French Lemon Macarons

About

You don’t have to be a French pastry chef to make French macarons! A couple parts of a traditional macaron recipe have been edited for keto-friendly consumption, but you would never know otherwise! Each macaron has two chewy cookies sandwiching a whipped lemon and vanilla filling. One bite just might make you say, “Oui! Oui!”

Ingredients

2 large raw egg, white
⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ cup stevia in the raw, bakers bag
1 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon lemon peel or zest raw
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon lemon extract
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon stevia in the raw, bakers bag
1 ounce cream cheese
⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon lemon extract

Instructions

Start by whipping the egg whites in a stand mixer with the cream of tartar. About halfway through whipping, slowly pour in the first amount of stevia while the mixer whips on a slow speed. Then, continue whipping on high until you have a glossy meringue with stiff peaks. Set the mixing bowl aside for step 3.
In a large mixing bowl, sift the almond flour. You may want to sift twice. Sifting is important for macarons! Then, fold in the lemon zest with a spatula.
In 2-3 additions, fold the meringue into the almond flour. Do this gently by hand with a spatula. Then, fold in the first amounts of vanilla and lemon extracts. At your discretion, you may also fold in yellow food coloring, but this is not necessary.
Preheat an oven to 300 degrees and line a sheet tray with parchment paper. Spoon the macaron batter into a piping bag or ziploc bag with the corner cut off. For clean looking macarons, using a round cupcake piping tip in a piping bag would be your best option. Pipe 14-16 macaron circles onto the sheet tray, each about 1 ½-inches in diameter. To smooth out the tops of the cookies, simply dip your finger in warm water, and use you finger to smooth the edges.
Allow the tray of macarons to sit in the open for about 15 minutes. Then, bake the tray of macarons for 20-25 minutes. The edges of the macarons should be just slightly golden brown, and the tops should have a little softness. Set the tray aside to cool.
During the baking and cooling time, prepare your macaron filling. Whip the heavy cream in a stand mixer until you have a stiff whipped cream. About halfway through the whipping process, pour in the second amount of stevia. Set the finished whipped cream aside in a new bowl.
This time with a paddle attachment, whip together the cream cheese and second amounts of vanilla and lemon extracts until the cream cheese is soft and spreadable. Then, return the whipped cream into the mixing bowl and combine everything together.
Transfer the filling to a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off. Pipe a dollop of filling onto the flat sides of half your macaron cookies. You may be left with some extra filling.
Sandwich your macarons together. You may enjoy immediately, or you can store the macarons in your refrigerator for 1 hour in an airtight container to allow the filling to harden some.