Lime Macarons

Dough:

1. Grind the almonds together with the powdered sugar 1 x in portions so that both get a very fine consistency. Sieve each portion individually through a very fine sieve into a larger bowl. Then add the larger crumbs that are still in the sieve to the powdered sugar-almond mixture, which has not yet been ground and grind with the next portion. Repeat this until everything has been ground and sifted once. Dispose of the crumbs from the last portion, but the weight should not be too large, because the mixing ratio of 200 g powdered sugar and 200 g almonds must be retained. Then sieve everything again in portions, then the mixture should be fine enough.
2. Beat the egg whites until stiff. When it starts to set, gradually pour in the fine sugar in small portions and continue beating vigorously. Do this until the sugar is used up. Then color the egg whites with the color (intensity as desired) and whip everything for another 5 – 8 minutes. The egg white mass must be so firm that it immediately appears a bit “brittle and fragile” (i.e. not as soft as for meringue or marsh mallow fluff). Then it has the right firmness for the macarons and they will also open properly later and do not stay flat.
3. Now – also in several smaller portions – add the egg whites to the almond mixture and fold in with a rubber spatula. The mass must be smooth and slightly tough at the end. Then fill this into a piping bag with a perforated nozzle of 8 – 11 mm diameter and place about 56 (2 € -piece) dots on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. When all are in place, lift the tray 2 – 3 times very slightly and tap the work surface so that the small tips are smoothed out from the splash. Now let it “dry” every 30 minutes at room temperature. This is very important so that the macarons are smooth on the surface and can bake from below. This is how they get their typical edge.
4. During the drying time, preheat the oven to 160 ° O / bottom heat. Then place the tray in the oven on the middle shelf. The baking time is 13, maximum 15 minutes. Then immediately place on a grid including baking paper and let cool down.
5. Since you need about 2 1/2 trays for the amount of dough, and the raw macarons have to dry out anyway, you can place 2 more baking papers the size of a tray on a firm surface and spray the dough there. So you can use the baking time for drying.

Lemon cream:

1. Put the starch, sugar, juice and zest in a container and stir well. Bring the milk to the boil and vigorously stir in the starch. Keep stirring until the mass binds. Then simmer gently for approx. 1 minute while stirring, color a little and then transfer to a soup plate. So that no skin forms, cover the surface of the pudding tightly with cling film and put the plate in the refrigerator to cool.
2. In the meantime, whip up the icing sugar and butter until creamy and when the pudding has cooled to lukewarm, stir it into the butter mixture in portions. Put the cream in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then open again briefly and fill into a piping bag with a perforated nozzle of 5 mm.
3. Place the macarons in pairs and as equally large as possible on a worktop, turning one of the two over. Squirt the cream onto this, put the 2nd on top and press down very lightly. When all are filled, put them again in the refrigerator, including an underlay, so that the cream can set properly.

Chick decoration:

1. Roll out the red and pink fondant very thinly. Cut out small triangles as beaks from the red one and the small “hood” from the pink one. The small eyes roll out of the black.
2. Put the icing sugar in a bowl and stir in water drop by drop. Start with 3 drops. It has to be a tough cast that is used as an adhesive. Then with a toothpick on the places where the beak, eyes and hood come, put mini-small swabs of the casting, put the parts on top and press carefully ………….. finished.
3. I got 56 individual macarons from the amount of dough, i.e. 28 filled, put together. The above-mentioned number of people therefore refers to a portion of 28 pieces. I only decorated half of it, i.e. 14 beaks and bonnets and 28 eyes …………….