Macaroons
Ingredients
- 180g icing sugar
- 100g ground almonds
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature
- 20ml castor sugar
- 10 drops gel food colouring (we used mauve, brown and natural)
- FILLING
- 3 egg whites
- 210g castor sugar
- 230g butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
For the macaroons, put the icing sugar and almonds in a glass mixing bowl and mix well.
Whisk the egg whites until light and fluffy, and add the castor sugar, 5ml at a time. Gently fold in the almond mixture and food colouring. Do not over-fold.
Pipe or spoon small heaps of the egg mixture onto baking paper, making sure they are spaced far enough apart to avoid sticking together during baking. The batter should not run and spread too much. If it does, add more ground almonds. Bake immediately for 20 minutes.
To make the filling, whisk the egg whites with the sugar over a bainmarie. Remove from the heat and pour into an electric mixer. Whisk until it reaches the consistency of meringue. Whisk the butter into this mixture in stages.
Once the macaroons are ready, lift them immediately off the baking paper with a spatula and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. If your macaroons are not cooked enough, their centre will be too soft and will be difficult to peel from the baking paper.
Once the macaroons are cool, place a little filling on one macaroon and delicately sandwich together with another.
Notes
• Make sure there is no egg yolk in the egg white when you separate the eggs. • Macaroons can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. • Gel colouring is available at Linda’s Bake and Pack, 011-482-2125, Kadies, 011-465-5572 and The Baking Tin, 021-704-1710.
