The only thing better than dreaming up new all-natural macaron flavors is baking them for a cause. So when Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a national childhood cancer foundation, partnered with us for a recent fundraising event, we got to work.

We took our inspiration from Alex, who at four years old, set up her first front-yard lemonade post to raise money for pediatric cancer research. In her honor, our chefs put extra love into this special recipe to make a light, sweet and delicate cookie using only 100% natural ingredients. That means, no artificial food dyes or preservatives (and, and did we mention, all of our treats are low fat and gluten free?) 

Instead, we relied on activated charcoal to give these macs their unusual dark gray color. It’s an intriguing ingredient that’s taking the wellness world by storm with detoxifying qualities that improve digestion, absorb toxins and cleanse the body of impurities. Combined with the tangy citrus pop of lemon that has alkaline properties, we think this may be our healthiest creation yet!

While we developed the tasty Charcoal Lemonade macarons especially for ALSF, we are bringing them to our stores as September’s seasonal flavor. It’s just another way we are spreading the word about Alex’s legacy, the very special little girl whose Foundation has raised over $150 million since 2005!