Lemon and Elderflower Macarons

Lemon and Elderflower Macarons.

Pre heat the oven to 150 C Fan/ 300F/Gas mark 2.

1. Pulse icing sugar and ground almonds in a food processor or spice grinder until fine.

2. Sieve into a bowl and set aside.

3. Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl on the stand mixer and whisk on a medium speed until they look like a light foam, not liquid.

4. Slowly add the sugar while still whisking, then turn the mixer to medium high.

5. Continue to whisk until the mixture looks soft and shiny like marshmallow fluff.

6. Add the gel colour to the mixture (judge by eye for the colour you want to achieve).

7. Continue whisking on medium high until the mixture dulls slightly and the whisk attachment make tracks in the surface.

8. Check the peak on the meringue, you are looking for firm peak.

9. Transfer to another bowl and fold in the almond/icing sugar mixture in three increments.

10. Spread the mixture up the sides of the bowl, then scrape back down. This movement knocks a little of the air out of the mixture.

11. Repeat a few times until the mixture slides slowly down the side of the bowl.

12. Scrape the mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto your mat/parchment.

13. Baking trays must then be banged on the work top to knock out any large air bubbles.

14. Allow the macaron shells to form a skin before baking. This could take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, but should never take more than an hour.

15. Bake one tray at a time on the middle shelf of the oven for roughly 10 minutes before checking.

16. If sticking to the parchment/mat, back for another 2-3 minutes before checking again.

17. Turn off oven and leave macarons to cool inside.

Here is the link to the YouTube video for this recipe.