Pierre Hermé Lemon Macaron

Rinse, dry, and zest the lemons finely using a Microplane grater.

Rub zest and sugar together between your hands.

In a bowl, combine lemon juice, zest-sugar mix, and eggs.

Heat over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk until mixture reaches 83–84°C.

Let cool to 60°C, then whisk in butter until smooth.

Blend with a hand blender for 10 minutes until silky.

Pour into a gratin dish, press clingfilm onto surface, and refrigerate overnight.

Sift icing sugar and ground almonds together.

Stir food colouring into first portion of egg whites and pour over dry ingredients (do not stir yet).

Boil sugar and water to 118°C; when it reaches 115°C, whisk second portion of egg whites to soft peaks.

Pour syrup over whipped egg whites, whisk into meringue, and cool to 50°C.

Fold meringue into almond mixture until smooth.

Pipe 3.5 cm rounds onto baking trays lined with parchment, spacing 2 cm apart.

Rap trays on work surface and let stand for 30 minutes to form a skin.

Preheat oven to 180°C and bake for 12 minutes, opening and closing the door twice during baking.

Let shells cool on work surface after baking.

Mix lemon cream with ground almonds.

Spoon into a piping bag and pipe a mound onto half the macaron shells.

Top with remaining shells to sandwich.

Store macarons in the fridge for 24 hours.

Bring to room temperature 2 hours before serving.