Macaroons
Serves 8-10
These typical Parisienne sweet treats can be made in miniatures to serve with coffee, or served as a dessert in their own right. If so, make them a little bigger and sandwich with fresh fruit.
Macaroons
120g ground almonds
225g icing sugar
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons castor sugar
Crème Pâtissière
250ml milk
4 egg yolks
125g castor sugar
30g plain flour (cake flour), sifted
sifted icing sugar, for dusting
Macaroons
Pass the ground almonds and icing sugar though a fine sieve (add a tablespoon of cocoa powder if making chocolate macaroons). Whisk the egg whites until frothy, then add the castor sugar and continue whisking until stiff. Lightly fold in the almond mixture; the end result should be smooth and quite soft.
Line a baking tray with non-stick greaseproof paper. Using a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle, pipe little blobs of macaroon mixture 1½ cm wide onto the tray (you can also do this with a spoon but it takes a lot longer).
Bake at 180ºC for 15 minutes. The macaroons should have a smooth shiny top, set on the underside but still very moist and underdone. Leave to cool on the tray.
Crème Patissière
Bring the milk to the boil in a small saucepan. Whisk together the egg yolks, castor sugar and flour until pale. Pour onto this the boiling milk, mixing well. Pour back into the pan and bring to the boil, whisking constantly to avoid catching. Transfer the crème patissière into a clean bowl and dust with icing sugar to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool before using.
To Serve
Sandwich the macaroons together with appropriate fillings, using crème pâtissière as a base flavoured with liqueur of your choice, or good quality preserves, whipped cream or chocolate ganache. To colour the macaroons, use food colouring – but very sparingly.
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