To prepare, using the electric whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the baking powder and caster sugar, beat again until glossy. If you wish to make coloured macaroons, at this stage add food colouring to the beaten egg whites. In a separate bowl mix the ground almonds with the icing sugar. Then mix the two bowls together, folding in the nut/sugar mixture into the beaten egg white. Stir until the mixture is of dropping consistency before putting this mixture into a piping bag.
Using a baking tray lined with baking parchment, pipe small discs (approx. 2cm diameter) of mixture on to the tray, spaced evenly apart. When the tray is full, bang the baking tray on the work surface to flatten the surface of the macaroons then set aside for at least 15 minutes to dry before putting into an oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 160o C. Leave to cool before peeling away from the parchment paper and they are then ready to fill. Use jam, chocolate spread, nutella, lemon curd, buttercream filling - whatever you fancy.
We wanted to make 3 different varieties so we added pink food colouring to one third of the mixture, sandwiching these with strawberry jam. We also tried adding earl grey tea leaves to another third and sandwiched these with lemon curd. For an alternative to almonds, we ground whole pistachios in a blender with icing sugar before adding to the beaten egg white with green food colouring. These we sandwiched with nutella for a scrumptious pistachio macaroon.
Take a look at the attached photograph
