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Key Lime Macarons Recipe – tangy and sweet French macarons, that melt in your mouth, filled with lime curd and loaded with fresh flavor.
This Key Lime Macarons Recipe is one of my newest creations. In fact I used key limes here. Limes and key limes are interchangeable, the flavor is the same to me. Key limes are smaller, cuter and have seeds inside.
I’ve been experimenting a lot with French macaron recipes lately.
These delicate, chewy and sweet little cookies are so addicting and fun to make. And the times, when recipes fail – it happens once in a while, I don’t even get upset anymore, I just make them again.
I made these lime macarons using my original French macarons recipe a couple of months back, I changed my basic macaron recipe a little bit recently and I’ll share it with you soon.
In the mean time, feel free to check out some of my older French macaron recipes: Chocolate French Macarons, Turquoise French Macarons or Tiramisu Macarons.
So how do you make macarons, that look good, taste great and have no hollows? Tough question. Sometimes, all you need is luck, skill and motivation is not enough.
- As I’ve shared in previous macaron recipes here on the blog, every little detail is important.
- I suggest that you use a kitchen scale and carefully measure the ingredients. This is very important. Excessive moisture from the egg whites can ruin macarons.
- Each recipe (method) calls for a specific amount of almond flour, powdered sugar, granulated sugar and egg whites. All ingredients in this lime macarons recipe are in grams. I used to give measurements in cups, but I’m not going to do it anymore. The reason why? It is very easy to overmeasure, when using cups.
- Read the recipe you are planning to use. Get all your ingredients ready. They need to be at room temperature.
- I recommend that you follow the recipe that you decide to use, but also “feel the batter”… I know it sounds weird, but if the batter is not the right consistency, macarons will most likely have issues.
- The least problematic issue, that you can easily fix is – macarons are hollow. Once you fill them and let them mature in an air-tight container in the fridge for 24 hours, the inside of the shells will soften and hollows will most likely (almost always) get filled.
- It you don’t do the macaronage correctly – batter is too thick, too much air or too thin, macarons will have various issues like cracking, no feet, feet that spread.
- You may have heard that the batter needs to be a “lava like consistency”. I’ve also heard that it needs to flow like the ice cream from McDonalds… Really? What does this mean? Thin enough to flow on its own. When you scoop the batter with a spatula, try to write the number 8, and the batter should not break while you do it. If it does, you need to mix a little more.
I’m planning to write a post about all the issues I’ve encountered when baking French macarons, so stay tuned.
Back on these fresh and tangy lime macarons, or to be more specific – key lime macarons.
What filling should you use for key lime macarons? I chose to fill these with the most delicious homemade lime curd. But you can use lime buttercream if you’d like. I prefect the lime curd macaron filling as you may have guessed.
These macarons are inspired by summer, but honestly you can make them year round, since limes (key limes) are available year round.
Filling these key lime macarons with key lime curd makes them perfect!
Key Lime Macarons Recipe
Ingredients
- 60 grams egg whites
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 70 grams almond flour
- 120 grams powdered sugar
- green gel food coloring, use a toothpick to color the batter
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone macaron baking mats.Bring all ingredients wo room temperature.
- Combine powdered sugar and almond flour and pulse in a food processor for 30 seconds. Sift through a sieve in a bowl. You can do this a couple of times. Discard the larger almond meal pieces.
- Place 2 egg whites in a large bowl and beat until foamy. Gradually add the sugar then increase to high speed. Beat for 2-3 min or until stiff peaks form.
- Add powdered sugar/almond mixture and fold with spatula from the bottom of the bowl upward then press the flat side of your spatula through the middle. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated, add gel food coloring.Use a toothpick to add a little to color the batter to the desired color. Repeat the folding until batter gets to “lava like consistency” (floats like lava, like the ice cream from McDonalds, you can write the figure 8 without the dough breaking).
- Fill a pastry bag with the batter. You need Wilton 1A tip, or you can just cut off the tip of the bag.
- Pipe 1-inch round macarons onto the baking sheets. Tap a few times on the counter, to release the air. Let them dry for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, until they are not sticky to the touch.
- While cookies are resting, preheat oven to 325 F. Rack should be in the middle, or slightly lower than the middle, but not higher. I do not use convection oven.
- Bake macarons for 12-13 minutes. If you feel like they are starting to brown, lower the temperature to 300-285 and bake for 1-3 minutes longer.
- Let macarons cool for 10-15 min at room temperature. Remove from the trays and fill with lime curd.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Your macarons are the prettiest, Mira! Better than a bakery! I’m loving this key lime flavor. And that color is just gorgeous, too. Love the tips that you provided. Pinned!
These are just gorgeous and I can tell that they’re just bursting with fresh lime flavor! Beautiful job!
I’ve never made macarons before, but I’ve eaten plenty and love them. I will need to try making these one day and will use all your tips!
just gorgeous, you make the prettiest macarons <3
I’m totally making the amazed emoji face. Wait. No, the one with heart eyes. No, wait, the one with the tongue sticking out. As you can see this recipe has had a big effect on me! 🙂
I have a few questions about this recipe as your macaron shells are green but there is no mention of adding color. Also – is there any flavor added to the macaron shells? Is all the flavor coming from the lime curd? Where is the lime curd and/or lime curd buttercream recipe? 🙂
Hi,
1. I use green gel food color (I can’t give the exact amount, since colors vary, depending on the brand used. Add a little bit on a tooth pick in the middle of “macaronage”, after the dry ingredients have been incorporated, but batter is still thick, to color the batter in the desired shade of green.
2. I do not add any flavor to the shells.I don’t usually have lime extract and oil flavorings add extra moisture, which is not good.
3. The flavor from the lime curd is enough in this case.
4. I have not used lime buttercream in this recipe.
5. Recipe for the lime curd is linked now, you can also search in the blog archives if you can’t see it.
Thank you 🙂
Hi, I’m just wondering if the quantity is 24 filled Macarons or 24 shells, end product 12 filled macarons?
Hi Sara,
I normally get around 24 filled cookies.
You measured grams for the egg whites but in the recipe you used 2 egg whites. Is that the same? Did you set them out for a few days?
I usually age them if I have time, but even if you don’t the recipe should work. The grams are – 60g.
Hi,
I just wanted to know if I could add some lime zest to the macaron shell to give it a flavor?
Thanks,
Mira
P.S: My name is Mira too!
Hi Mira,
I don’t recommend adding any zest to the shell since it will ruin the texture. I usually add all my flavors to the filling to play it safe.