Vanilla Macarons

So with my leftover egg whites I decided to have another shot at macarons... I've tried two different recipes before, but whilst they have always tasted great they have never had the distinctive 'feet' and have always cracked!

This weekend I tried another recipe, from one of my newer cook books, Tea with Bea (thanks to Phil and Mel for this book)! The recipe actually called for six egg whites, but as I already had two I just used one extra and halved the recipe.

Macarons appear quite technical to make and call for heating sugar to make the meringues plus a bit of piping, but I don't think its too hard if you follow a good recipe! I decided not to use any food colouring either so they came out quite pale in colour but a miracle, no cracked tops and some 'feet'!!! Compared to the picture in my cook book they are a bit flatter, I think I should have whisked the meringue a bit more as I don't think they quite at the 'stiff' stage before I added in the sugar! Also having tried leaving them to rest for 30mins and whacking them straight into the oven my last two tries, I left them to rest for 40 mins until the skin formed. Also, the full recipe said it would make 30 so I was expecting half to make about 15, but it made at least 20 and I think mine are average sized rather than small, although I guess I would hope to make they a bit taller next time...

Hallelujah! Feet appeared! Here is a pic of some filled just with whipped cream! Another trick I've learned is not to fill them unless I'm eating them this means they stay slightly chewy. You can just whip the cream ready and leave it in the fridge. I think next time, I'll definitely add some food colouring as whilst these are lovely they look better in pretty pastels, also I may start experimenting with flavours.. maybe pistachio or different style fillings. Anyway, these are the best I've ever made and they tasted great too!