Easy Macaroon recipes

Today is Macaroon day!! We think these recipes are the easiest around. Why not make something delicious for all your housemates. These recipes are also dairy free, vegetarian and the coconut macaroons are vegan! They are also useful as bite-sized mouthfuls of energy to get through your studying. 

French Macaroons

Ingredients

125g/4½oz icing sugar

125g/4½oz ground almonds

90g/3½oz free-range egg whites

2 tbsp water

110g/4oz caster sugar

food colouring (optional)

desiccated coconut, for sprinkling (optional)

For the filling

150ml/5fl oz double or whipped cream, whipped

For a dairy free version, you can use coconut butter blended with dark chocolate or dairy free whipped cream.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170/C/325F/Gas 3
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof or baking paper.
3. Place the icing sugar, ground almonds and 40g/1½oz egg whites together in a large bowl and mix to a paste.
4. Put 2 tbsp of water and caster sugar in a small pan and heat gently to melt the sugar, then turn up the heat and boil until the mixture starts to go syrupy and thickens – if you use a thermometer it should read 115C/239F at this stage.
5. Whisk the remaining 50g/2oz egg whites in a small bowl until medium-stiff peaks form when the whisk comes out of the bowl, then pour in the sugar syrup, whisking again until the mixture becomes stiff and shiny. If you’d like your macaroons to be pretty colours add a few drops of food colouring. Tip this meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture and stir gently until the becomes stiff and shiny again.
6. Spoon carefully into the piping bag. Pipe a little mixture under each corner of the greaseproof/baking paper to stop it sliding around. With the bag held vertically, pipe 4cm/1½in flat circles onto the lined tray, about 2cm/¾in apart, twisting the bag after each one. The mixture should be quite loose to give a smooth finish. The piping will leave a small ‘tip’ on each circle so, when they are all piped, give the tray 2–3 slams on a flat surface to flatten them. At this stage, sprinkle with desiccated coconut if you want.
7. Leave to stand for 30 minutes to form a skin then bake in the oven for 12–15 minutes with the door slightly ajar until firm. Remove from the oven, lift the paper off the baking tray and leave the macaroons to cool on the paper.
8. When cool, sandwich the macaroons together with whipped cream or your dairy free alternative.

These can keep for a couple of days, but we reckon you will eat them too fast!

Coconut macaroons

Ingredients

• 80g/2¾oz desiccated coconut
• 125ml/4½fl oz full-fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof/baking paper.
3. Stir all the ingredients together in a pan over a medium heat until well combined. Continue to cook for 4-5 minutes until the coconut milk has absorbed into the mixture and the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Spoon out tablespoonfuls of the macaroon mixture onto the prepared baking tray, then form into small cones, or round biscuits, if you prefer. Do leave a gap between each. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until toasted and golden-brown at the edges.
5. Remove from the oven and leave the macaroons aside to cool completely.

These will keep for about 24hrs in an airtight tin

We do hope you enjoy making both recipes. We have more recipes for you to try : Easter recipes and 5 Easy Recipes