Bone shaped macaroons with blood red buttercream
I think it’s amazing that egg whites and almonds can create such a delightful treat.
Macaroons is one of the treats I absolutely love and don’t get to have it very often, because although small treats, their price tag is often not so small.
I am going to a grown up Halloween party and thought little patisserie bones with a blood red buttercream would be perfect.
This is an easy recipe, however you must follow all the steps carefully to get the perfect chewy macaroon.
Bone shaped macaroons with blood red buttercream
125g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
90g egg whites
2 tbsp water
110g caster sugar
75g softened butter
40g icing sugar
Red food colouring
Method:
1. Print or draw on a piece of paper bone shapes to fit your baking tray. Mine were around 4cm long. Place the sheet with the bone pattern under a piece of greaseproof paper
2. Put the icing sugar and ground almonds in a food processor and blitz. Sieve the mixture discarding any large lumps
3. Add 40g of egg whites to the almond mixture and mix to a paste
4. Put the 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 – around 1 minute
5. Whisk the remaining 50g egg whites in a small bowl until medium-stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl, then pour in the sugar syrup, whisking until the mixture becomes stiff and shiny – around 2 minutes
6. Tip this meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture, stir throughly, rotating the bowl as you go along
7. Preheat the oven to 140C fan
8. Spoon it into the piping bag (I used a Wilton 7 tip). Pipe the mixture by following the pattern.
9. The piping will leave a small ‘tip’ on each circle so, when they’re all piped, give the tray 2–3 slams on a flat surface to flatten them. You can also use a moist fingertip to sort out any bumps
10. Leave to stand for 30 minutes to form a skin, test it by lightly touching them, the mixture should not stick to your fingers. Before placing it in the oven, don’t forget to remove the printed paper from under the greaseproof paper
11. Bake in the oven for 12–14 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.
12. To make the buttercream beat the butter until very soft, slowly add the icing sugar and never stop mixing. Slowly add the colouring until you get a deep red colour.
13. When cool, sandwich the macaroons together with whipped cream. They can be kept for a couple of days in an airtight container.
