Macaroon Marie Antoinette

Ingredients

• 110g ground almonds
• 225g icing sugar
• 4 eggs
• 50g caster sugar
• ½ vanilla pod

For the vanilla butter cream

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 75g icing sugar
• 50g vanilla sugar

METHOD

How to make macaroon Marie Antoinette

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2. Sieve the icing sugar and ground almonds to produce a fine powder.
2. Separate the eggs and whisk the whites at full speed until they start to thicken, then slowly add the caster sugar until they form stiff peaks.
3. Scrape the seeds from a vanilla pod and, using a rubber spatula, fold into the egg whites along with the almond mixture or add your chosen flavouring and colour, mix to produce a thick, shiny and smooth mixture.
4. For the vanilla butter cream, add all the ingredients to a bowl and beat well to produce a smooth cream.
5. Place the mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe 3cm discs onto a lined baking tray. Leave to stand and set a little, about 5-10 minutes so that they dry out a little before placing in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Once the macaroons have cooled, sandwich together with the vanilla butter cream and pile together on a plate.
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