Raspberry macarons

afternoon tea almond biscuits cricket tea egg white egg whites food colouring food colourings ground almond ground almonds icing sugar jam laduree macarons macaroons mascarpone mini macaroons patisserie pink meringues

N/A

Makes 20

Source

Ingredients

4 large egg whites

300g icing sugar

pink or red food colouring

140g ground almonds

½ a 250g tub mascarpone

4-5 tbsp raspberry jam

Method

Whisk the egg whites in a large, clean bowl until soft peaks form. Whisk in the icing sugar in 3 or 4 batches, whisking well between each addition. Add a couple of drops of colouring with the final addition of sugar. Keep whisking until the mixture is light pink, with no streaks, and is thick and glossy, a bit like shaving foam.

Using a large metal spoon, gently fold through the ground almonds. Cover 4 baking sheets with baking parchment and dab a little of the mixture in the corners of each sheet to secure paper. If you don’t have enough baking sheets, make and cook half the quantity, then repeat. Use 2 spoons or a piping bag fitted with a wide nozzle to make 40 circles, each about 5cm wide. Leave to sit out for about 10 mins until a skin starts to form.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Place the baking sheets in the oven, leaving the oven door slightly ajar to allow steam to escape, then bake for 20-25 mins until just crisp, but not browned. Leave to cool.

When ready to serve, gently ease off the paper with a palette knife. Carefully spread 1 tsp raspberry jam per biscuit over half of the biscuits and 1 tsp mascarpone per biscuit over the other halves, then gently sandwich together.