Strawberries, so bright and cheerful with their deep red color, remind me of lazy summer days. They are delicious with sweet, juicy goodness in each bite and are a favorite flavor any time of the year. Strawberry is a favorite macaron flavor but with the sugar in the shell and buttercream, it can be too sweet. A friend recommended adding lemon zest to the strawberry buttercream filling to awaken your taste buds with the sour taste and to balance the sweetness of the macaron. The result was the perfect strawberry macaron flavor.
Strawberry Lemon Macarons
Strawberries sweetness
Meyer lemon spicy, herbal
The perfect flavor
Strawberry-lemon buttercream was made using the Italian buttercream recipe in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. Once the buttercream was whipped up, I added strawberry preserves and Meyer lemon zest. I use Meyer lemons, when available, for the herbal, spicy taste of the rind compared to the harsh taste of a regular lemon rind.
The strawberry macaron shells were made using the basic macaron recipe in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook and described in a previous blog post Macarons for a Wedding. I added a vanilla bean for flavoring. L'Epicerie lipstick red powdered food coloring was used to give the macaron shell the bold red strawberry color.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my latest macaron flavor creation. Please stay tuned for my next macaron journey.