Have you ever had a macaron? They are divine! If you haven’t had a chance to try it, I suggest you do, you won’t be disappointed. Oh and make sure it’s a macaron, not a macaroon that you’re trying, two totally different cookies.
They can be a challenge to make, they are a very finicky cookie, a little too humid outside or maybe the a/c has been running high inside and your cookie making can be doomed. But the challenge of them is what I like about making them, things have to be just right to make the perfect delicious little shells. And the fillings and flavour combinations are endless. Jams, ganaches, buttercreams or even ice cream (I have yet to attempt a macaron ice cream sandwich, but now that I’m thinking about it I’m sure it will be happening soon).
I cut back my lavender bush about a month ago and kept a couple bunches to dry out. Once they were dried I collected the buds and decided to try making a lavender flavoured macaron shell. I decided to pair the lavender with a honey flavoured filling. It was a great decision, the flavours work well together. A little bit floral, sweet and oh so delicious.
I grinded my dried lavender buds and mixed them into my almond flour and powdered sugar before the macaronage stage of the whole process (folding the dry ingredients into the meringue).
It doesn’t take much dried lavender to pack a flavourful punch so I only used a few teaspoons, we don’t want things tasting like soap, now I have a lot of lavender to use and many different baking possibilities to use it in.
Once the cookies were piped and baked I made a honey flavoured Swiss meringue buttercream and then started filling the cookies.
I love taking photos of my macaron creations, so I probably over did it with all these ones, but they were so pretty I couldn’t help myself.
