Michelle Darmody's Macaroon
Once you master these Macaroons, they are sublime and a great addition to anyone’s baking repertoire, particularly if you have friends or family who are on a gluten-free diet.
SERVES
24
PEOPLE
PREP TIME
40
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
14
MINUTES
Ingredients
100g egg whites
125g ground almonds
120g icing sugar
5g cocoa powder
1g cream of tartar
80g caster sugar
for the filling
120mls cream
120g chocolate, broken into small even sized pieces
1 tsp vanilla
Method
Place the egg whites into a clean bowl.
Cover the bowl with paper towel and place it in the fridge overnight or for at least 10 hours.
Before you are ready to make the macarons remove the bowl from the fridge and allow the egg whites to come to room temperature.
Line two large flat baking trays with parchment.
Draw lines of circles on the tracing paper by circling a cookie cutter with a light pencil. About 48 small circles.
Turn the paper over. You will still see the circles and the pencil will not get onto the batter.
Sieve the ground almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar together and set aside.
Whisk the cream of tartar into the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Add a third of the caster sugar.
Whisk in for a few seconds then add the rest of the caster sugar in a steady stream while the mixer is still whisking.
Whisk until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg mixture into the ground almond mixture.
Scoop the batter into a piping bag with a large round nozzle.
Pipe the batter onto the circles on the baking tray.
Rest the tray in a cool place for a half an hour.
Preheat your oven to 160ºC/gas mark 3.
Bake for 14 minutes.
Slide the sheets of parchment onto a work surface and allow to cool for five minutes before peeling off the parchment.
To make the filling, heat the cream until shivering which is just before it boils.
Stir in the chocolate pieces and the vanilla.
Allow to cool to room temperature.
With a pallet knife coat the base of half of the macrons with the filling.
Sandwich the rest of the macrons onto the filling.
