Recipe by Juliet Sear for Clarence Court Eggs (www.clarencecourt.co.uk)TE ATIME HE AVENWWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM SEPTEMBER baking heaven 67
Juliet Sear’s
macarons
SERVES 8
120ml (4fl oz) Clarence Court Old
Cotswold Legbar egg white
150g (5fl oz) ground almonds
160g (5½oz) icing sugar
150g (5fl oz) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
60ml (2fl oz) water
a touch of food colouring
100g (3½oz) raspberry jam
300g (10½oz) dark chocolate
150ml (5fl oz) double cream
1 free-range egg white, for
brushing
mixed pressed edible flowers
1 Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark
3 and prepare the baking tray – pop a
macaron template under parchment
paper if you have one.
2 In a food processor, pulse the ground
almonds and icing sugar until fine, then
sieve. Put the almond mixture in a bowl,
then add half an egg white to form a
paste. Drop in a hint of food colouring if
you’ d like to colour them.
3 Place the remaining egg white into a
clean bowl (or stand mixer).
4 Put the caster sugar and water into a
pan and bring to the boil. Once the
sugar starts to boil and the temperature
is about 100°C/212°F, whisk the egg
white into stiff peaks.
5 When the sugar syrup reaches
115°C / 23 9 ° F, slowly pour it into the egg
white while whisking at medium speed,
until it’s all incorporated.
6 Continue whisking for 5-10 minutes
until the egg white turns thick
and glossy.
7 Add a spoonful of egg meringue mix
to the almond mix to loosen, then use
a spatula to fold in the rest of
the meringue.
8 Pour the macaron mixture into a
piping bag with a round nozzle and
carefully pipe onto your tray.
9 Once you’ve piped the entire tray,
bang the tray firmly on the surface to
get rid of any air bubbles.
10 Leave the macarons to skin over for
30-40 minutes before baking.
11 Bake for 7 minutes, then open the
oven to release the steam and bake for
another 7-8 minutes. Once baked,
transfer onto a wire rack.
12 Brush a little egg white on top of the
shells, then stick on your pressed
flowers (it’s best to do this when they’re
warm to dry the egg white).
13 While the shells are cooling, make
the chocolate ganache by heating the
cream until just boiling, then pour over
the chopped chocolate. Mix well untilthe chocolate has melted into the
cream, then cool for 20-30 minutes until
it’s a pipeable consistency.
14 Once ever y thing is ready, pour the
ganache into a piping bag and pipe a ring
around the edge of the plain shell.
15 Drop a spoonful of jam in the middle
and pop on a floral shell, gently pressing
down until the filling starts to ooze out
around the edge.
16 Decorate as you wish, serve
and enjoy!