Macaron recipe: winner of the competition

Penny from La Betoulle was the winner of our competition with her mouthwatering photo of her homemade raspberry macarons (a variation on the almond macaron recipe).Congratulations Penny! Here’s her recipe:

La Betoulle’s Almond Macaron recipe ( as taught to me by Mary Cadogan of Tasting France)

Ingredients

150gm icing sugar
75gm ground almonds
2 medium egg whites (70gm)
35gm caster sugar
a few drops of food colour and or flavour
1st tip – all the above measurements need to be exact

Filling:

50gm softened butter
100gm icing sugar
1tbsp milk
few drops almond extract

[mrb]

Preparation:

Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/Gas 3. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Tip icing sugar & ground almonds into food processor & whiz until very fine (2nd tip – this is an important stage – the finer the better) then tip into a sieve set over a bowl. Press as much as you can thru the sieve, then tip remainder into bowl & mix well.

In a large bowl whisk egg whites until stiff (3rd tip – should not be really fresh eggs, ideally separate & freeze for at least 24hrs beforehand, defrost fully before use) then whisk in caster sugar until thick & glossy. Add a few drops of food colour or flavour if using. Using the whisk blade fold half the dry mixture into the meringue until well mixed (but retaining the air) then fold in remainder gently. Remove the whisk & using a strong rubber spatula cut through the mixture & fold over 15 times (the macaronage) until it drops from the spatula in a ribbon like consistency (this is another important process) DO NOT OVERWORK

Fill piping bag with the mixture. Snip a 1-cm hole in end of bag & pipe small rounds (approx 30) of macaron (approx 3-4cm across) over the baking sheet (4th tip keep piping bag close to & @ 90′ to baking sheet to get even rounds) leaving a space between each for spreading.

Using both hands give each sheet a strong, even, sharp tap on the work surface to ensure a good ‘foot’ & leave for 30mins till no longer sticky to touch (this is a very important stage & the secret to perfect crack-free macarons every time)

Bake for 12mins, swapping trays over half way through then remove from oven & leave to cool completely on the paper.

Beat together the filling ingedients until light & fluffy ( a good 4-5mins as for cup cake frosting)

Peal macarons away from paper & sandwich together.

VARIATIONS:

Chocolate – replace 20gm of icing sugar with cocoa powder. Sandwish with Nutella or chocolate ganache
Raspberry – blitz 100gm raspberries in mini-blender till smooth, then pass thru sieve into a bowl. Add 1 tbsp puree to the filling along with a dash of rosewater (omitting the milk & almond essence) Tint macarons with red food colour.

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“Thank you all for choosing my picture & macaron recipe for your website. I had been trying for a couple of years to perfect macarons with some disastrous results, but thanks to one of Mary Cadogan’s baking days at her cookery school Tasting France, I was taught the secret to perfect macaron making, & have been making them regularly for our B&B & gite guests ever since – they have proved to be a huge hit & I am looking forward to introducing some new flavours & colours for the coming season.”

Penny Hitchings
Manoir La Betoulle
16450 St Claud
www.manoir-la-betoulle.com