Raspberry Macaroon Recipe mmmmmm.....

This was last weekend's mother and daughter bake in our house. Little Miss 4 had been perusing cook books and plotting her next tea party play date when she came across a recipe for Vanilla Macaroons. Anyone with a little girl will tell you that there is usually only one colour request - and that's "...pink, pink and pink please Mummy". Not content with just plain pink food colouring, we set about creating these raspberry marvels.

Raspberry Macaroons with Butter cream Filling

75g ground almonds
115g icing sugar
2 large egg whites
50g caster sugar
1 tablespoon chambord - raspberry liquor
as many drops of red food colour as you need to get a strong pink colour

Filling
60g softened butter
120g icing sugar
1 tablespoon chambord liquor
pink colouring
2 teaspoons freeze dried raspberry powder

Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar together. You will have to use a spoon to push the almond meal through the sieve.










Place the egg whites in a immaculately clean bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar a few tablespoons at a time: whisking well between each addition until a glossy meringue is formed.











Using a spatula fold the almond mixture into the meringue one third at a time.











Now fold in the liquor and colouring. The mixture should have deflated into a shiny batter that drops from the spoon.

Pour the mixture into a piping bag with a plain nozzle.







Pipe the macaroons into evenly sized rounds. Bang the tray onto the bench to remove any large air bubbles.

Set the oven to 160deg. C, then leave the macaroons out on the bench to dry for 40 minutes.









Bake for approximately 15 minutes. Cool for a while before carefully removing from the paper.


Leave to cool completely before filling with the butter cream filling.





While the macaroons are cooking and cooling, make the Raspberry Butter cream Filling by beating all the ingredients until a pale fluffy filling is formed.












Match the macaroons into pairs. Then place a generous teaspoonful of butter cream onto the middle of one of each of the pairs and squeeze together.

These are a great addition to a party spread. They are surprisingly easy to make - which sure beats paying $2 each at the bakery.

So whip some up and invite your friends around. Do it quick, before the family eat them up!