More macarons, really?? You must wonder what kind of sweet frenzy that has gotten in to me. I honestly have not got the answer to that. Perhaps it’s the idea of the winter coming to it’s end, that I felt something that must have been heat coming from the sun yesterday or maybe it’s the pastry chef in me needing a bit of attention.
I think it’s the idea of adding a little bit of luxury to my otherwise pretty humble life style that inspires me to take on tasks like macarons. Getting up, going to work, coming home, having dinner, doing some yoga and then going back to bed just to wake up to the same the next day can get a little mundane and makes me feel as if every day is pretty much the same. With small treats this problem is easily solved and it is not as silly as it sounds. (or is it??)
In a perfect world I would eat macarons, drink champagne and stroll around Champs-Elysées everyday. I do however not live in Paris, I can not stand the hangover from too much champagne and would probably suffer from malnutrition if little sweet meringues were my only food intake.
But one can afford to dream a little, and live a little too so I made more macarons, drank some tea instead of champagne, put on a fire and watched the winter olympics. Perhaps not as glamorous as I would have liked it to be but it is Dublin and not Paris I live in. It also happens to be an incredibly grey and damp day so over all it’s pretty sweet to be inside my cosy apartment.
The macarons are filled with a home made raspberry jelly/jam and after being in the fridge over night they really were fantastic. The inside had started to soften from the jam but the outer shell was still crispy and had a perfect crunch to it. If I have not already said it I will say it again, make macarons. Live a little.
- 2 egg whites
- 150g icing sugar
- 60g ground almonds
- 100g raspberries
- 100g jam sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- Mix half of the icing sugar with the ground almonds and pass through a fine sieve.
- Beat egg white until soft peaks appear, slowly start to add icing sugar bit by bit while beating. Continue to beat to a firm meringue.
- Gently fold in almonds and icing sugar, stir just so all is well blended and has lost a bit of its volume, be careful not to stir too much. If you want you can add a drop or two of red food colour to create a pink macaron.
- Drop or pipe small rounds of the mix on a tray with baking paper. If small peaks or bubbles appear gently tap the tray against your work top and they will even out and look smooth. Let dry for 30 minutes before baking on 150C for 12-15min. Let cool down completely before removing from the baking paper.
- Bring raspberries, jam sugar and the vanilla pod to boil in a pot.
- Let it boil for 4 minutes.
- Take off the heat and pass the jam through a fine sieve. Let cool down.
- Pipe or dollop the jam on half of the macarons and put them together with the unfilled macarons.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Linea
I just joined your site recently and I love reading the little blogs you write just as much as your recipes! Today your description of deciding to making Macaroons on a grey winters day as you sat watching the Winter Olympics by the fire was great! We all think we don’t live in a world where Raspberry Macaroons belong – but you paint a picture that says we do!!!!
Ps- the only reason it didn’t get five stars was I did this in my iPhone and hit the wrong star!! Oops!
Thank you so much Romy for the comment and the great feedback. Love to hear from my readers:)