Rose delight macaroons recipe

Ingredients

• 170 g icing sugar
• 160 g ground almonds
• 120 ml egg whites (approximately 4 egg whites)
• 60 ml water
• a few drops of rose essence
• a few drops pink gel colouring
• 160 g granulated sugar

• a few drops pink gel colouring
• 300 g butter icing

1. Preheat the oven to 150 °C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
To make the Macaroons
2. Place the icing sugar and ground almonds into a blender and pulse a few times. Sift the mixture three times, discarding any nuts that won’t go through the sieve. Fold 60 ml of the egg white into the sifted almond mixture. Fold in the rose essence and gel colouring.
3. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. The sugar syrup needs to reach 118 °C on a sugar thermometer.
4. Place the remaining egg whites in a heatproof bowl. When the syrup has almost reached 118 °C, using an electric beater, start whisking the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Reduce the speed and slowly add the hot syrup in a steady stream down the side of the bowl, taking care not to touch the moving whisk. Beat until the egg white mixture has cooled, but is still warm.
5. Gently fold the egg white mixture in a figure of ‘8’ into the almond paste. It is important that the mixture holds the figure shape, but it should subside after 20 seconds: if not, give the mixture a few more gentle folds.
Piping and Baking
6. Spoon the meringue mixture into a piping bag. Using a small round piping nozzle, pipe macaroon rounds, 3 cm in diameter, onto the prepared baking trays, leaving a 2-finger space between each. This gives them space to spread a little. Repeat this process until the meringue mixture is finished. Leave the macaroons to rest for 15 minutes, or until skins have formed. Bake for 13–14 minutes. The macaroons should be puffed and crispy on the outside. If they are cooked properly they should also peel off the greaseproof paper easily. Leave the macaroons on the baking trays until they have cooled completely.
Icing the Macaroons
7. Mix a few drops of food colouring with the butter icing, then spoon the mixture into a piping bag. Pipe a little icing onto half the cooled macaroons and sandwich them together with the remaining macaroons.
8. For rose red velvet macaroons replace the pink food colouring with red, leave out the rose essence and replace the butter icing with cream cheese icing.