Macarons

Make a batch of these beautiful macarons, put them in a pretty box tied up with ribbon, and give them to a friend as a dazzling gift.

Macarons. Credit: Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy

• makes

  12-24

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 125 g (4½ oz) icing sugar
• 125 g (4½ oz) almond meal (ground almonds)
• 40 g (1½ oz) egg whites
• 110 g (4oz) caster sugar
• 50 g (2oz) egg whites, extra
• Food colouring (optional)
• Desiccated coconut, for sprinkling (optional)
• 150 ml (5 fl oz) double or whipped cream, whipped

Makes about 24 macaroons (12 if sandwiched together).

Standing time: 30 minutes.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F / Gas Mark 5). Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Put the icing sugar, ground almonds and 40 g (1½ oz) egg whites together in a large bowl and mix to a paste.
3. Put 2 tbsp water and the caster sugar in a small pan and heat gently to melt the sugar then turn up the heat and boil it until the mixture starts to go syrupy and thickens. I don’t use a thermometer but it would read 115°C (239°F).
4. Whisk the remaining egg whites in a small bowl until medium-stiff peaks form, 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.
5. 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 4 cm (1½ in) flat circles onto the lined tray, about 2 cm (¾ in) apart, twisting the bag after each one. 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.
6. At this stage, sprinkle with desiccated coconut if you want. 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 paper off the baking tray and leave the macaroons to cool on the paper.
7. When cool, sandwich the macaroons together with whipped cream. They can be kept for a couple of days, if they hang around that long.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.