Blackcurrant Macarons

Deliciously sweet macarons filled with fresh cream and tangy blackcurrant jam.

After my success at mastering the macaron a few weeks ago, I was eager to try out my new skills with exciting new flavours!

At my first attempt at making macarons I realised that the gel food colouring you get in the supermarkets is not strong enough to give the shells the bright colours you need, so I treated myself to some good quality food coloring.

I chose to make blackcurrant macarons because I love the vibrant purple colour the shells and the tangy taste of blackcurrant jam.

I was really pleased that these turned out so well, I feel like I have fully mastered to macaron now!

I will be bringing these along to Fiesta Friday#106 this week, hosted by Angie and co-hosted by Steffi @ Ginger & Bread and Andrea @ Cooking With a Wallflower.. Happy Friday everyone!

Ingredients: Makes 16 Macarons 

• 100g egg whites (3 eggs)
• 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
• 40g granulated sugar
• 115g ground almonds
• 200g icing sugar
• 1 drop of purple gel food colouring
• 150ml double cream
• 150g blackcurrant jam

To Make:

Take the eggs out of the fridge a few hours before use and leave to warm up to room temperature.

Line a baking tray with either a silicone macaron mat, or a sheet of baking paper with templates drawn on.

Place the almonds in a food processor and blitz a few times to mix into a finer powder.

Sift the ground almonds and caster sugar into a large bowl and set aside.

In a separate clean bowl, whisk up the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the caster sugar and food colouring. Whisk to form stiff glossy peaks.

Fold the almond mixture into the egg whites bit at a time, until fully incorporated. Continue to mix until the mixture loosens up a little, and the batter runs off the back of the spoon ‘like lava’ or forms a ‘ribbon’ like trace when it runs back into the bowl.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a medium sized circular nozzle.

Pipe dollops of mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Pat down any peaks on the macarons with a wet finger. Tap the baking tray hard on your work surface a few times to remove and large air bubbles – you should see some small bubbles popping at the surface!

Then leave the macarons to set for 45mins-1 hour before baking – this step is very important as the macarons need to form a skin before they are baked. You can check to see if they are ready by lightly touching them, they should be tacky and not stick to your fingers.

Preheat the oven to 140C.

Once ready, bake the macarons in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until they have puffed up and (hopefully!) formed feet.

Leave to cool completely before removing from the baking tray.

Whip up the double cream until it forms stiff peaks and spoon into a piping bag with a circular nozzle.

Pipe a ring of cream around the edge of one macaron shell and fill the middle with a teaspoon of black currant jam. Place another macaron shell on top and gently press together to push the filling to the edges.