I bought this lovely book a couple of months ago with the intention of baking LOADS - hmmm, great intentions but so far only only recipe attempted and it was this one for Macaron's.
Now, I have wanted to make these for the longest time but always been put off by the skill set needed as they look really tricky. They are tricky - but I was astonished at the result and this is how it went..
Makes 40 Macarons
Ingredients:
195gms Ground Almonds
195gms Icing Sugar
75gms Egg White
Italian Meringue:
190gms Caster Sugar
50mls Water
75gms Egg White
Pinch Cream of Tartar
Sieve the icing sugar and ground almonds together, beat in the egg white until a smooth paste is formed with no lumps.
Make an Italian meringue cooked to 121 c. ( Thanks to the food network for this )
Beat the Italian meringue into the almond mixture until shiny.
Place into a piping bag and pipe 1cm small rounds onto a non stick mat.
Tap the tray to even the mixture.
Leave to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes to form a crust on the surface.
Bake at 150c for 10 minutes.
Not half bad for a first attempt - but - I have to admit, these started life as strawberry macaron's but I added far too little food colouring and they came out pale beige!! With a quickly added filling of dulce de leche mixed with a little cold butter they morphed into salted caramel macaron's.
They taste delicious!! However, I made rather too many so most of them were quickly transferred to the freezer to run by Sam when he next comes home ( for his valued cheffy opinion ).
Debs
