Festive Macarons

Instructions

Macarons

Tip the icing sugar and ground almonds into a food processor and process until combined. Tip the mixture into a large bowl, add 110g of egg whites and mix to form a paste. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside.

Add the sugar and water into a saucepan, stir gently then bring to a boil over a medium heat, reduce to a simmer. When the syrup reaches 118C, pour in the remaining egg whites and whisk to stiff peaks for about 6 minutes. Add the vanilla extract, whisk until stiff peaks are reached.

Spoon the batter into a piping bag and pipe equal sized circles of batter on to a baking tray lined with baking paper (leave at least 2cm space between each meringue). Tap the tray on the work surface, leave to stand for half an hour, a skin should form on the shell.

Preheat the oven to 180C, bake for 12 minutes and leave to cool. Melt the chocolate, dip the bottom of the macarons in the chocolate and place in the fridge on baking paper until the chocolate sets.

Ganache

Place the cream in a pan, bring to a boil, remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and cacao powder until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe on to the chocolate side of the macarons. Sandwich with another macaron and sprinkle with edible glitter.