Mad about macaroons
Macaroons are the latest craze these days. While these light, airy sweets have been around in the global scene for many, many years, they are being rediscovered in a big way the world over.
Classic Macaroons
A box of macaroons make a wonderful gift, much better than store bought pastries and the only professional equipment you will need is a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm nozzle.
Ingredients
125g icing sugar
125g ground almond
90g egg whites
2 tbsp water
110g caster sugar
food colouring
150ml whipped cream
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C.
Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Mix the icing sugar, ground almonds and 40g egg whites together in a large bowl and make a paste.
Put the water and caster sugar in a small pan and heat gently to melt the sugar, then turn up the heat and boil until the mixture becomes syrupy and thickens.
Whisk the remaining egg white in a small bowl until soft peaks appear, pour in the sugar syrup, whisking until the mixture becomes stiff and shiny. For coloured macaroons, add a few drops of food colouring. Tip this meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture and stir gently until the mixture becomes stiff and shiny again.
Spoon into the piping bag. With the bag held vertically, pipe 4cm flat circles onto the lined tray, about 2 cm twisting the bag after each one. The mixture should be quite loose to give a smooth finish.
Leave to stand for 30 minutes to form a skin then bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes with the door slightly ajar until firm. Remove from the oven, lift the baking paper with the macaroons off the baking tray and leave the macaroons to cool on the paper.
When cool, sandwich the macaroons together with whipped cream.
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