Mother's Day Gluten Free Lavender & Rose French Macarons

These pretty lavender & rose French macarons have just the right amount of floral flavor!  They are completely gluten-free and when presented in a gift box, make the perfect Mother's Day gift.

Yield 20 macarons

Lavender & Rose French Macarons

These perfectly pretty French macarons are so floral they're like eating a sweet flower. That's probably my most favorite thing about them: they perfume your mouth with a lovely floral flavor from both the lavender-scented shells and the heady rosewater buttercream.

Here in the UK, Mother's Day is this coming Sunday and everyone usually can be found queueing up at the local supermarket with arms full of flowers and chocolates, but this year, I wanted to give you another option: something homemade and delicious and still quite floral. The idea for these macarons came from a rose macaron recipe I came across. I loved the idea of a rose macaron but wasn't sure I could handle that much full-on rosiness. So this was a compromise.

French macarons are naturally gluten-free so if you or your momma suffer a gluten intolerance, then this recipe would be ideal for you. I have to admit, I made these macarons as an early Mother's Day present to myself and I'm not even sure I shared. Warning: these are so tasty your mom might gobble them up without so much as offering you a bite. So, if you're partial to the macaron, I'd advise making extras for yourself.

The macaron mad & Pinterest addicts amongst you might like this board:

Ingredients:

For the macarons
2 medium egg whites
5g lavender flowers, processed
25g caster sugar
70g almond flour
135g icing/confectioner's sugar
a drop or two purple paste coloring
culinary lavender flowers, to taste

For the rosewater buttercream
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 cups incing/confectioner's sugar, sifted
rosewater, to taste, but use sparingly!
a drop or two pink paste coloring

**Notes**

• Once you pipe out your macaron shells, remember to give them a good whack to knock the air out. Drop the baking tray repeatedly onto the counter or work surface until no more air bubbles burst.
• Allow your macarons to rest 20 minutes before pre-heating your oven, so that they form a good skin.
• If you'd rather not make your own buttercream, you could substitute with shop-bought vanilla buttercream and just stir through rosewater and pink coloring
• Alternatively, you could prepare the buttercream in advance and either freeze or refrigerate it until needed.

 Instructions:

Lavender & Rose French Macarons

1. Process 5 grams of the lavender flowers in a food processor until finely ground.
2. Sift the ground almonds and lavender flowers through a fine sieve into a medium-sized bowl, removing any large clumps or bits of almond skin or lavender petals too large to pass through.Sift the icing sugar on top of the ground almonds in the same bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk the egg whites in a large porcelain or glass bowl. When the egg whites have begun to foam and froth (after about 30 seconds of whisking) add the purple paste color and a bit of sugar.
4. Continue to whisk, adding the rest of the sugar gradually. Whisk until the egg whites are very stiff and have a sheen to them. By this stage, the color of your egg whites should be a much paler purple than when you began.
5. Add the dry ingredients directly on top of the egg whites and fold in using a silicone spatula, turning the bowl with each fold. You should have reached the right consistency after about 15 folds; avoid folding more than this or you may overwork the batter. The batter should not run from the spatula in a continuous ribbon, it should instead fall off gradually when the spatula is lifted from the bowl. A bit of graininess is normal and your batter should have a thick texture and an almost paste-like consistency.
6. Once the batter has come together, scoop it into a piping bag. You may need to divide the batter in half and refill the bag if there is too much batter for you to pipe out.
7. Pipe evenly sized circles in five rows of four onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof or parchment paper.
8. Lift the baking tray into the air, about chest height and let clatter onto the counter or work surface. Continue to do this until you no longer see any (or very, very few) air bubbles.
9. Sprinkle the tops of the macarons with lavender flowers and leave to rest 20 minutes. 
10. After 20 minutes, preheat your oven to between 140 and 160C. You'll need to play around with the temperatures until you find the exact setting that bakes your macarons in 15 minutes without over baking the tops while still cooking them through. For me, that is just over 150 in a fan-assisted electrical oven.
11. Prepare the buttercream while the macarons bake.
12. Whisk together the butter with the remaining icing sugar, vanilla and a bit of rosewater. 
13. Add the paste color until your desired color vibrancy is acheived and stir well to combine.
14. Store in the fridge until needed.
15. Remove the macarons from the oven and leave to cool on the parchment paper but not on the baking tray for 10 minutes. When the macarons have been cooked through completely, they should peel back from the paper cleanly.
16. Pair macarons as best you can by size. Pipe or use a palette knife to frost each half of the macaron and then sandwich together. Run your finger or a skewer around the macaron to remove any excess buttercream that may ooze out.
17. Refrigerate the macarons for at least two hours so that the filling and the shell can marry together. This step is annoying because you'll be tempted to eat the macarons straight away, but this makes a huge difference to the macaron's quality and overall taste.
18. Store the macarons in the fridge, ideally, for up to 10 days. Macarons can also be stored at room temperature for up to a week.

Fancy some French desserts? How about these:

Blueberry & Fig Mini Tarte Tatin

Red Velvet Petit Fours

Triple Chocolate Eclairs