I worked on my macaroons today, experimenting with a different flavours and techniques
these are the best height, shape and texture I’ve managed to get them. The surfaces have stayed perfectly smooth and they don’t have a great deal of height to them whereas in the past I have not mixed this meringue and almond mixture together properly, meaning the macaroons turn out lumpy and dome quite easily due to lots of air pockets.
the only problem I had with this batch was the colour. As they were peppermint flavour, I wanted to give them a pale green exterior but instead of using my usual sugarflar gel colours I used one of sainsbury’s own liquid colourings. Now I don’t usually us these as they usually just turn my projects into a pale, sticky mess but I thought they might mix a little easier than the thick gel so I took a risk. Now I don’t know if it was because it was rubbish colouring, that I didn’t add enough or if my oven temperature was too high (I set it to 160C and baked them for around 12-15 minutes), but the macaroons soon turned brown on top but kept their colour on the inside (see above picture- they were darker in person it doesn’t show up as much here).
For the filling I made a simple dark chocolate ganache and finished them with a dusting of cocoa powder. Overall the taste was divine, though I would perhaps add a little more peppermint extract as I feel some of it may have baked off in the oven. Not a total success, but definitely definitely not a fail as I’ve improved on a lot!
If anyone has any questions or can give any tips that would be super cool! If you would like a step by step of how I make my macaroons I can do that too.
xx