Macarons

Equipment

• Piping bag
• Temperature probe

For the shells

• Icing sugar 145g
• Ground almonds 150g
• Water 25ml
• Caster sugar 145g
• Egg whites from approx. 3 large eggs, separated into 2 x 55g batches
• Heat-resistant gel food colouring optional

For the ganache filling

• Double cream 150g
• Dark chocolate 100g, chopped into small chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 140°c / gas 1. Line a baking tray with parchment.
2. For the shells: pulse the sugar and almonds together in a blender, then sieve – discard anything that remains in the sieve. Put to one side.
3. Put the water and caster sugar into a small saucepan and heat to 118-121°c. While this is heating, whisk one batch of egg whites on high speed until you see soft peaks.
4. Once the syrup is up to temperature, turn the mixer to slow and add the hot syrup (take care to pour down the inside of the bowl). Whisk at medium speed until the outside of the bowl is not hot to touch and you have a thick, glossy Italian meringue. Add food colouring at this stage if you want to add colour to the shells.
5. Fold together the almond and icing sugar mix, the remaining batch of egg white and the Italian meringue until you have a smooth, pipeable batter.
6. Put the mix into a piping bag (use a plain round nozzle or no nozzle at all) and pipe neat rounds of macaron shells – not too close together – on the lined tray. Once piped, tap the bottom of the tray to remove air bubbles and relax the batter (this should stop it cracking).
7. Bake for 18 minutes, then leave to cool completely before removing from the parchment.
8. For the ganache filling: heat the cream to boiling point, then pour over the chocolate. Mix until the chocolate is fully melted and emulsified. Leave to cool, then sandwich between the macaron shells.