Raspberry Macarons

Ingredients

3 egg whites (extra large), at room temperature
¼ cup (60g) CSR Caster Sugar
Few drops pink food colouring
1¼ cups (195g) CSR Soft Icing Mixture, sifted
1 cup (120g) ground almonds
1 tsp lemon rind, finely grated

Raspberry Cream
¼ cup (60ml) thickened cream
150g white chocolate, coarsely chopped
45g frozen raspberries, defrosted and crushed

Method

Preheat oven to 150ºC conventional (130ºC fan forced). Line 2 trays with baking paper.
Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, whisking until mixture is thick and glossy (2-3 mins), and add food colouring. Sift soft icing mixture and almond meal 3 times through coarse sieve. In 2 batches, fold soft icing/almond mixture and lemon rind into egg white base.
Fill piping bag fitted with 2cm plain tube. Pipe 4cm rounds allowing space around each macaron. Tap trays on bench so macarons spread slightly. Stand for 30 mins on bench to form a crust.
Bake macarons for 20 mins. Cool on trays.
Raspberry cream: bring cream to the boil in small saucepan, remove from heat; add chocolate, and stir until smooth. Allow to cool. Stir through raspberries.
Just before serving, sandwich macarons with Raspberry Cream.

Makes: 16 filled

Caster Sugar

Ingredients: cane sugar

Caster sugar dissolves easily so it is ideal for meringues, puddings, jellies and cake mixes. When used in baking, the smaller sugar crystals caramelise evenly so it produces a fine golden colour in the finished product.
Being a superfine white sugar it can be used as a dry topping, often sprinkled over fruits or baked goods as a light dusting finish.

Soft Icing Mixture

Ingredients: cane sugar, starch (Tapioca)

While no cake would be complete without it, icing sugar can also be used to make goodies such as shortbread, cream fillings, marshmallow, and fondant; anywhere a smooth, soft finished texture is required. CSR Soft Icing Mixture is ideal for your favourite cakes and biscuits that need a softer setting mixture.