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…

washing line embroidery

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

 

almond macaroons

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 !

almond macaroons