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Photo: ree range jace / Flickr

Macaroons are a classic treat made up entirely of finely ground almonds and a meringue mixture of egg whites and sugar. Slightly crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, they are fragile ‘cookies’, coming in an assortment of colours and flavours ‑ from vanilla to chocolate, lemon, rose and pistachio. Macaroons aren’t difficult to make, and if you’re not confident about your piping skills, you’ll have an opportunity to practice with this recipe that makes 56 tender macaroons.

Ingredients for vanilla macaroons

Measure out the following ingredients: 200 grams of ground almonds, 200 grams of icing sugar, 200 grams of caster sugar, a drop or two of vanilla extract and 180 grams of egg whites from about 6 large eggs. Be sure to measure the egg whites accurately while checking that your utensils are meticulously clean and that there is no egg yolk in the whites as this will help ensure a good meringue mix.

Prepare the macaroon mixture

To finely grind the almonds, place them in a bowl and gradually add a little of the sugar while you pound them with a pestle. Then sift the ground almonds with the icing sugar through a metal sieve, using the back of a spoon to scrape the ingredients through the mesh.

Place the egg whites in a bowl and whisk them until they become stiff– you can do this with a hand whisk or an electric whisk (using full speed). Gradually add the sugar while you continue to beat the egg whites (it is easier to use an electric whisk at this stage) until the meringue mixture forms stiff and shiny smooth-looking peaks.

Fold the powdery almond mixture into the meringue mix with a large metal spoon and add your vanilla extract (or whatever flavour you prefer).

Pipe the macaroons

Prepare a piping bag with a 1.5 cm plain tube and fill it with the macaroon mixture. Place a non-stick baking sheet on your baking tray or oil some grease proof paper instead. Pipe 3 cm discs in neat rows and allow them to rest – for about five minutes in dry weather or ten minutes in moist weather.

While the macaroons are drying out a little, pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius. When they are ready for baking, set your timer for 12 minutes, but give them an extra couple of minutes if necessary.

Cool your macaroons on a wire rack while you prepare the filling – then sandwich two macaroons together with white chocolate ganache, or try adding rasberries.

Chocolate, lemon and rose macaroons

To make chocolate macaroons, add 30 grams of sifted cocoa powder to the mixture and use dark chocolate ganache for the filling. Lemon macaroons require lemon curd for the filling – and four drops each of lemon essence and yellow food colouring for the macaroon mixture.

Add four drops each of rose essence and pink colouring to make rose macaroons – then sandwich with rose petal preserve.

Tags: baking