My first attempt at Macaroons

So after my trip to Laduree, I really wanted to try and make some of my own macaroons. When I was browsing the bakery books in WHSmith I spotted a book of 30 macaroon recipes for only £4 so I though I would give them a try.

On Saturday night my boyfriend was out with the lads so I invited my friend Emma over to try them out. We looked through the book and decided to make strawberry flavoured ones.

The recipe looked very simple for something that many people said was something very difficult to make. Just a mixture of egg whites, ground almonds, caster sugar and icing sugar. I followed the directions and piped out the mixture as instructed on baking sheets. Then I left the mixture for 30 minutes to create a hard crust on top. Then I baked them on a low heat for 15 minutes.

I could believe it when they came out! They even had the skirt around the bottom just like the ones from Laduree!

When they had cooled Emma and I covered one half with vanilla butter cream and the other with strawberry jam. And this is what they looked like........

They were amazing! Soft and chewy with a hard outer casing. They were not as light and delicate as the ones I had purchased in Covent Garden but they were tasty all the same.

So the next day I decided try try and make some more. I decided on Orange as I had the colouring and flavours for this as I am running short on others. They second batch turned out better than the first. These were smaller and lighter than the previous and I filled them with vanilla and chocolate butter cream.

I would defintley recommend that you all give these a try...............they are one of the tastiest desserts I have had in a while. Try then and see what you think!

My First Macaroons from Laduree

Recently I visited London with my friend Emma and decided to visit the bakery's and sample their products. One shop my friend Emma took me to was a shop in Covent Garden called Laduree. They specialise in Macaroons and to that day I had only heard but never tried them.

I had heard that they were very tasty but also very expensive. When I entered the shop is was so small and quite. Very vintage which I loved.

I looked around and saw a vast range of colours! It was so beautiful I just had to buy some. I even brought them in a beautiful presentation box.

It took so long to try and choose the flavours as there was so much to choose from. I decided on apple, blackcurrant, peach, lemon, pistachio and strawberry.

The flavours were out of this world! The two outer cases were firm bit slightly chewy with a soft and fluffy centre. I couldn't believe that I hadn't ever tried these before. The individual flavours were perfect and precise. My favourite was apple and I wish I had a store closer to me as I would be a regular customer.

Now I am going to try and make my own.........