Laduree? Bah! Indulge yourself in a taste of French cafe culture with this famous Parisian tea room delicacy. And as Princess Lottie shows us, it can be done simply and to perfection. Devour at your leisure, or share if you’re feeling generous. I wouldn’t!
Makes about 20
110g icing sugar
50g ground almonds
12g cocoa powder
2 free-range egg whites (60g)
40g caster sugarGanache filling
65g white chocolate (Green & Blacks)
50ml double cream1. Start by making the ganache filling. Chop up the chocolate into tiny pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil, watching it carefully. As soon as it boils, pour it over the chocolate and stir gently with a rubber spatula until you get a smooth mix (if the chocolate doesn’t melt easily, help it by placing the bowl over a pot of simmering water and stirring).
2. Place a sheet of cling film over the surface of the ganache and leave to set somewhere cool for a couple of hours. Don’t put it in the fridge. It should not get too hard, as you need to spoon or pipe it between the macaroons.
3. Heat up the oven to 170C. Using a fine sieve, sift the icing sugar, cocoa powder and ground almonds into a clean, dry bowl.
4. Place the egg whites and caster sugar in the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer and start whisking on full speed until the whites have formed a thick, aerated meringue, firm but not too dry. Remove the bowl from the machine, take a third of the meringue and fold it gently into the sifted almond and sugar mix. Once incorporated, add another third of the meringue and continue similarly until all the meringue has been added and the mix appears smooth and glossy.
5. Take a sheet of baking parchment and ‘glue’ it on to a baking sheet by dotting the tray in a few places with a tiny amount of the macaroon mix. Now you need to use the mix to create uniform shallow discs, about the size of a two-pound coin.
6. To assist you, draw little circles on the paper, spaced well apart. This will guide you in achieving consistently sized macaroons, Then either pipe or spoon little blobs of the macaroon mix on to the lined tray. Alternatively, take a bowl of icing sugar, dip your fingers in it and shape the macaroons with your hands.
Now hold the tray firmly and tap its underside vigorously This should help to spread and smooth out the biscuits. Leave the macaroons out and uncovered for 15 minutes before baking.7. To bake, place the macaroons in the preheated oven and leave for about 12 minutes. They might take longer, depending on your oven. The macaroons are ready when they come freely off the paper when lifted with a palette knife. Remove from the oven as soon as they reach this stage, so that you don’t overbake them, and leave aside to cool down completely.
8. To assemble the macaroons, use a small spoon or a piping bag to deposit a pea-sized amount of the filling on the flat side of half the biscuits. Sandwich them with the other half, squeezing them together gently. Leave at room temperature to set within a couple of hours, or chill them to hasten the process. Just remember not to serve your macaroons cold from the fridge.
Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi.
