Airy, sugary macarons filled with gooey raspberry curd that has a slight tang of lemon.
It’s been so dreary the past couple of days, and I needed a burst of happiness! Well what screams happiness and spring/summer more than these raspberry lemon curd macarons?! The answer is nothing. They are gooey pink yummy perfection!
Imagine if lemon curd and raspberry preserves had a baby and then that gooey yumminess got smushed between two puffs of sugary air. I pulled out the rubber scraper to clean out the bowl of every speck of this curd … alright, alright … I didn’t pull out the rubber scraper… I pulled out my tongue and licked the bowl like a child. But it was worth it.
If y’all were wondering…I’m still drooling just looking at my computer right now. All I want to do is lick off the goo oozing out the sides. Yum!
Okay. Now that we have established I have a bit of a drool problem when it comes to raspberry curd. Let’s talk macarons!
Macarons are a challenge to get right. I wrote up this really detailed Macaron Tutorial that I hope helps you get them right! I would suggest reading through the entire post and not just skipping to the recipe. It explains some techniques that are important to getting results!
The curd is pretty simple to make. It’s the same recipe as my Lemon Curd but you reduce the lemon a little and add in pureed raspberries. I would suggest having the strainer set up before you cook the curd just in case it starts curdling quickly. If it does curdle, you’ll want to start over because it might taste like scrambled eggs…bleh. 
Not into macarons? Just make the Raspberry Lemon Curd! It’s really good on toast, english muffins, scones, or a spoon!
Too pooped to party after making the macarons? Just fill your macarons with raspberry preserves instead of making another recipe!
Not into the raspberry? Try my Lemon Curd Macarons!
- 200 g (a skimpy 2 cups) powdered sugar
- 100 g (1 cup) almond flour/meal
- 100 g (3 large eggs) egg whites, room temperature*
- pinch of salt
- 50 g (about ¼ cup) granulated sugar
- Red food coloring (optional)
- 6 oz or 1 heaping cup raspberries **
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon loosely packed lemon zest
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter, cut into chunks
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together twice, throwing the leftover almond pebbles out.
- In a separate bowl and with a mixer, beat the room temperature egg whites and salt on medium speed until they are white and frothy.
- Add granulated sugar and beat until you have soft peaks.
- Beat in food coloring and then continue mixing until you have stiff peaks. Do not over beat.
- Fold all of the powdered sugar and almond mixture into the meringue. Fold until the batter is no longer gritty and runs off the spatula like lava would, about 30-50 turns.
- Let the batter sit for 10-25 minutes.
- Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. If you want to use a pattern to help you pipe uniform circles, slip that under the parchment paper that you are piping on.
- Using a pastry bag (or a ziplock) and a ½ inch tip, pipe out the batter into uniform 1.5 inch diameter circles.
- Tap the pan on the counter to get rid of air bubbles and any peaks from piping.
- Let the cookies rest for about 30 - 60 minutes on the counter so that the cookies are tacky to the touch. Larger cookies will need more towards 45 - 60 minutes while 1 inch cookies will need less time. If the cookies have not sat out long enough, they will crack on the top and will not form feet.
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Bake one sheet at a time for about 15-20 minutes, until they are lightly golden brown. They should easily peel off the parchment paper. It is better for the cookies to be slightly overdone rather than underdone. Overdone cookies will soften up over time in the refrigerator whereas underdone cookies end up hollow.
- Let cool on the pan on a wire rack.
- Puree the raspberries in a food processor. You should end up with about ¾ cup of smooth puree. Don't worry about the seeds; they'll get strained out later.
- In a double boiler with 2 inches of simmering water, combine egg yolks, powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pureed raspberries and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for 10-12 minutes or until thickened. The mixture will start getting foamy on top and then the whole mixture will get foamy. It is ok to have little pieces of cooked egg but if you start getting scrambled egg that is bigger than an english pea, you'll need to start over.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.
- Strain the curd. You will have to push it through the strainer and scrap the curd off the underside of the strainer because it is so thick. Zest, raspberry seeds, and small pieces of egg will be left behind in the strainer.
- Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd and refrigerate until chilled. Store curd in the refrigerator.
- Pair similar sized cookies together.
- Pipe or spoon in the curd.
** Frozen should work too! Just make sure you end up with about ¾ cup of puree!
These look really good!
I just made these as my first attempt at making macarons and they turned out perfectly! Thank you so much for the delicious recipe!
That’s awesome Natalie! Thanks for letting me know! I love hearing macaron success stories! I think the biggest challenge with this recipe is not eating all the curd before filling the macarons!
I used your raspberry curd recipe for Macarons I had already made before I found your recipe! The curd was smooth, silky, and a lovely flavor. Not sure if I did something wrong because it came out with a cake batter consistency, too thin for Macarons that I serve dinner guest. I made it again because the first time I had slightly over 3/4cup of raspberry purée and thought that might be the issue. The second batch, because I was in a hurry and needed to use it that day, I added 1/2 tsp of corn starch and it was perfect, once cooled for 4 hours, for my lemon Macarons for my dinner party!
Thank you for your wonderful curd recipe and hope to make your macaron recipe next!
Hi Lesa! Sorry the curd didn’t turn out the first time … that’s so frustrating. But I’m glad you got it to work the second time around. The cornstarch was a good idea! I’d guess on that first batch it was either having a little too much puree or you may have pulled it off the heat too soon and it needed to cook a little longer to thicken up. Let me know how the macarons turn out when you make them!
I wasn’t able to get my curd to thicken either! It might’ve been because I doubled the recipe? I even added 1.5 tsp corn starch. It’s possibly because the curd wasn’t getting hot enough. The curd itself never boiled, is it supposed to? I heated it and cooked it in a double boiler for 15 minutes and after refrigerating for an hour it wasn’t much thicker. I cooked it for another 15 minutes and it was slightly better, but still way too thin.
I’m wondering if adding the lemon juice at the end would be better? Or cooking it in smaller batches?
I want to try again because the flavor is so good!
My guess is that your curd just didn’t get hot enough. It should get very foamy on the top to almost boiling. It may also be a good idea to try a single batch and see if it works that way… it might be that by doubling it, the mixture took longer to reach the temperature you need for it to thicken. I hope this helps and apologies for the very late reply.
Hi. I was wondering if I make lemon curd and freeze it. Is it going to be ok to use later?
Hi Lena! I have honestly never tried to freeze it, but I don’t see why it would be a problem! I’ve heard of it being frozen before without any issues. Just be sure to give it enough time thawing in the refrigerator before you use it!
This is the best macaron recipe I’ve found so far! They turned out perfectly the first time I made them, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Katie! So glad they turned out well! And first time! That’s huge!