Cassis Macarons

Those of you who know me will know that I've moved house again recently, which means that I have another oven to get used to!

These are the first batch of macarons that I have made in my new oven - I was happy that they turned out fine with exactly the same temperature and baking time as my old oven!

I've always wanted to make these Cassis (blackcurrant) macarons but I never knew how to get the colour or flavour right. I've used powdered colouring for these, and for the filling I made a white chocolate ganache with Cassis liqueur. Unfortunately the flavour doesn't have the intensity I was after - I've previously tried using Ribena cordial but that didn't work either. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

For the shells,

110g ground almonds

200g icing sugar
50g caster sugar
90g egg whites
colouring of your choice (I used blueberry powdered colouring)

Whisk egg white to stiff peaks, gradually adding the caster sugar. Add colouring to achieve intensity you desire.

Fold almonds and icing sugar into the eggwhites, "macaroning" until you achieve the correct consistency.

Pipe rounds onto baking trays and leave until a skin forms (usually at least 30 mins, much longer if humidity is high).

Bake at 150 deg C for 12-13 mins, cool and remove from trays. 

For the filling

100g white chocolate

20g cream

30g cassis liqueur

Heat the cream and liqueur and add the white chocolate - mix until well combined and allow to cool.