Pink French Macaroons

So this is not only a recipe post but a lesson in macaroon making. I wish I'd been told all the things I'm going to tell you, before I started.

I had a look at a few recipes but in the end went with one from my Complete Book of Cupcakes, Cheesecakes and Cookies recipe book.

So here is the recipe, and I'll talk you through some tips as you read.

Makes 18 (Although I think it'd make more if you got every one of them right. I made 17 and messed up half.)

You will need:
Macaroon
3 egg whites
2 tblsp caster sugar
Pink food colouring (I actually used red thinking it'd come out a more richer colour...it didn't. I think the colour is something you really have to trial and error.)
200g icing sugar
120 ground almonds
2 tblsp icing sugar extra

White chocolate ganache
100g white chocolate
2 tblsp double cream

Method:
1. Make white chocolate ganache.
Stir chocolate and cream in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Transfer mixture into small bowl. Cover; refrigerate until mixture is spreadable. When I saw the consistency of it, I decided not to put it in the fridge and even then I had to microwave it for 10 secs before spreading it.



2. Put a dab of butter on the corners of 2 oven trays and cover with baking paper (this is so it doesn't move when you're piping).

3. Beat egg whites in a bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar and food colouring (be generous with the colouring) and beat until sugar dissolves. Fold in sifted icing sugar and ground almonds in two batches.





4. Spoon mixture into a large piping bag fitted with 1.5cm round nozzle. (I didn't have a piping bag but made one by curling some grease-proof paper into a cone shape and snipping the bottom to a 1.5cm width.) Pipe 36 x 4cm rounds, 2cm apart onto the trays. (I experimented with size but recommend making them slightly smaller and slightly further apart than the recipe dictates. I found that I had much more success removing the smaller ones from the trays than larger ones. Also, bare in mind that they expand more than you expect.) Dust with sifted extra icing sugar and leave to stand for 15 mins. (I dusted them with extra icing sugar but am not sure what purpose this was for because I didn't see how it made a difference so will probably skip it next time.)



5. Preheat oven to 150 degrees/130 degrees for a fan-forced oven.

6. Bake macaroons about 20 mins. Stand 5 mins; transfer to wire rack to cool. (This is the tricky bit, getting them off the paper. As I said, the smaller ones were 100 times easier to get off and I probably only managed to get about 8 of the larger ones off. Next time I think I will grease the baking paper as well. But all was not lost*.)

7. Sandwich macaroons with ganache. Dust with little sifted icing sugar for presentation if you wish.





I think they'd make a really lovely gift wrapped in some ribbon and put in a pretty box.

*With the left overs I made an Eton mess with the crushed macaroons, white chocolate ganache and double cream.





Maria