With Valentines day approaching and a craving for macaroons, my girlie side made its way into these sweet little morsels over the weekend as I experimented a little with some new flavours. I love bright coloured macaroons and with some rosewater and red colouring to hand, these barged their way into the oven. I adore ANYTHING coconut related so I knocked up a coconut buttercream to sandwich these together but I couldn’t resist the green the mint adds against the rosy red. It seems this year I have a date with a macaroon………could be worse
Macaroons (makes about 30)
- 90g egg whites (about 3. These can be old egg whites you have lying around in the fridge, they often work better)
- 30g caster sugar
- 200g icing sugar
- 110g ground almonds
- 2tbsp red food colouring
- 1 large tsp rosewater
Buttercream
- 70g unsalted, softened butter
- 50g coconut cream block
- 90g icing sugar
- 1 heaped tbsp dessicated coconut
- Small handful chopped mint leaves
- Begin with the macaroons. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line a large baking tray with parchment so that your are ready and prepare your piping bag.
- In a food processor, blitz the ground almonds and the icing sugar together until fine. Sieve into a large bowl.
- In another really clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks and then add the caster sugar a bit at a time until you have a glossy meringue. Don’t over-beat.
- At this stage, add the red colouring and rosewater to the egg whites (This is the point where you can add other flavours or colours of your choice)
- Fold in one third of the ground almond and icing sugar mix into the egg whites to loosen.
- Then fold in the rest until thoroughly combined but be careful not to knock out all the air.
- Fill your piping bag with the mixture and pipe small rounds onto the lined baking tray
- Give the tray a few sharp hits on the surface by dropping the tray from a small height to flatten the macaroons. Leave the tray in a safe place for 30 minutes.
- Now bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (mine took about 13…) until they come easily away from the tray.
- Leave to cool. Make the buttercream. Melt the coconut block over a pan of simmering water until runny or immerse the block, in its bag, in some hot water.
- In a processor, mix the butter and icing sugar and then add in the coconut cream. Add the chopped mint and blitz again. Then stir in the dessicated coconut.
- Spoon into another piping bag and pipe enough mixture onto the back of one macaroon and sandwich with another. Continue with the rest.
Anyone you make these for will adore them….they are sweet, delicate and dreamily elegant….not to mention delicious!
