Friday 17 February 2012

Rose Pink Macaroons

I’m kind of in love with almond this year, it seems. This is my third almond dish of 2012 and I actually made it a while a while ago now but felt that I should spread out the almond-based desserts a bit as obviously not everyone is a fan (you crazy people) and some people will be allergic. I also have several more almond recipes that I really want to make but ground almonds aren’t the cheapest of ingredients so I’m going to hang on to those ideas for a bit. Are there any ingredients you can’t stop using? These macaroons are a little bit different, at least, due to a secret ingredient…_DSC0865  I’m not a big fan of desserts which are really artificially coloured, because sometimes this takes away from the natural flavours in the food and just clearly looks very fake. Sometimes they can look really pretty, but generally I avoid desserts dyed bright green or blue if there is no reason. With these macaroons the secret ingredient adds a pretty pink colour that is easily controllable and contains no crazy ingredients that you can’t pronounce or contains numbers as well as letters. The ingredient? Beetroot._DSC0867I admit I was a little bit scared when I first saw this recipe. I like beetroot, but I’m not a massive fan and I didn’t want the lovely almond and delicate rosewater flavours to be overpowered by this crazy hot pink vegetable. The idea is that you whizz up a few chunks of beetroot with the sugar before adding the ground almonds, egg whites and rosewater. Due to my apprehension, I used a very small amount of chopped beetroot and this meant my macaroons had a very gentle blush pink colour as the colour fades slightly whilst baking – you can’t even really tell in the pictures. There was no beetroot flavour (great!) so in the future I’d be braver and add a larger chunk, like the recipe suggests, just to make the pink slightly more noticeable but still pretty and not brash._DSC0872 The final cookies were so cute and very difficult to stop snacking on. The rosewater flavour was definitely there, perhaps a little bit too strong for some tastes but I quite liked it. The whole almond on top added some necessary crunch and the nuttiness nicely distracted from the very sweet macaroon. The tin disappeared very quickly and I have to admit that was largely down to me! The recipe is here, it’s another Dan Lepard one from the Guardian – like the coconut meringues and cherry chocolate cookies. These recipes always work and it’s taking a lot of resistance not to buy his new book! Enjoy :)

7 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Like you, I'm not a big fan of artificially colored treats... Those macarons look wonderful and must taste divine, especilla with a good cuppa. ;-)

Cheers,

Rosa

La Table De Nana said...

I am not a fan of blue and green desserts either:) Pink I can handle..and I love beetroot:) On my to try list..

(I never tire of almond recipes)
Thanks you!

La Table De Nana said...

I don't know how long I can last w/ the new word verification:( My favorite blogs have it now..so hard sometimes:(I am a glutton for punishment I insisted on doing it again:)

Choc Chip Uru said...

I can definitely tell they would be difficult to ignore - look so delicious and adorable!
I must stay away :D
Awesome post!

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

Dewi said...

Your macaroon truly looks delicious!

The Caked Crusader said...

I go through phases where everything I want to bake will feature the same ingredient.
Your macaroons look lovely and I think they look all the better for not being over coloured.

Faith said...

Beetroot?! I am so intrigued by these little beauties...they look delicious! Off to check out the recipe. ;)