Lavender & Blackberry Macarons with Ginger
Floral lavender pairs beautifully with the fruity notes of blackberry buttercream. To add a bit of jazz to these lavender and blackberry macarons, we’re tucking a piece of crystallized ginger right in the middle of these fancy cookies. You can taste spring with just one bite!
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Lavender & Blackberry Macarons
I have always been a huge fan of floral flavors like lavender and rose. It’s been a hot minute since I made lavender macarons, so I wanted to throw them into this year’s Macaron March line up. To keep with the flavor of springtime and the purple vibe, I chose a blackberry buttercream.
While lavender and blackberry macarons do sound bangin’ on their own, my extra self needed some pizzazz. Sweet and spicy crystallized ginger was just what I needed. You can totes nix that if you want, but I loved the little explosion of flavor that it added.
Macaron Resources
- 5 Steps to Prep for Perfect Macarons
- All About Meringue: Covering the Basics
- Filling Macarons
- Macawrong Brownies (best way to use up extra yolks and messed up shells!)
- Basic Tools You Need to Make Macarons
- Macaron Templates + Macaron Prep Checklist (available to subscribers only)
Swiss Method Lavender Macaron Shells
Incorporating flavors into your macaron shells is not always easy, but using dry ingredients like lavender buds, spices, or matcha powder is an awesome choice. In this recipe, we’re processing lavender buds with the dry ingredients, then sifting out the chunks. It adds a surprising amount of flavor to the shells.
If you prefer the French method, you should check out my Lavender & Honey Macarons. The lavender is incorporated in the exact same way, but you’ll be making a French meringue instead of Swiss.
Top Tips for Macarons
- Pulse your dry ingredients in a food processor and sift out any large chunks.
- Whip your meringue to stiff peaks. It’s best to whip at a medium speed for longer. Keep an eye on it!
- Fold/ macaronage just until the batter flows like lava. It is best to slightly under mix if you are in doubt.
- If you don’t have a macaron template yet, grab a free one from the Resource Library so that you pipe evenly sized shells.
- Use a toothpick to smooth any nipples and remove any air bubbles on your piped macarons.
- Bake one pan at a time and adjust the temperature and baking time if necessary.
Related Reading: Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Elderflower Frosting
Easy Blackberry Buttercream
Years ago I discovered Liz Marek’s easy buttercream and it’s been my absolute favorite choice for frosting. This recipe is like a mock swiss meringue and uses pasteurized egg whites from a carton to create a creamy buttercream.
While I looove this stuff, I’ve found that people who prefer or are just used to American buttercream may not care for easy buttercream. It’s less sweet and more buttery.
Incorporating the blackberry flavor into the buttercream is surprisingly simple. While you could maybe add a blackberry reduction or jam, I just used a few drops of LorAnn Oils blackberry flavoring. For this itty bitty batch, start with 3 drops, taste, and adjust flavorings. I used 5 drops total, but it’s up to you.
Macaronage Mishaps
For the life of me, I can never seem to get my macaronage consistency right on the first go. Luckily, it all works out. So, macaronage is the process of folding the batter until it flows like slow moving lava.
While I still struggle with this step, I do have a few tips. First, gently fold the meringue and dry ingredients until you have a cohesive batter. Once combined, you can begin to deflate a bit of air out. I still suggest treating your batter gently.
Fixing Consistency
Once you think your batter is the right consistency, you can fill your bag and pipe. If you pipe a few macarons and can immediately tell that they are a bit too stiff, simply squeeze all of your batter back into a bowl.
This will loosen up your batter, but you can fold a few more times if your batter is very stiff. Double check your consistency, refill your bag, and continue piping. To be completely transparent, this is what I end up doing 99% of the time. Ain’t no shame in my game.
Related Reading: Milk Chocolate Macarons
Enjoy!
My favorite way to look forward to spring is through food. Whip up a batch of these lavender and blackberry macarons to enjoy floral and fruity notes with subtle sweet, spicy notes. Make sure to pin this recipe for later and follow @bakesandblunders on Pinterest.
