Nigella's Chewy Macaroons

I've been busy baking (among other things) this weekend. These are not what you'd usually think of as macaroons - not the chewy coconutty type or the French variety which is spelt "macaron". Nigella Lawson's version (which can be found in her book "Feast") is somewhere in-between which is crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside but doesn't have coconut in it.

Nigella's original recipe is as follows:

- 200g ground almonds
- 200g caster sugar
- 2 egg whites (from large eggs)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
- 2 tablesppons rose water (optional)

The method is simplicity itself. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Mix all the ingredients together except for the rose water. If mixing by hand proves tedious, use an electric mixer.

Wet hands with rose water and form balls of the almond mixture approximately the size of a walnut. Place on a lined baking tray and press down slightly. Space well as the macaroons will rise. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The finished product will look quite pale (unlike in the picture where they are nice and golden brown) but the outside will be crispy and the inside quite chewy.

The first time I made these, I had problems because being the smartarse that I am, decided to substitute the rose water with Amaretto and instead of wetting my hands with it, poured it into the almond mixture. This was a mistake. The dough became too wet and I had to add an extra 200g ground almonds to salvage the dough. Even then it was still quite wet, the texture being similar to seasoned minced meat and it was necessary to actually wet my fingers before the dough could be handled to any degree.

My modified recipe is as follows:

- 200g ground almonds
- 150g to 200g icing sugar (depending on how sweet you like your macaroons)
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon mixed spice (use the Dutch blend if available, if not then any sweet mixed spice will do)
- 1 egg white from a large egg

Mix all the ingredients together and it should form a very easy to handle dough. Shape as above or if you wish, you can make smaller macaroons by forming balls of about the diameter of a 10p coin. Flatten slightly after placing on a lined baking tray. Alternatively, you can place the dough in some clingfilm and then roll it out into a cylindrical shape. Put the dought roll in the fridge to stiffen (about 1 to 2 hours in the fridge will suffice). Once stiffened, unwrap clingfilm and cut into transverse sections.

Depending on whether you want a more chewy macaroon, cut into half inch widths. If you want a more crunchy (but nevertheless with a bit of a chewy centre) cut into quarter inch widths. For more chewy macaroons, bake the thicker dough bits in an oven set at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 to 12 minutes. For more crispy macaroons, bake the smaller dough bits in an oven set at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 to 12 minutes by which time they will be nice and golden brown like the ones in the picture above. If you bake the smaller dough bits in a hotter oven, they will turn quite brown.

I spent most of Saturday experimenting with different types/quantities of sugar, methods and baking temperatures and finally managed to come up with a stable recipe which should be reproduceable next time I try to make the macaroons again.