It is well known that I can not make the fancy French macaroons, when I auditioned for the Great British Bake Off a few years ago they were one of the things that I wanted to take along to the audition, but try as I might, and boy did I try, recipe after recipe, I just can not master the little blighters ! So it is just as well that I love these traditional almond macaroons as they are a doddle to make 🙂
These almond macaroons use to be one of the things that I loved to treat myself to from the bakery, but like most things, I realised that they are just so much nicer if you make them yourself, they are crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle and go perfectly with a nice strong espresso or cup of tea, make them small to serve at a dinner party with the coffee at the end of a meal, serve them with desserts and ice cream or they would be lovely as part of an afternoon tea. Next time I think I will make 8 large ones rather than 16 smaller ones, just love the idea of sharing them with Luca with a nice cup of tea one afternoon. by the way, he has tested them for me and gives a massive seal of approval, LOL !
I made these to share with my lovely friend Lynette who is coming over tomorrow and maybe will have to sneak a couple to enjoy whilst watching the new series of the Great British Bake Off that starts tonight, every year I get nagged to enter, but just feel that with all the nastiness in the press and social media it is just not for me anymore and as you know I have a new business that is eating up all of my time at the moment, below is one of the pieces that I have just finished working on…
I have been so busy sourcing stuff, making cushions, bunting and embroidering my little fingers to the bone, but with such positive feed back from the lovely girls on Instagram I really hope to make a success of this and it is always great to be doing something that you love so much.
Now all I have to do is get the frames ready for everything that I have embroidered so far, get Hubby to build my website, set up an eBay and Etsy shop and hopefully I will be on my way, but hopefully I will still find the time to bake and post recipes on the blog, after all this was my first love and passion.
Buon appetito
Make 16 (or if you prefer 8 Large macaroons)
Rice paper
175 g caster sugar
100 g ground almonds
1 tsp plain flour
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 egg whites
16 pieces blanched flaked almonds
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C/gas 4. Line a baking sheet with rice paper.
In a bowl, combine the caster sugar, ground almonds, flour and vanilla sugar.
Lightly whisk the egg whites and mix thoroughly with the sugar and almond mixture.
Using a teaspoon, spoon small heaps of the mixture onto the rice paper.
Press a piece of flaked almond into each macaroon. Luca and I are going for glace cherries next time 😉
Bake for 20 minutes, then leave to cool, before tearing away the excess rice paper. I have to admit to using a pair of scissor to neatly cut round my macaroons, but hey, thats just me !
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