While on a short blog hiatus [my mom was in town and we were mother-daughter bonding], I contemplated renaming this mini series the pre season.   The NFL is on week 2 of this before regular season season and since I’m a down short and a week behind I nixed the idea; maybe next year.  Football season is quickly nearing and I’ll ride out this off season to the bitter end.

Now onto the lemons…

With my mom in town, there was no shortage of baking + cooking going on in my kitchen.  Every dish that I missed and didn’t realize I missed was no longer a comforting memory.  Amidst her home cooking + fresh baked breads, I sprinkled in a dose of macarons; my contribution to the kitchen mess [which she thoroughly cleaned].

When making lemon macarons I usually sandwich the cookies around a lemon cream.  It’s a softer filling consistency than ganache with a sharp lemon taste.  However, this time around, I decided to make a lemon ganache.  Though I am a self proclaimed google recipe hunter, I made up my own for this one; rare!

…lemon ganache…
[enough to fill 35-40 macarons]

170g of white chocolate chips
1/4c + 1/8c whipping cream
1/8c lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
yellow food colour

grind white choco chips in a food processor 
pour whipping cream into a sauce pan | stir in lemon zest
bring mixture to a simmer on low-med heat
remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes
strain cream through a seive and separate lemon zest [be sure to squeeze out all the flavour from the zest]
pour cream back into the sauce pan and return to a simmer on low-med heat
remove from heat | pour over choco chips in the food processor + process
add food colour | add lemon juice to taste + process until all combined
pour into a shallow bowl/container | cool to room temp
cover with plastic wrap directly touching the ganache surface | cool in fridge for 2hrs-overnight

you know its ready when the mixture consistency has thickened [like toothpaste]
scoop into pipping bag and pipe away!

macaron recipe can be found —>here <—

I’m extremely happy with how the ganache turned out.  The consistency is more stable than the lemon cream and the flavour is still lemony, but mellowed out by the chocolate.  Everything is better, after all, when paired with chocolate! YUM!

-enjoy!

blue + white plate: vintage Wedgewood