Cook: 10 minutes
Serves: 16
Macaroons don’t need to be boring. Sandwich them together up with a dark chocolate filling to make cute 'kisses'. A tasty teatime treat or after-dinner nibble and they’re great with a coffee. If you can’t find Pesach peppermint essence you could use orange zest instead for a choc-orange version.
- Heat oven to 170°C.
- Beat the egg whites to stiff peak. Beat in the sugar, a heaped tablespoon at a time, beating it back to stiff peak after each addition until you have a thick, shiny meringue.
- Beat in the cocoa and peppermint essence, then carefully fold in the almonds until you have a uniform, thick, sticky mixture.
- Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment and grab a bowl of water. Moisten your hands and roll a heaped tablespoon of mixture into 2cm balls. Form a point to make a teardrop shape and place on the baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used all the mixture. You may need to bake them in two batches.
- Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until they are slightly cracked. They will firm up further when they cool down. If too cooked they will harden too much.
- Cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two then on a wire rack.
- To make the kisses, melt the chocolate with the oil, either in short bursts in the microwave or in a bain marie. l Spread a chocolate on a macaroon and sandwich it to another. Leave on the rack to set. Repeat until all the macaroons are used up.
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Ingredients
2 large egg whites
200g caster sugar
1 tsp peppermint essence
45g cocoa powder
225g ground almonds
½ tsp vegetable oil
100g dark chocolate