Blackcurrant Macaroons

Ingredients

• 350g of Icing Sugar
• 250g of ground Almonds
• 215g of Egg Whites
• 15g of Caster Sugar
• For the ganache: 125g of icing sugar
• 65g unsalted Butter
• 50ml Mr Jeffares Irish Blackcurrant Cordial
• Indigo or Purple Food Colouring

Method

Preheat the oven to 155C. Sift the ground almonds and the icing sugar together. Whisk the egg whites until they are white and fluffy. Add the caster sugar to the egg whites and continue to whisk until you have soft glossy peaks. Fold the almonds and icing sugar into the meringue mixture. Continue to cut and fold the mixture with a spatula, until all of the dry ingredients are combined and it is smooth and shiny and  it has reached the ribbon stage. Gently add some of the food colouring making sure that the mixture is not overworked.

Next, spoon the mixture into a piping bag. Pipe 2cm circles in straight lines across a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Leave a 1cm gap between each macaroon shell. Drop the tray of macaroons onto to the work space, from a height of around 30cm, in order to remove air bubbles. Allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes or until the shells are no longer sticky to the touch. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. If you are baking plenty of them, you may need to keep the oven door ajar to avoid steam building up in the oven. After 15 minutes check the macaroons are cooked by gently lifting a macaroon placed at the edge of the tray. If the macaroon does not stick, allow the tray of macaroons to keep cooking as they cool. Allow them to cool completely before you add the filling.

For the Buttercream: Bring the butter to room temperature. Sieve the icing sugar and beat in the butter with it. Next, add the cordial and mix through the buttercream.

To Assemble: Allow the macaroons to cool completely. Fill half of the macaroon shells with the buttercream and then top with the second macaroon shells. Serve with a light dusting of icing sugar.