Lavender Honey Macarons
Spring!! The rainy days, the sunny 60-degree weather, and the budding leaves of the season just put a whiff of optimism in the air. Hmm, that came out way too happy, right? Eh, whatever! It’s a thing!! Spring makes me happy. I am enjoying the inspiration to explore new flavor combos in the kitchen like these lavender honey macarons. I am also playing a lot with bright colors (see pastel cupcakes here and pretty baked donuts) which really lights up any day. Colors make me happy!!
Lavender is one of my favorite floral scents to bake with (along with rose water) as it is delicate, feminine and just a beautiful accent to anything it is combined with. The sweet honey buttercream in these macarons is a perfect match with floral lavender in the macaron shells.
Aren’t these just beautiful? I love making macarons (duh!) and the ability to play with flavors and colors makes them extra special. For my monthly contribution post over on the Kitchenthusiast, the KitchenAid recipe blog, I am sharing with you my tips and tricks for making perfect macarons and also how you can use their versatility to color coordinate your dessert tables. Have showers come up? Bridal or baby? These will light up any dessert table!
Also, for this upcoming Mother Day’s celebration, try these lavender honey macarons for the wonderful mothers in your life!
Lavender Honey Macarons
Ingredients
For the macarons:
- 120 grams almond meal/flour
- 200 grams confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried lavender
- 90 grams egg whites (~3 large egg whites), room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 50 grams granulated sugar
For the honey filling:
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lavender essence (optional)
Instructions
For the macarons:
- Line two Sheet Pans with parchment paper. I used a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter to draw circles on the parchment paper and flip over the paper (drawing side down). Prepare a pastry bag with a round tip. I used a Wilton 2A.
- Using a Food Processor, pulse the powdered sugar, almond flour, and lavender into a fine powder. Sift several times until there is less than 1 tablespoon of almond bits left. Add these to the mixture.
- In the bowl of your Stand Mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar. Beat until egg whites are foaming. With the Stand Mixer on medium-high, sprinkle in the sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, about 5-7 minutes.
- Sift the dry ingredients over the meringue and fold with a rubber spatula. Gently fold to deflate the meringue by pressing against the side of the bowl and scooping from the bottom until the batter is smooth and shiny; about 20-25 folds. To check consistency, drop a spoonful of batter and it should have a peak that quickly relaxes back into the batter in about 20 seconds. Start checking the batter after 20 folds.
- Transfer batter into pastry bag and pipe into the pre-traced circles on the baking sheet. Tap baking sheet hard on the counter to release any air bubbles trapped in the batter. Let shells sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes to dry. Once a shell forms on the macarons, you are ready to bake.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until shells are hard, rotating cookie sheets halfway through baking time. Cool completely on cookie sheets before peeling from the parchment.
For the honey filling:
- Whip the butter until light and creamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix on low until combined. Increase speed to medium and whip for additional 2-3 minutes.
- Match equal size macarons up to make a sandwich. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large round or star tip, fill macarons with honey buttercream. Store macarons in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
- To make plain almond macarons, leave out the lavender in the shells, and substitute milk for honey in the filling.
This post is sponsored by KitchenAid. All opinions are 100% mine. Thank you for supporting the brands and companies that make it possible for me to continue to create quality content!
I made these last night with a friend, and they turned out pretty perfectly! It was our first time making macarons, but we had googled a lot of tips. But we still pretty much followed this recipe to a T. Note that we only made the macaron shells themselves (did not make the same filling as in this recipe). When we sifted the ingredients together, we found that some of the lavender was too big to go through, so we just threw it into the dry ingredients anyways (rather than discarding it). We used a non-stick silicone baking mat (Silpat brand) for half of them and the other half we did on parchment paper and a baking tray. We found that the ones on the silpat brand didn’t stick at all, whereas there were a few that were slightly sticking to the parchment paper. We also used a printed out macaron template underneath the parchment paper as help for getting the right size of macarons which made it really easy.
Overall we were extremely happy with how these turned out, both the flavor and the texture. Floral flavors are a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing though, as some people absolutely loved them but others thought it tasted too much like eating a flower or a bar of soap haha.
Thanks for this recipe! Will make again!
Hi Kimberly! That is great to hear. Very happy that you and your friend were able to bake this together. sounds like you did a lot of research which is necessary for macarons especially with getting the best results. Thanks for sharing some of these tips.
Wow, these are some stunning macarons. (wait it isn’t macaroons??) I see no reason why I should bake these when talented people like you are doing just a fine job. Oh wait, you aren’t making these for ME? 🙂 Nicely done, you do amazing things around here!
Hhaha you do need to try them 🙂
Absolutely stunning! I love macarons… my wife and I even took a class on how to make them after we honeymooned in Paris and ate at least 2 pounds of them (each, of course). But for some reason I still haven’t ventured to try making them at home yet! That obviously needs to change!
Oooo! I want to take a class in macaron making to learn some more tips!!
From the looks of these photos, you have definitely mastered the fine art of making macaroons. I really want to whip up a batch myself but haven’t had the courage quite yet (they have quite the temperamental reputation, after all). I will be checking out your tips and tricks guide in the hopes that my countertops will soon be filled with these little lovelies.
They do have a reputation for being temperamental but they are easy once u get the patience part over! I hope you try them soon!