Lavender & Blackberry Macarons with Crystallized Ginger
Ingredients
Lavender Macaron Shells
- 133 g powdered sugar
- 133 g almond flour
- 2 tsps dried lavender buds
- 127 g egg whites room temperature (about 4 eggs)
- 127 g sugar
- 3/4 tsp egg white powder optional
- 4 drops violet gel color
Easy Blackberry Buttercream
- 1 oz pasteurized carton egg whites
- 4 oz powdered sugar sifted
- 4 oz unsalted butter softened
- 3- 5 drops blackberry flavor
- 2 drops violet gel color
- 1 drop black gel color
Filling
- 1 oz crystallized ginger chopped
Instructions
Lavender Macaron Shells
- Prepare 2 baking sheets with silicone mats, teflon, or templates and parchment paper. Fit a piping bag with a round piping tip. Set aside. Preheat oven to 285°F.
- Pulse the almond flour, powdered sugar, and lavender buds in a food processor and sift into a bowl. Discard any large chunks. Whisk the dry ingredients and set aside.
- In a clean stand mixer bowl, add egg whites, sugar, and egg white powder (if using). Whisk to combine and place bowl over a double boiler. Heat, whisking regularly, until the sugar dissolves, about 90 seconds. Remove the bowl from the double boiler and carefully dry off the bottom.
- Place the bowl in the stand mixer and whisk on a medium speed (KitchenAid 4) until you almost have stiff peaks, 7- 10 minutes. Add your gel color. Beat until you have stiff peaks, another 3- 5 minutes.
- Add the dry ingredients to the meringue and begin folding the ingredients together. Once everything is combined, continue folding until the batter flows slowly like lava.
- Pipe macaron shells onto prepared baking sheets. If you'd like, top some of the piped macarons with pieces of lavender buds. Let the macarons dry until you can lightly brush the tops with your finger (15 mins for me). Bake for 20- 22 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. Gently poke a shell, if it is firm, remove the tray from the oven to cool. If they wiggle, add another minute or two.
- Let the macaron shells cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Easy Blackberry Buttercream
- Whip the egg whites and powdered sugar on a high speed for 3- 5 minutes.
- Bump the speed down to medium- high and begin adding the butter one tablespoon at a time, letting each piece incorporate before adding the next. Once all the butter has been added, scrape the bowl down and whip on high for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add 3 drops of the blackberry flavor and whip to combine. Taste and add more flavor one drop at a time until you are satisfied with the taste.
- To color the buttercream, remove roughly a ¼ cup of the buttercream. Add the gel color and mix to combine. For a darker color, you can microwave this portion until just melted, about 5 seconds. Then add the colored buttercream to the rest of the batch and beat to combine.
Assemble
- Pair up the macaron shells. Fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe a generous blob onto one shell. Add a small piece of crystallized ginger and top with the other shell. Continue until all of the shells are filled.
- Place in an air tight container in the fridge overnight to let them mature. Remove 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- I was able to pipe 60 shells, which made 30 macarons. You could have a few more or a few less depending on how large you pipe your shells.
- I like to make the buttercream at least 2 days in advance to give the color time to develop.
My Favorite Products For This Recipe
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
Dirty Matcha Macarons
2 Comments
Eileen
Hey Colleen, I made these a week or so ago; they are outstanding! I made one change – rather than looking for blackberry flavor, I bought a jar of blackberry fruit spread and added 1/3 cup to the filling mix. Lavender and blackberry are a magical pairing. Oh, I omitted the ginger just for the sake of simplicity, aka one less step. My macarons were not perfect, but oh so tasty ;).
Colleen
Hi Eileen! I’m so happy you got to try them 😀 Mixing blackberry spread into the filling sounds sooooo good. Thanks for sharing that little tidbit. Macarons are so hard to get perfect. As long as they taste good, you’ve done a great job!