Macarons

"Macarons are exciting because they are a blank canvas for flavour" – Rebecca Timkoe, founder Ginger Pops

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (if your oven runs hot try 150–155°C).

2. Prepare a piping bag with a 1.2 cm nozzle and rest the bag in a jug or sturdy mug. Whisk together the icing sugar and ground almonds, then sift. stiff-peak stage.

3. Gently pour half the almond mixture into the meringue and fold in carefully. Try not to push into the meringue too much as you don’t want to deflate it. When it’s partially combined, add the remaining almond mixture and fold in until fully combined.

4. Begin gently pressing the macaronage (macaron batter) against the sides of the bowl in a smearing motion until the mixture loosens up just enough to slowly fall off the spatula in a continuous ribbon.

5. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag and pipe onto baking trays lined with baking paper or silicone baking mats, leaving at least 3 cm between each shell.

6. Tap the trays on a wooden chopping board 4 times (one for each side of the tray). Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles, then rest the macarons for 15–30 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes,turn the trays 180 degrees, then bake for a further 5 minutes.

7. Check by touching the top side of the shell and gently pushing; if it moves slightly on top of the macaron’s foot it needs to bake a bit longer, so check every 5 minutes (they will be hot so protect your hand while testing).

8. Allow to cool fully before removing from the baking paper. Once they’ve cooled, pipe in the filling of choice and chill to let the filling permeate the macaron shell. Alternatively, fill with a scoop of coconut ice cream, top with lemon or guavadilla curd and freeze in an airtight container for a delicious summer treat.

Find more sweet treat recipes here. 

Photograph: Jan Ras