How to Make Perfect Macaroons…(Gluten free)

Macaroons – The French type, are notoriously tricky little blighters and reduce lots of us to tears. But they don't have to be this hard. I have made this recipe many times with out fail. The ones i have made below are vanilla macarons with a blueberry icing made with 'fresh as' fruit powders. I don't know how you explain what a macaron is really, they are a sweet treat that my friends and family love and often make for birthdays, dinner party's and just because. However i am not so much a fan, i cant identify what is it i don't like, yet they are gluten free as always! Enjoy the recipe...

Ingredients:
110g egg whites (whites from approx 3 large eggs)
75g caster sugar
125g ground almonds 
175g icing sugar

Measure out the ground almonds and icing sugar and put them into the food processor.

Measure out the egg whites. Egg whites are measured in grams seems a bit silly to me as surely you measure them in ml’s as a liquid but hey, 110g egg whites = 110ml egg whites.

Place them into a large bowl and whisk like you would a meringue.  As the mixture comes to soft peaks begin adding the caster sugar a third at a time until it’s all worked in and smooth and glossy.

You don’t need to whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks but they should be thick and glossy.
One of the wonderful things about macaroons are their fab colours – whatever takes your fancy.  Using gel paste colours is the best way to colour the mixture without changing the consistency.
Add a small amount of colouring to the meringue and mix in well.

Now you can turn off the Food Processor. Sift into the meringue mixture half of the almond/icing sugar from the food processor.old into the mixture using a spatula or metal spoon until it’s fully mixed in. Sift in the final half. The residue left in the sieve can be very grainy and hard so don’t force it through the sieve just discard it.Fold in as before.

Now comes the tricky part,  you need to keep folding the mixture until it goes smooth and glossy.  By my reckoning this takes 1-2 minutes folding in a figure of 8.  This loosens the mixture until it is the right consistency.  You really don’t want to knock ten tons of air out of it but achieveing the right point is important.
Hold your spatula above the bowl.  The mixture should run from it in a smooth ribbon.  If it’s jerky and breaking then it isn’t right yet.  Just watch out though you want to stop right at this point and go no further, otherwise you’ll have hugely spreading macaroons.

Now we’re ready to go.
Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round nozzle.
Prepare two baking sheets lined with baking paper. Pipe the macaroons onto the tray in small circles.  To begin with they will have a small peak on the top.  If you have the correct consistency that will soon flatten and you will have a tray full of perfectly smooth macaroons.

Now you need to set the trays aside for 30 minutes.  After this time they should have formed a slight ‘skin’ and you should be able to touch them with your fingertip.
Preheat the oven to 140c Fan/160c/Gas Mark 3.
Place the trays in the oven for 13 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool, still on the tray.  Good macaroons should be smooth and glossy with a good foot and not flat.  I have added some trouble shooting tips at the end of the post.

Sandwich together with a buttercream or ganache of your choice. 

Fluffy Vanilla frosting: Makes 2 cups of frosting
4 cups icing suagr 
100g softened butter 1/
4 c milk 
1 T vanilla 
Method: Cream the butter for 3-4 minutes or until very pale. Add milk and vanilla and half of the icing sugar mixture, beat for at least 1 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy or at a spreadable 
consistency.

Can add colour or flavouring such as fruit powder to the icing for flavour like i have in the ones below