I've been trying to do macarons for awhile, (okay I've tried like twice?) and I think this actually worked. Funnily enough though, the should-have-been-a-failure ended up better than the ones that were text-booked.
The recipe I followed was as follows here. It's the one in the comments which I reproduce here.
110g icing sugar
60g ground almonds
(sift these together after whizzing down to a fine powder in a food processor)
Then beat up 60g egg whites (usually 2 eggs' worth) with 40g caster sugar and a LITTLE bit of food colouring (a tiny dot of the gel stuff is much better and more intense than the liquid stuff), untill you have a firm, shiny meringue.
Fold this gently, a third at a time, into the almond mixture. DON'T overmix; when it's just incorporated part the mixture with your spoon - it should slowly flow back together like 'molten lava' might. (If you can picture such a thing)
Then pipe circles by holding your piping bag still and squeezing it a bit to form a neat blob. When your baking sheet is filled, hold it firmly and rap it down on the worktop to pop any air bubbles. Leave out to rest for 15 minutes then bake at 170C for 10 minutes roughly. They should have formed those frilly 'feet' and come easily off the baking sheet.
60g ground almonds
(sift these together after whizzing down to a fine powder in a food processor)
Then beat up 60g egg whites (usually 2 eggs' worth) with 40g caster sugar and a LITTLE bit of food colouring (a tiny dot of the gel stuff is much better and more intense than the liquid stuff), untill you have a firm, shiny meringue.
Fold this gently, a third at a time, into the almond mixture. DON'T overmix; when it's just incorporated part the mixture with your spoon - it should slowly flow back together like 'molten lava' might. (If you can picture such a thing)
Then pipe circles by holding your piping bag still and squeezing it a bit to form a neat blob. When your baking sheet is filled, hold it firmly and rap it down on the worktop to pop any air bubbles. Leave out to rest for 15 minutes then bake at 170C for 10 minutes roughly. They should have formed those frilly 'feet' and come easily off the baking sheet.
I didn't have any food dye gel but I had red liquid stuff which I put almost a capsworth in. I put about half a cap of rose water in as well and sandwiched it with apricot jam.
Oddly enough, the egg whites were non-stiff because I used the same bowl I used for the other macarons (with the greasy almond bits in) but as a result, these didn't have the humps and peaks that the other ones had, and had perfectly even feet. Food for thought.
Here are some random bakes from today - cherry and almond muffins.
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