Lemon Macarons

We made lemon macarons! But, wait, here's the full story. When we were contacted by a representative of Cuisinart Canada about trying some of their products, we said sure! And this was our special delivery:

What is it? The 12-cup Cuisinart Elite Collection Food Processor. When I told my dad about it, he was so excited. It turns out he was looking for a new food processor. So I told him he could borrow it after I tested it out. But still, it was funny to hear him exclaim "1000-Watt! I want one with a 1000-Watt." I guess the more power the motor has, the better it is!

I unpacked everything and the first step in the instruction booklet was to clean it. Will do! After the initial clean up, I assembled the food processor and took out a bag of almonds. Instead of buying almond flour, we are making our own now.

We poured the almonds in the food processor along with the powdered sugar.

Crossed our fingers and pressed the ON button.

Well, would you look at that! Nicely done!

Sifting it was so much easier than the almond flour we previously used because the almond flour still had larger chunks that needed to be broken down.

The only thing to improve on next time is to remove the almond skin so that we don't have brown specks in our macaron shells. But, at least you know we're using real almonds! Do places sell skinless almonds? That sounds weird.

We might have gone overboard... but we really wanted to take advantage of the food processor while we had it. Fifty macarons aren't that much. We're positive that we'll find eaters.

Our macaron tops are smoother and flatter this time. Improving each time we make them!

We filled the macarons with lemon curd icing this time! Mmm, so zesty and delicious!

Lemon Curd Icing
(Makes enough to fill 50-60 macarons)

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Fresh lemon juice from 1 large lemon (about 1/3 cup)
Grated zest from 1 large lemon
1 stick of cold unsalted butter, cut into slices
2 cups of powdered sugar

1. Set up a double boiler. Add about 1-inch of water to a saucepan or pot and bring the water to a simmer. In a metal bowl that will fit over the saucepan, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until smooth.
2. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest until combined.
3. Place the metal bowl on top of the saucepan and stir with a rubber spatula. The mixture will begin to thicken in about 10 minutes.
4. Turn the heat off and whisk in the sliced butter. Wait for the slice to completely melt before adding the next one.
5. Pour the lemon curd into a glass jar or container and allow it to cool. Refrigerate over night.
6. To make the icing, add in a cup of powdered sugar to thicken. Add in more if you need a thicker consistency. Scoop into a piping bag.

We've grown quite attached to the food processor in this short time. Never realized how convenient it was to have it do all the mixing that our stand mixer can't do. Think pie and tart shells!

We'll be sad to return the food processor, but thank you Cuisinart for letting us borrow it and thank you to Margaret for all the arrangements.

Disclaimer: A publicity representative for Cuisinart Canada contacted us about their reviewing their products. The 12-cup Cuisinart Elite Collection Food Processor was sent to us for review. The product is on loan and will be returned to Cuisinart. No incentives were used to produce a positive review. No monetary exchange took place. All opinions are our own.