Sally Clarke’s Pine nut and hazelnut macaroons

Going through my recipe cuttings, I came upon this by Sally Clarke, though where it came from I have no idea. I doubled the quantities as not only would we be at a 9.30 service at Ipsden but I also wanted to hand some round after the Harvest Festival at 11 am at North Stoke.

Makes 25 – 30 macaroons c 5 cms across

35 g  roughly chopped, lightly roasted hazelnuts (ready done in little packets from Waitrose)

250 g blonde caster sugar

15 g unsalted butter

1 generous teasp honey/agave syrup/maple syrup

150 g ground almonds

2 egg whites whisked until lightly foaming

2-3 tbsp pine nuts

icing sugar for dusting

Sally Clarke’s Pine nut and hazelnut macaroons

Preheat oven to 160 º C  fan oven/180º C non fan/Gas Mark 4

Line 2 good sized baking sheets with rice paper or baking parchment.

Melt butter over a very, very low heat in a medium sized pan and add the honey and then the sugar and mix (sugar doesn’t need to dissolve). Add hazelnuts and ground almonds. Stir in the frothy egg whites until a soft but not loose mixture is formed. Chill for a few hours or even overnight in order to more easily handle the mixture.

Remove from the fridge and shape into walnut sized balls which should then be rolled into a small bowl scattered with pine nuts (just put a few in the bowl for each ball) until the biscuit dough is speckled. Place the balls on baking sheets with good spaces between them. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden (I kept an eye on them after 10 minutes as I know my oven is a bit unreliable for short cooking times).

Allow to cool for a while on the tray and then remove to a cooling  (unless rice paper is used).

They will keep in an airtight container for about a week. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

For double quantities I had too little ground almond so substituted about 50g with ground rice and I couldn’t tell. I thought the biscuits were a little too sweet and wondered how far you could go in reducing the sugar – must experiment.

Today is very full. In addition to two church services (one of which was a Harvest Festival – great hymns – and a stunning sheaf-shaped loaf made by one of the congregation), the Friends of Ipsden Church are putting on a market in the old barn (second longest continuous bar in England; 10-4pm) while up at Ipsden church we have another Tea Concert (I will not be taking sewing this time!). The vicar and I then have tea (another) at Dorchester Abbey followed by a service (another) as he is being instituted into the fellowship of St Birinus in recognition of his contribution to church and community during his time in the diocese.  Roll on 9pm and Downton, we shall be there with a cup of tea (another), feet up and I shall have my knitting … Then I pack for London and baby sitting duties during the Labour Party Conference – accompanied by nearly finished jumper and another new pack of Duplo for me, oops – I mean for us – to play with. Jolly times.