I'm always very impressed by and slightly envious of the macarons shown on cookery shows. They are crunchy and gooey and come in a plethora of flavour combinations. However, I am the cruel victim of a nut allergy and have never eaten a macaron since the main ingredient in them is almonds. But this situation has now been rectified! Part of my Christmas present from my husband was a macaron making class at JoJo's Danish Bakery, meaning that I was taught the correct technique for making them as well as suggestions of substitutes for the almonds. The recipe below is my nut-free adaptation of the recipe we were given in the class. It's also best to use an electric whisk, as this will cut down the amount of time you have to spend whisking.
Macarons:
75g desicated coconut
115g icing sugar
2 egg whites (medium/large)
50g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp lemon oil
Little gel food colouring of your choice
Butter cream
Ingredients
40g unsalted butter
80g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Cut up baking paper to fit perfectly inside 2 large flat baking trays - set aside for later. If you want to use a template trace around something with the diameter of about an inch (we used a whisky glass), spacing them about half an inch apart.
2. Weigh out your coconut and icing sugar. Blend the coconut to a fine consistency (a coffee grinder is good for this). Add to the icing sugar and then either blitz together in a food processor for 15 seconds or sieve together into a clean dry bowl. Any coconut left in the sieve needs to be put back into the mixture to keep weight correct.
3. Weigh out granulated sugar.
4. Put your egg whites into a clean, dry, grease free bowl and whisk on lowest speed for around thirty seconds. Increase the speed to medium and whisk until soft peaks form. Continue whisking on medium adding 2 tablespoons of sugar at a time in 10 second intervals until all the sugar is incorporated. Turn the speed up to high and whisk until glossy. Stiff peaks should form and stay when the whisk is lifted out the mixture.
5. Add the colouring to the whisk and flavouring to the mixture, whisking until just coloured. It is very important not to over-whisk at this point as that will ruin the mixture.
6. Gently fold a third of the coconut and icing sugar mixture into the meringue until just combined. Continue to do this with the remaining mixture. When it is fully combined check the consistency by using the spatula to pick some macaron mixture up and see how it falls back into the bowl. It should flow off the spatula to leave a ribbon trail that settles and almost disappears after 30 seconds.
7. Fit your piping bag with a 1/2 inch plain nozzle. Half fill the piping bag and firstly pipe a small amount onto the corners of the baking tray to stick the baking paper to. If using a template pipe put macarons onto baking paper then transfer and stick to baking trays or if doing free hand pipe your macaron shells onto baking paper already stuck to baking tray.
8. Bang your baking tray on your counter top to remove air bubbles and settle the macarons.
9. Leave the macarons out to dry on the counter top until they do not stick to your finger when gently touched. This can take anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours.
10. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius when the macarons have begun to dry slightly. When the macarons have dried, bake them for 5 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 135 degrees, bake for a further 5-7 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and leave to cool on the baking trays then transfer the baking paper to a cool surface or wire cooling rack to cool completely.
12. Once cool gently and carefully peel back the baking paper from the macarons and match up like sized macarons in pairs. If you do have a problem removing them from the baking paper, place the cooling tray over a pan of simmering water and the macarons should peel away easily.
13. At this point, make your butter cream. Beat butter until soft, shiny and very pale (almost white), then add the icing sugar, beating until incorporated, and the vanilla extract. Continue to mix until consistently smooth.
14. Sandwich the macaron shells together by piping a round of butter cream onto one half and gently twist the two halves together.
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