3. Sour Cherries - Sour Cherry Macaroons

My first attempt at macaroons and I was pretty happy with the result. A crunchy exterior encasing a light and chewy almond meringue. These are definitely for people with a sweet tooth. The addition of the sour cherries and lemon zest to the filling provides much needed tartness.

Ingredients

For the macaroons
175g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
3 large free range egg whites
75g caster sugar
A few drops of red food colouring

For the filling
150g softened butter
75g icing sugar
A few drops of red food colouring
100g sour cherries
Zest of half a lemon
25g flaked almonds

Method

For the macaroons

Preheat the oven to 140 C.

This recipe makes 20 macaroons (you will need to pipe 40 pieces) so you will need 2 or 3 baking sheets. Line each one with baking parchment.

Take the icing sugar and the ground almonds and whizz to a fine powder in a food processor. Sieve the powder into a bowl to make sure there are no clumps.

In another bowl whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks are formed. Make sure your bowl is clean and completely grease free or the egg whites won't stiffen. In three parts, whisk in the caster sugar until the mixture thickens and becomes glossy. Add in a few drops of food colouring to make the mixture a light pink and whisk until thoroughly mixed and an even colour throughout.

Using a metal spoon, lightly fold half of the sugar and almond mixture into the egg white mixture. Add the remaining half and continue to fold until you get a smooth ribbon like consistency when it falls from the spoon.

Next, spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain 1cm nozzle. Pipe the mixture into rounds approximately 3cm in diameter onto the lined baking sheets. (As you can see from my photo, I piped a swirl on top too but this didn't turn out as attractive as I'd hoped so I'll be going for plain rounds next time).

Leave the macaroons to stand for 15 to 20 minutes before putting them in the oven. They need to form a slight skin so lightly touch a few before baking. They are ready to go in when you touch them and no mixture remains on your finger.

Pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing them from the baking parchment.

For the filling

Beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and beat until thoroughly combined. Add a few drops of food colouring to make a light pink colour and make sure the colour is evenly spread throughout.

Chop the sour cherries finely and stir these evenly through the mixture. Add the lemon zest and the flaked almonds and stir once more.

Use the filling to sandwich the cooled macaroons together, making sure each one gets some cherry and almonds.