Violet Cakes' Macaroons |
Everything else of that afternoon seems
distant in my memory now, apart from that golden, crispy, syrupy rounded mound
of baked coconut.
Before my near death experience involving
sugar, my only knowledge of a macaroon (the real deal, not the contemporaneous
meringue kind, I’m talking about the poor macaroon that was overshadowed by
that) came from a packet of 4 overly chewy macaroons commonly found in my aunts,
or even dating back 10 years ago, my late nan’s flat - where there would always
almost certainly be a packet of chocolate dipped store bought macaroons. But
hey, I knew no better, and I still ate the whole bloody packet.
Who says the coconut cant be desiccated?! |
The recipe for Violet’s delicate, perfectly
proportioned macaroon can thankfully be found in Leon’s Baking &Pudding’s book - I will take this moment to mention how lucky we are that Ptak
& the founder of Leon live in the same neighbourhood. Leon is one of the best
food chains in England, but truthfully, I bought their book for the macaroon
recipe but I’m sure I will be dipping myself into some more recipes
such as the Lemon Bars fairly soon (as should the poor soul reading this).
What really sets this recipe apart from the rest is the addition of honey; it makes the world of difference through extra subtle sweet flavours on top of that already coming from the
caster sugar (trust me, it works). It also makes the macaroons extra sticky, so sticky you will need
to keep your paper towels well away until its time to wipe the stickiness from
your fingers - licking is totally acceptable btw.
The Recipe: Violet Macaroons
Adapted from Leon Baking & Puddings: Coconut Macaroons
150g desiccated coconut
150g caster sugar
3 egg whites
3 heaped tbsp honey of your choice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Makes 6 large macaroons
Equipment
Deep, medium sized saucepan
Ice cream scoop
The Method:
Place all the ingredients except vanilla into the saucepan and stir on medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the bottom of the pan leaves bubbles when scraped across - about 7 minutes.
Take off heat and leave to cool completely, about 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Place baking parchment over a baking tray.
Scoop level amounts of mixture straight onto the baking tray making sure they are slightly spaced apart. I used an ice cream scoop to get uniform macaroons.
Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown.
Leave the macaroons to cool completely before removing from the parchment. This allows the macaroons to crisp up.
The macaroons will lose their crispiness if stored in an airtight environment, so try to eat them ALL on the day of baking!
So, here's the big question that's playing on both our minds - do you plunge yours in chocolate or leave them raw?
Love Em xx
Love Em xx
I love macaroons - you used to see them quite a lot in bakeries but they're not so widely available now. Is the Leon book good - would you recommend it? FYI macarons are the meringue ones and macaroons are the coconut ones you baked :D
ReplyDeleteI would huuuuugely recommend it Bec, ah yes, I wrote about the difference slightly in the post :)
Delete