Macarons are small biscuit like cakes and they are usually made with ground almonds. The name of the cake comes from the Italian maccarone or maccherone meaning “paste”, referring to the original almond paste ingredient this word itself derives from ammaccare, meaning “to crush”. In this video I will be showing you how to make French almond macarons.

In this recipe I am going to show you how to make some pink almond macarons with some rosewater for flavour. The main picture is of the results of my first attempt and I was impressed by the results.

French Macaron Ingredients

• 75g ground almonds
• 115g icing sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 50g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon rosewater
• pinch of salt
• pink food colouring

Filling

• Pink butter icing
• 1/2 teaspoon rosewater

Method

Place the ground almonds, salt and icing sugar into a bowl.

Line two baking sheets with baking parchment or greaseproof paper. Using a pencil draw rounds (as a guide, when it comes to piping) and turn the grease proof papers over because if you do not turn it over you will have pencil marks on your macarons.

Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until soft peaks appear. Gradually whisk in the caster sugar to make a firm, glossy meringue.

Whisk in the rosewater and enough food colouring to make a pale pink colour.

Using a spatula, fold the almond mixture into the meringue, one third at a time until thoroughly mixed. It need to form a thick shiny batter.

Pour the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm or 1/2 an inch plain nozzle. Pipe 32 rounds onto the the baking parchment.
Tap the baking sheets firmly onto a work surface to remove air bubbles.

Leave at room temperature for about 30 minutes until a crust forms on top. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then carefully remove the macarons from the baking paper. Leave to cool completely.

For the filling

 Make some butter icing and colour it pink and add 1/2 teaspoon rose water and use it to sandwich the macarons together and enjoy

Feel free to try the Italian method as well when you are confident with this.