Emergency Macaroons

In the UK if you ask anyone what a macaroon is, chances are they will describe the overpriced macaron which originating in France are now available and popular over here. French macaron of course are delicious, two light meringue based discs, sandwiched together with a delicious buttercream. This is all well and good but I fear we are forgetting a treat which has graced British tables at tea time for decades.
These macaroons are called emergency macaroons because a dear friend of mine who works as a GP at the coal face which is the NHS these days and I am pleased to send her a batch every now and again.
The addition of ground almonds makes them less sweet than the conventional recipe, but if you enjoy the sweeter stickier flavour of coconut in your macaroons, by all means replace the 100g of ground almonds with coconut.


For this recipe you will need;
Egg whites from 2 large eggs
80g of caster sugar
100g of desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
100g of ground almonds
A tiny pinch of sea salt

30g of dark chocolate for decoration.

Begin by whisking the egg whites to soft peaks, add the sugar and the salt and continue whisking for 2 minutes until stiff.
As with making French macaron, the point where it can all go a bit wrong is when you fold in the ground nuts. Gently fold the desiccated coconut and ground almonds into the stiff egg whites. The process will of course reduce the volume, but if you are careful about folding and stop as soon as the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, it will be fine.
Line a baking tray with baking parchment and scoop out the mixture into 12 equal mounds, I find an ice cream scoop ideal for this.
Bake for 30 minutes at 150C.
Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the cooled macaroons.

Notes:
This recipe makes 12 macaroons and when packed carefully in an old Adnam's gin bottle box, travel perfectly intact all the way to Newcastle for only £3.35, arriving the following day, bargain!