And Yes, we have Macaroons this Afternoon

1 pm on a Sunday afternoon and Mrs Kong has managed to bag a packet of semolina for the macaroons Mrs Kong has been thinking about ever since Jaime, Mrs Kong's old university mate, mentioned that he had fallen in love with a particular brand of macaroons only to be found in London. Well, I can't say for sure that London is the only place you will be able to get such macaroons but its where Jaime eventually found them again - in Piccadilly, London, at GBP1 per macaroon.
Mrs Kong's macaroons will cost substantially less - the recipe to be found in "Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book (Over 200 Classic Recipes)" was not to difficult to start with. Its a fantastic book for typical English cakes and cookies, with lovely shiny pictures telling you what the result should look like.

The most difficult part of the recipe I found, was having to halve the blanched almonds. At first, I wondered how one halved almonds. No it is not to be expected that I should know - I only learned what blanched almonds looked like yesterday in the supermarket when I actually bought them. The first almond was a breeze. One split on its side and walah!! Then, it started to go wrong ... the subsequent almonds would not split! I had shavings of almonds but not halved almonds. Sigh! Maybe Sainsbury's should have halved the almonds before they blanched them and put them on their shelves! Don't have time for this!!

Other main ingredients: ground almonds, semolina, sugar and egg white. The recipe required for the egg yolks to be separated and put aside. So arguably macaroons are healthy .. only if you turn a blind eye to the 175g of sugar that goes in of course. I whisked the egg whites, folded in the sugar and semolina and ground almonds, and added the almond essence at the very end. No idea what it should have looked like, but really, how would a Chinese auntie like me know.

into the oven!

All in all, I thought the recipe to be quite simple and good. The only thing I would add of course, is that one should resist the urge to add in more than a few drops of almond essence. I added two lots of "a few drops" and had a moment of panic when I realised that it might come out smelling like marzipan!

out of the oven!

Well, thank goodness that it did not. Mr Kong, the one who hates marzipan and the only one here who has tasted macaroons before, has given it the thumbs up.

We need an Italian friend to taste these! (Konon nya Macaroons are from Italy!)