Macaron de Nancy
Ingredients
- 150 g almond meal
- 270 g caster sugar, divided
- 3 egg whites
- 2-3 tbsp water
Long before the Parisian sandwich macaron, there was this: a single rough biscuit of almonds, sugar and egg whites that two nuns in Nancy began selling after the Revolution drove them out of their convent, giving the rue des Sœurs Macarons its name. The Maison des Sœurs Macarons still guards the exact recipe, but the method is known — a hard-crack sugar syrup is poured into the almond mixture, which leaves visible sugar lumps and gives the baked macaron its cracked crust, roasted almond flavour and soft, slightly sticky middle.
Method
Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Combine the almond meal with 200 g of the sugar and the egg whites in a bowl and set aside.
Put the remaining 70 g sugar in a saucepan with the water over medium heat and take it to the hard-crack stage, 148-154°C, just before it turns to caramel.
Pour the hot syrup over the almond mixture and stir thoroughly, keeping away from the edges of the bowl. The batter will still hold hard lumps of sugar.
Spoon rough mounds of the mixture onto the lined sheet.
Bake until light golden brown, from about 4 minutes upwards depending on your oven.
Let them cool before lifting off the paper.
