Blood Orange Macarons

My eagerness to post another blood orange recipe before Lidl stops stocking them and ultimate life goal to master (alright wouldn't go as far as master, nor declare them my life goal but these turned out pretty darn well) macarons very conveniently led to this fancy pastel coloured post: blood orange macarons. I say fancy because this is definitely a baking milestone for me! Plus I have a lot of making up to post wise since ya know, I'm abysmal at following my self set post schedule!! Uni seems to have thrown all-the-work-ever at us these past few weeks, but deadlines have now all been met and I can breathe PHEW (when I say breathe I mean watch back to back episodes of Angel because I have finished Buffy *sobs uncontrollably*).

In other news I got a place on a scholarship programme to study Mandarin in China for a year which is super duper exciting but also incredibly nerve wracking! It also means Hippopotamousse may have to become a travel blog for an academic year - not sure how I feel about that, the only mixing up I've done on this blog is 2 savory posts and a domain change! If anyone has any comments or advice or wise words of encouragement regarding this paragraph please leave them below I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

Back to the baking...
Although I am dead chuffed about my new-found ability to make macarons I have to admit that I did not get the hype at first. Now I know I was just eating the wrong macarons (I'm looking at you overpriced chain bakeries...) because I could happily shove 10 of these zesty little sugar balls in all in one go. Yes. I am that much of a greedy guts. It took a lot of failed attempts to get to this stage of macaron making but do not be disheartened if yours don't work immediately, keep trying - I promise it's worth it in the end! (you get to reward yourself with the whole batch minus a few you show off to all your friends ;) )

This recipe is only very slightly adapted from a recipe by Lisa over at Je suis alimentageuse. I attribute all my macaron success to Lisa plus she's a feminist AND a nerd - pretty much my two fave things.

Notes

• Makes approximately 4 big macarons and 12 small ones
• I highly recommend that you weigh the ingredients out with electronic scales!
• The macaron shells will last for a few days in an airtight tin likewise the icing in the fridge, although they are best the day you make them. Sandwich the macarons just before serving.
• Wipe the bowl you intend to do your whisking in with lemon juice and kitchen roll.

Ingredients

29 g ground almonds
63 g icing sugar
36 g egg whites
18 g white granulated sugar
zest of 1 blood orange
orange food colouring - I used Sugarflair paste in apricot

1 cup icing sugar + enough blood orange juice to make a thick palette-knife-able icing paste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees C. Sift together the ground almonds and icing sugar - if your ground almonds wont sift give them a quick whiz in a food processor. Using kitchen roll, wash a separate bowl with about 1 tsp lemon juice to make sure there is no grease in it. Add the egg whites and whip using an electronic whisk until you get stiff peaks. Fold in the ground almond/icing sugar mixture - this should take about 10-15 turns completed gently with a spatula. After a couple of turns add your blood orange zest and food colouring. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds of about 1.5" for big macarons (when I say big I mean the standard size ones you see in patisseries) and just under 1" for small macarons onto a lined baking sheet. Allow the mixture to dry for about 10 minutes, this will ensure you get a nice shiny top. Bake the macarons for 12 minutes until a light shake of the baking sheet doesn't cause them to wobble. Let the macarons cool down before removing them from the baking sheet.
To make the filling combine 1 cup of icing sugar with enough blood orange juice to make a thick paste than can be easily palette knifed onto half of the macaron shells. Using blood orange juice gives your icing a nice pink colour, eliminating the need for food colouring - bonus! Sandwich the macaron shells together and voila you have yourself the cutest baked good known to pinterest.