Lavender Macarons

Y'all know I'm a sucker for these tasty morsels...well, I'm yet to perfect them. They are ridiculously hit and miss, yet I keep trying and trying to get them right.

I thought I'd give a different recipe a shot, so I went to Tartelette, who I consider to be queen of the macaron, for guidance.

I tried one of her basic macaron recipes and I added some dried lavender and blue food colouring.

3 egg whites

50g sugar

200g icing sugar, sifted

110g almond meal

Beat egg whites until foamy and add sugar. Beat until glossy and then add food colouring. Fold in icing sugar and almond meal until well combined (according to Tartelette this shouldn't take more than 50 strokes). The mixture is ready when you can drop a small amount on a baking sheet and the top flattens by itself (give the mixture a couple more turns if it retains its peaks).

Pipe small circles (1 inch across) on to a tray lined with non-stick baking paper and sprinkle the tops with dried lavender. Allow the shells to rest for one hour so that they harden slightly. Preheat oven to 160 celsius and bake the shells for 10 minutes. Leave the shells to rest for 5 minutes and then remove from tray. When cool, sandwich with vanilla buttercream.

Things I learnt:

- I didn't use room temperature eggwhites, which I should have. Various macaron afficianados recommend using old egg whites (a couple of days old) at room temperature. If that idea freaks you out, zap the whites in the microwave for 20 seconds instead.

- Tartelette is now using a different recipe where she uses less sugar and bakes them at a cooler temperature for longer. I will try this method next time and report back.

I will get these right if it is the last thing I do!