whites, and what else could I make but some zest lemon macaroons, filled with lemon curd of course!
The first time I attempted lemon curd it was a complete and total disaster, now having successfully made two batches I have decided to blame the recipe and happily recommend the below:
Lemon Curd
Ingredients
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt
Method
1. Whisk the yolks and sugar together in a thick bottomed saucepan until combined
2. Whisk in the lemon juice, butter and salt
3. Cook over a med-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 5-6 minutes until the mixture turns opaque, thickens and coats the back of a teaspoon. Do NOT let it boil.
4. If you have rogue lemon pith in the curd then pour through a fine sieve into a small bow
5. Cartouche (press greaseproof paper to the surface) and allow to cool, then refrigerate until needed
Lemon Macaroons
Ingredients
180g finely ground almonds
240g icing sugar
140g egg whites, aged - separate from the yolks at least the night before and bring to room temp before using
2g salt, ground
80g granulated sugar
finely grated lemon zest
few drops of yellow food dye
Method
1. Sift together the almond flour, icing sugar and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Whip the egg whites until rather fluffy, then continuing to whip, gradually add the sugar & a few drops of food dye, until stiff but not dry peaks form
3. Add the dry ingredients and the lemon zest to the egg whites; fold with a spatula until a shiny mass forms
4. Fill a piping bag with a 1/3" tip and pipe small rounds (about 1 1/2" diameter) onto baking trays lined with baking paper (I pre-cut out the baking paper and pipe out all the batter first, this does cover the entire kitchen with macaroons but it makes the process much easier!)
5. Leave the macaroons to dry for about 30-45 minutes, you want the tops to be dry when you touch them
6. Preheat the oven to 180C; place one tray in the oven at a time and reduce the temperature to 145C, bake for 10 minutes then rotate and bake for another 5
7. Remove from the oven and cool - I remove mine from the baking paper immediately as I find the can stick but experimentation is key!
8. Once cool match up you macaroons and sandwich together with your filling.
I filled mine with my lemon curd that I had mixed into some basic buttercream (butter and icing sugar beaten together until fluffy, then beat in the lemon curd)...
