A snowed-in Saturday followed by pelting ice overnight made for a dangerous Sunday of chipping, slipping and sliding. We were not going anywhere for the second day in a row. What to do? What to make? And without any trips to the store for additional ingredients?
Macaroons. All you need is a can of almond paste and an egg white.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Blend almond paste with ½ cup of white sugar until uniformly fine.
Add one large egg white (although I like at least 1 ½) and beat until the mixture is sticky. Do it for at least two minutes, which will incorporate air into the mix.
Spoon onto lined (foil, silpat, parchment, whatever you use) baking sheets, or use a pastry bag with a wide tip. I used a 6B for these. My daughter is a maniac with a pastry bag. I’m lucky to even touch it at times.Bake for 20 minutes, rotating your pans halfway through, then check for doneness; they should be light and golden.
I made little bite-sized cookies, 28 in all. They needed only 20 mins.
Larger macaroons will take longer, so rotate the pans and bake for another 5-8 mins. if necessary.
Slide the linings off the pans and allow the cookies to cool. Carefully peel them off your lining.
And as always, I can’t leave well enough alone. Apparently, neither can my daughter, although her choice of bright pink sanding sugar sparkled so cheerfully. She also exercised a surprising amount of restraint when sprinkling the cookies before baking [see pic]. We ended up with three kinds today: plain, chocolate dipped, and chocolate dipped with toasted, slivered almonds. I toast any and all kinds of nuts, which really brings out the flavor. We used an 85% cacao bittersweet chocolate bar for melting, which was included in a Godiva gift basket we received at Christmas. I had never used the Godiva brand for melting or baking before, and was pleased with the results.
[Now I’m thinking about doing a treatise on baking and melting chocolates. Or would that be a dessertation?]So far as other additions go, add the traditional fine coconut flakes (toasted or plain) just before beating in the egg white.
Blend a few tablespoons of good cocoa powder into the ½ cup sugar for chocolate macaroons.
Add orange zest to your bittersweet chocolate if dipping or drizzling.
Top with a candied cherry or other fruit or décor if you’d like.
Re: Almond paste. This is not marzipan. I like Solo (as shown above), which comes in an 8 oz. can and is consistent in quality and dependable. Paste in a tube is fine, too, but that tends to be a 7 oz size. It will work fine as well in that quantity w/o adjustments to the other ingredients.
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