French Pink Macaroons

A recipe from Australian Women's Weekly. These are quite easy to make..though are very expensive to buy from cafes or cake stalls. This is a basic recipe that is also suitable for a gluten-free diet just by using gf ingredients. Change the colour if you wish

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 18

Ingredients

• 3  egg whites
• 2  tablespoons caster sugar (Aussie tablespoon is 4 teaspoons)
•  pink  food coloring, a few drops
• 1 1⁄4 cups icing sugar (do not use icing sugar mixture)
• 1  cup  almond meal (ground almonds)
• 2  tablespoons icing sugar, extra

• White Chocolate ganache

• 100  g  white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
• 2  tablespoons  thickened cream

Directions

1. To make the white chocolate ganache- stir the chocolate and the thickened cream in a saucepan over a low heat until smooth.
2. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is spreadable.
3. For the macaroon cookies- Preheat oven to 150°C or 130°C if using a fan-forced oven. Grease oven trays and line them with baking paper.
4. Ensure mixing bowl is thoroughly clean. Beat egg whites in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
5. Add the sugar and food colouring, beat until the sugar dissolves.
6. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
7. Fold in the sifted icing sugar and almond meal, in two batches.
8. Spoon the mixture into large piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain tube.
9. Pipe 36 x 4cm rounds, 2cm apart, onto the trays. (keep the circles as uniform as possible as this will make your macaroons look uniform and make pairing easier).
10. Tap the trays on the bench top to allow macaroons to spread slightly. Dust with sifted icing sugar and allow to stand for 15 minutes.
11. Bake macaroons about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to stand 10 minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
12. Sandwich macaroons with the ganache.
13. Dust with a little sifted icing sugar to serve.
14. Makes 18.