Macaroons are one of my favourite things to bake. They look amazing and really aren’t as scary as they appear to be to create. My fail safe secret is my Macaroon Mat from Lakeland which ensures they are all the same size and cook at the same time. You can choose different fillings, I like to use a buttercream base and add my own flavourings (picture is Lemon Curd flavour).
Ingredients
- 125g icing sugar
- 125g ground almonds
- 90g egg whites
- 2 tbsp water
- 110g caster sugar
- food colouring (optional)
Preheat the oven to 170/C/325F/Gas 3 and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Put the icing sugar, ground almonds and 40g egg whites together in a large bowl and mix to 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 starts to go syrupy and thickens.
Whisk the remaining 50g/2oz whites in a small bowl until medium-stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl, then 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 becomes stiff and shiny again.
Spoon into the piping bag. Pipe a little mixture under each corner of the baking paper to stop it sliding around. With the bag held vertically, pipe 4cmin flat circles onto the lined tray, about 2cm apart, twisting the bag after each one (or if you have the Lakeland mat, just pipe into the sections). The mixture should be quite loose to give a smooth finish. The piping will leave a small ‘tip’ on each circle so, when they’re all piped, give the tray 2–3 slams on a flat surface to flatten them.
Leave to stand for 30 minutes to an hour to form a skin (this stage is super important to get the crisp shell). Then bake in the oven for 12–15 minutes with the door slightly ajar until firm. Remove from the oven, lift the paper off the baking tray and leave the macaroons to cool on the paper.
Once completely cool, use your filling to sandwich together and serve! They can be kept in an air tight container for a few days.
Mrs B Bakes. 