Recipe: Lemon Honey Macaroons

I gave a bottle of the August Harvest honey to my friend, Psy, and here is the recipe she came up with. These were soooo delicious!

Lemon Honey Macaroons

Photo Credit: Kendal Sager
Recipe Credit: Psy Delacy

Makes 30-50 cookies depending on shell size

Lemon Shells

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites, separated when cold, then aged, covered, for 24 hours.
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup superfine granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or for an even more lemony shell, 1/2 tsp
• vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp lemon extract)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup almond meal
• Yellow gel food coloring, if desired
• Lemon zest, lemon sugar or fairy dust (optional)

Directions:

1. For the egg whites: they separate better when cold, so separate them, cover lightly with saran wrap, and leave on the counter for at least 24 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 325F.  Line an aluminum or otherwise light colored baking sheet with silpat.
3. Grind the almond meal in a food processor for about 10-15 seconds to break up any larger chunks. Sift together the almond meal and powdered sugar, and set aside.
4. Whisk or beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-high until soft peaks form.  Slowly add the granulated sugar, and continue to whisk on medium-high until stiff peaks start to form.  Add the extract and food coloring, and then continue to beat until you have a glossy, stuff meringue.
5. Fold in the powdered sugar/almond mixture carefully, as to not deflate the meringue.  Mix until just incorporated, and then mix gently until you notice that if you lift up the spatula and let the batter flow back into the bowl, the "ribbons" that form disappear in about 10-18 seconds.
6. Add the mixture into a pastry bag with a #11 or #12 type round tip. To pipe it onto the silpat, hold the bag over the silpat so that the nozzle is about a centimeter above the silpat, and squeeze so that the batter comes out of the pastry bag nozzle and spreads itself out until it's about the size of a quarter to a half dollar, depending on how big you want your macarons.  Space them about an inch apart on the silpat - they don't bake well if they are crowded.
7. Once an entire sheet is piped, take the entire cookie sheet and whack it on the counter a few times to get any air bubbles out.
8. Lightly dust the piped shells with lemon zest or sugar, if desired.
9. Let the shells rest for about 15-30 minutes, depending on humidity. If you can, pipe the second batch as soon as the first goes into the oven, so that they will be ready when the first batch comes out.  Only cook one batch at a time, otherwise they won't cook well.
10. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, or until just barely golden on the bottom.
11. Let them cool on the sheet for 5-10 minutes before moving them.  To get them off of the silpat, gently peel the silpat out from underneath them.  The bottoms should be flat, and they should peel off easily.
12. If you did not opt for lemon zest or lemon sugar, once the shells cool they can be dusted with fairy dust using a small foodsafe paintbrush.  Edible fairy dust can be found at most kitchen or baking supply stores, and it's completely safe to eat.

Whipped Lemon Honey White Chocolate Ganache:

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of white chocolate chips or baking chocolate (about 12 oz), plus
• extra if needed
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1/8th cup honey (or more, to taste)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Juice the lemon and remove any seed pieces.  Set aside.
2. Combine the white chocolate and honey in a heat safe bowl.
3. Heat the heavy cream over medium heat, stirring often.  Once it's just about to boil, pour it over the chocolate chip honey mixture and whisk until the chocolate is melted.
4. Add the lemon juice and stir until combined.  The mixture should be thick and syrupy - if it seems too thin, you can add more white chocolate to thicken it.  Be sure to taste it as well - if needed, add more honey or lemon juice.
5. Refrigerate for a few hours until completely cool.  It should thicken considerably in this time.
6. Whisk the mixture on high to developed the whipped white chocolate ganache.  Once it is light and fluffy, pipe it onto half of the macaroon shells using a pastry bag.
7. Cover and refrigerate the complete macaroons overnight so that the flavors meld properly, and bring to room temperature prior to serving. If refrigerated they will last up to a week (if they don't all immediately get eaten).