I have been serving these after my Pregnancy Yoga classes and my Yoga Mamas-to-be love them, so they have been asking for the recipe.
This recipe is almost TOO EASY…so easy in fact that you will be cursing me for posting it on my blog!
The only thing that is hard about these, is knowing when to take them out of the oven…leave them too long and you will be sorry! they will be too hard and brown. So, when they have a hint of colour around the edges, take them out. Don’t try to scrape them off too quickly as they will just squidge into a mess…wait until they have cooled a little, then remove with a flat spatula.
Recipe courtesy of the ‘domestic goddess’ NIGELLA
Photo: taken by me
Makes about 28…you can halve the recipe if that’s too many…
Ingredients:
200g ground almonds
200g caster sugar
2 egg whites (large eggs)
Rosewater to splash on your hands as you roll these into balls (it prevents sticking and smells great!)
approx 25 grams (28 in number) of blanched almonds to go on top of your macaroons.
Nigella adds 1/4 teaspoon of finely ground cardamon to the almonds, but i have never done this…
Method:
Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Oven should be at 200 degrees C.
Mix, (either by hand or with a mixer), the ground almonds, sugar and egg whites until y0u have a thick paste. I use a fork and mix it well. At first you might think it’s not going to turn into a paste, but it will.
Sprinkle some rose water onto your hands (…as Nigella says: thus scented and dampened!) and roll out walnut sized balls and place them on your baking sheet, about 3 cm apart. Squish them down so that they are no longer balls but fat patties (i do this with a fork, but it’s a bit sticky).
Stud the centre of each one with a blanched almond.
Bake for approx 10-12 mins – keeping an eye on them.
They will still be pretty pale when cooked – with golden edges.