Macaroons

Today Miss I and I made Macaroons (using a recipe adapted from the bbc website). These aren't something I had ever made before but I was keen to have a go. The girls didn't actually like them - but I did and would defiantly have another go!

Ingredients

• 125g icing sugar
• 125g ground almonds
  
• 90g egg whites (which turned out to be about 4 eggs)
• 2 tbsp water
• 110g caster sugar
• colouring paste
• desiccated coconut

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 1700c and line a baking tray.
   
2. Mix the icing sugar, ground almonds and 40g of the egg whites in a large bowl to make a paste.
   
3. Put the water and caster sugar in a small pan and heat gently to melt the sugar, then turn up the heat and boil until the mixture starts to go syrupy.
   
4. 
   Whisk the remaining 50g egg whites in a small bowl until medium-stiff peaks form and then pour in the sugar syrup, whisking until the mixture becomes stiff and shiny.
   
5. 
   
   
   
   Add the almond paste and mix again until it becomes shiny.  Then divide the mixture in to 3 parts and colour on blue, one red and one green. 
   
   
   
   
   Spoon into the piping bag and pipe 4cm circles (yes mine are far too big!) onto the lined tray, about 2cm apart. Then give the tray 2–3 slams on a flat surface to flatten them. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut.
   
6. 
   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.
   
   You can then sandwich them together with whipped cream - although we just ate them as biscuits. Next time I am going to investigate different fillings!
   
   
   Also what I found out: Mine needed more like 20 minutes in the oven. I made my circles far too big!!!! They were really really yummy!!!!