I am going to show you how to make macarons for beginners, I am am making pink rosewater macarons with rosewater buttercream to sandwich them.   You can flavour and colour them however you like.

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”.

Ingredients

• 75g ground almonds
• 115g icing sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 50g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon rosewater
• pinch of salt
• pink food colouring gel/paste
• Edible rose petals (optional)

Filling

• half American butter icing, colour it pink
• 1 teaspoon rosewater

Method

• 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. The amount and size can differ depending on the size you pipe.
  Tap the baking sheets firmly onto a work surface to remove air bubbles. Sprinkle on some rose petals, if using
• Leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour until they are dry. It may take longer but do not put in the oven until they are completely dry. When you touch them on top you should not have nay mix on your hands. Preheat the oven to 150°C
• 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.

Filling suggestions

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

Swiss Meringue Buttercream