Sunday 30 September 2012

FOOD: DAIRY FREE ROSE & STRAWBERRY MACAROONS

I thought I would bring you something different today - something fanciful. I needed to start making things for myself that are dairy free as I have a slight lactose intolerance. If I have too much dairy I break out, I get stomach cramps and nausea and usually I end up in a lot of discomfort. Whilst I am willing to tolerate this for the sake of a Costa Coffee Vanilla Latte every now and again I can't allow this to happen every single day as it has been doing. A lot of people suffer with the same problems as I do so hopefully this will be useful for those that fancy a sweet treat without the lactose involved. Eggs, whilst classed as 'dairy' do not contain lactose, so for me I can eat them and use them in recipes - although I am careful not to eat too many because of the fat content in them.


This is the second attempt at making macaroons as the first attempt was unsuccessful and went very wrong. This is a very difficult recipe to get right the first time so practice will eventually make perfect. These aren't perfect but I'm still pleased with them nevertheless. In fact 'pleased' is a lie- I'm proud as punch, especially as my stepmother (who has been an amazing baker of sweet treats all my life) called me 'adventurous' for even attempting them.





INGREDIENTS FOR THE MACAROONS


150g of good icing sugar
100g ground almonds
3 large free range eggs
75g of good caster sugar
1 teaspoon of culinary rose water
1 teaspoon of red food colouring


BEFORE YOU START


You will need to line two large(ish) baking trays with grease-proof baking paper.


Put the icing sugar and ground almonds into a bowl and stir together to mix.


RECIPE


In a mixing bowl separate the egg whites from the yolks and discard the yolks to the bin. Using an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks that stand on their own.


Add the caster sugar in three stages and continue to whisk the eggs until the combination makes a glossy meringue. Please don't over whisk.





At this stage sieve the almond and icing sugar mix onto the top of the meringue mixture. Then very gently stir all of the ingredients together with a spoon. DO NOT USE THE WHISK AT ALL. Try to stir as little as possible and be as gentle as you possibly can. Don't worry if the mixture doesn't look smooth - it isn't meant to look completely perfect.


Add the rose water and food colouring - again stir with a spoon very gently until the colour is all mixed in. I went for a marbled effect as I didn't want to over stir the mixture. If you want even colouring then proceed to stir more but be very careful the mixture doesn't become runny.




I've used a spoon to dollop the mixture onto the baking trays because I a) don't own a piping bag and b) aren't too fussed about making them look perfect. If you want to, use a piping bag to pipe out perfect circles onto the trays.


Leave the trays to stand for around 20 minutes. A tip my friend Jess, who has her own bakery gave me, was that after 20 minutes to bang the trays up and down against the work top quite hard as this knocks the air out and helps the macaroons to keep their shape. Leave the trays to stand for a further 40 minutes or until the mixture is no longer sticky when touched.


Preheat your oven to 190C/Gas 5. Place the macaroons in the oven for 10 minutes - do not let them brown - only to set them and crisp up. Leave them to cool completely after this.


INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING


90g of unsalted dairy-free butter (I'm using sunflower spread but soya would work well too if you prefer)
175g of icing sugar
Dried Strawberries
2 teaspoons of red food colouring


RECIPE


Beat the dairy-free butter until it's soft then add the icing sugar and beat together until smooth.


Add the dried strawberries (as many or as few as you want for flavour - I like a lot!) and mix in with a spoon.


Add the food colouring so that the colour of the filling will make a great contrast with the colour of the macaroons.


Put the filling in between the cooled macaroons and serve to friends and family - or alternatively eat them all by yourself! This is a little bit of a throw back to summer and therefore should be enjoyed openly and in memory of those long hot summer days in the garden that we here in the UK regrettably didn't get many of!




Well, they're a bit messy and cracked but for my second attempt at a french fancy that a lot of people wouldn't even bother to try to create because of the supposed trickiness of the recipe to get right I have to say that I am really pleased with them.


And they taste amazing too! Even if I do say so myself! Sticky, sweet and that smell of the garden in the summer from the rose... Mmmmm....

15 comments:

  1. wow hun!!! They look really, really good :) Like the added flower on the picture.

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - wish it had been a rose but orchids are the only fresh flowers in the house at the moment! I will save you one xxx

      Delete
  2. wow wow wow these look amaaazing! I'm lactose intolerant too- how weird is that?!?!?! I've made these before but I went for mini ones and they were lemon flavour! Where did you get those strawberry pieces from?
    Hahaa my mum went to london yesterday and went to Covent Garden and I told her she should of brought back some macaroons from Laduree and my sister was like "yeah you should of got some but Islay wouldn't eat it she would just sit there and take photos of it" hahaa she knows me well!

    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha I think I must take that many photos of everything too! Really you too? I think a lot of people are! There is a little health food store in my town called Breckles Wholefoods and it's full of ingredients I can't get anywhere else in town so I raid it on a regular basis! Thank you for your lovely comments! I am so proud of them haha xxx

      Delete
  3. Oh my giddy aunt! I've been searching for a macaroon recipe that I can understand for ages! Me & a friend are desperate to try making these :)
    Brilliant post & I think your's look yummy!, the photos are great :)

    xxx

    www.littleboblab.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much - I hope you enjoy making them! Although like I said - they're hard to get right the first time, or even the second from the mess that I made! I hope you have fun! xxx

      Delete
  4. These look amazing, I've never had a macaroon before :( x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :) Oh no! :0 I will have to send you some!! I can't have that!! xxx

      Delete
  5. Oh yum these look AMAZING! I will have to give this recipe a go! xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah man, these sound very nice. For some reason I'm not overly keen on macarons, a slice of cake is more my kind of thing, oops.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woww these look good! I've never tried one either :( not sure if I would like them because I don't like almondy things but if they're not too almondy it might be fine :P xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yum! I am itching to give macaroons a try, I am going to have to bite the bullet and do it this weekend. I've heard before that they're not the easiest to get right though!
    Mel xx

    melswallofmirrors.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  9. yummmy :) these look really good ive never tried a macaroon:O

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting. I adore every single one. Please feel free to link your blogs underneath your comments - I love finding new blogs to read!

It may take me a while to reply to comments so if you have any direct questions please tweet me @Superfluous_B and I'll get back to you more quickly there.

Comment moderation is in place to prevent spam. Spam includes: 'follow for follow comments', comments made with a link where the comment has no relevance to the post, anonymous comments that have no relevance to the post and trolling/hate. These will all be deleted.