Definitely one for macaroon fans! These crunchy, piped biscuits are made with whisked egg whites, ground almonds, semolina and a touch of amaretto, all sandwiched together with a creamy, Italian-style filling flavoured with coffee and grated chocolate.
Steven
Series 8
Serves:
8
Difficulty:
Easy
Hands-On Time:
50 mins
Baking Time:
15 mins
- Ingredients
- Method
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Method
Step 1
Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/Gas 5. Using a pencil, draw 8 circles of 6cm diameter on the underside of the baking paper lining each of your baking sheets (giving 16 circles in total).
Step 2
Mix the ground almonds, sugar and semolina in a bowl. Set aside. Put the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to form stiff peaks. Tip in the almond, sugar and semolina mixture and fold in. When combined, fold in the amaretto. Transfer the mixture to a large piping bag fitted with a 1.25cm round nozzle.
Step 3
To make the biscuits, hold the piping nozzle fairly close to the baking paper. Pipe a thin line around the edge of one of the drawn circles. Don’t stop when you reach the beginning of the circle – continue to create an even spiral that ends in the centre. Finish by quickly pulling up the bag to give a tiny peak. Repeat for the remaining 15 circles.
Step 4
Use a wet finger to neaten the ragged edges and central peak. Then place a flaked almond in the middle of each biscuit.
Step 5
Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes, or until light golden, rotating the baking sheets after 10 minutes for an even bake. Remove the trays from the oven and leave the biscuits to cool slightly and firm up before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 6
To make the cream filling, spoon the mascarpone into a mixing bowl, stir to loosen, then add both the ground coffee beans and the coffee powder and stir again. Cover and chill for about 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.
Step 7
Sift the icing sugar into the bowl with the coffee-cream filling, then add the chocolate and stir to combine. Taste and add more coffee or icing sugar as needed. Transfer the mixture to the second large piping bag fitted with a 1.25cm nozzle.
Step 8
Match the biscuits in pairs of the same size, shape and colour. Turn one of each pair bottom up and pipe on a large mound of the flavoured cream. Top with the other biscuit and press together to spread the cream evenly between the biscuits. Dust with icing sugar to serve, if you wish.
