Almond Macaroons

Not the French mouthfuls of fragrant sugar (macarons) but instead, slightly chewy with a strong almond taste, almond macaroons. I decorated mine with Glace Cherries (the marmite of biscuit and cake toppings) but the biscuit itself was yummy!

I bought that rice flour specially for this recipe. I needed TWO TEASPOONS! For goodness sake!

It was a relief to not have to whisk those egg whites until they were peak-y too. Just frothy and that takes no time at all.

So, just dunk it all in a bowl and mix it. Then, put small spoonfuls onto your greased baking sheet, dunk a cherry or almond in the middle and bake. Like the florentines, they do spread so beware, but they do not spread as far or uncontrollably.

The final product was pretty even, and really nice. Slightly chewy and sweet & they went down well with a cup of tea whilst we hung out at our friends house.

Almond Macaroons

butter or oil for greasing

2 egg whites

150g caster sugar

100g ground almonds

2 tsp ground rice

split almonds or halved glace cherries

Grease two baking sheets and cover with rice paper. Set the oven to 160C / gas 3.

In a clean dry bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy but not stiff enough to form peaks. Stir in the sugar, ground almonds and ground rice. Beat with a wooden spoon until thick and white.

Put small spoonfuls of the mixture 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets or pipe them on. Place a split almond or halved glace cherry on each macaroon and bake for 20 minutes or until pale fawn in colour. Cool slightly on the baking sheets, then finish cooling on wire racks.

Makes about twenty.