Chewy Cardamom & Rosewater Macaroons (Gluten + Dairy Free + Passover Friendly)

This recipe is originally from Nigella Lawson’s book ‘Feast’ (p.186), however I have adapted it slightly to suit my tastes. I have made these many, many times, given them as gifts, and Cath (Confessions of a Glutton) and I sold some at our Bake Sale back in September last year. They are really easy to make and are great if you have egg whites left over from something else. The recipe is also really easy to double, and they just happen to be gluten free. 

Need any more reasons to make them or have I convinced you yet?! 

Don’t be put off by the flavours of cardamom and rosewater. They are quite subtle and very lovely. And in my opinion, anything that comes from a Nigella Lawson cookbook must be worth trying. Nigella has a great attitude and creativity towards food that is infectious and very admirable. 

Ingredients:

200g almond meal

200g caster sugar 

1/4 tsp finely ground cardamom

1/4 tsp rosewater

2 egg whites 

1-2 tsp rosewater, extra

25g blanched almonds (enough for each macaroon you make) 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line two large baking trays with baking paper. 

In a free standing mixer, mix the almond meal, sugar, cardamom and egg whites until it forms a coherent paste. This process can also be done by hand, but as Nigella suggests, and I agree, the mixer is best due to the thickness, and stickiness of the mixture. At this point you may add 1/4 tsp of rosewater to the mix. This is my addition because I love rosewater. 

Sprinkle rosewater onto your hands and roll the mixture into little balls (walnut sized). Place on to the baking trays and the squash down a little. Then place a blanched almond in the centre of each biscuit.  

Bake for 10-12 minutes. If they go golden too quickly turn the oven down to 180 degrees celsius. The aim is not to have golden biscuits, but to remove them from the oven before this happens. Inevitably, I find the edges of some biscuits will go a little golden, probably because each rack in the oven I use cooks at a different rate. 

Cool biscuits on a cooling rack.

Makes approx. 28

Originally Posted February 1, 2014.

Grandma's Shortbread Biscuits

This recipe is very special to me. That might sound strange as it really just comprises three ingredients, but this is probably my favourite thing that my Grandma used to make. I have great memories of making these with her and of course, eating them! The last time I remember she made them was for my twenty-first birthday. I called her and told her that I was having an afternoon tea for my birthday, and she asked whether she could provide any food for it. I immediately said no, as my Mum and I had been busy organising all the things we would need and probably didn’t need anything else. I instinctively felt bad saying no, as I knew Grandma probably wanted to bring something. My Grandma always brought food to everything, that was the way she contributed to things. A couple of days later I suddenly realised that I definitely DID want Grandma to bake something for my birthday! No birthday, and certainly not one that was an afternoon tea, would be complete without shortbread! I rang her up, and asked if she would bake some and she was happy too. I’m so glad she did as, though we all still had a few years left together at that stage, it was, I realised after she died, the last time she ever made my favourite shortbread for me.

This recipe for shortbread is quite easy but, the temperature of the butter will determine how crumbly the dough becomes. I find that butter at around room temperature is best. My Grandma never iced her shortbread, she always cut a red glacé cherry in half and placed it in the centre of the biscuit before baking. They are very nice this way, and quite festive for Christmas time. But of course, I could never only make them at Christmas! 

Shortbread the way Grandma used to make them.

Ingredients: 

160 g unsalted butter  

60 g caster sugar 

250 g plain flour

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Place the larger quantity of butter and the sugar into a food processor and pulse until combined. 

Add the plain flour, and pulse until the dough looks like the breadcrumbs. At this stage, if the dough does not start to come together well, add the extra butter and pulse until it is combined and the dough comes together. 

Tip the dough out onto a floured work surface. The dough may still look crumbly at this stage, but once brought together with your hands, and rolled out with a rolling pin, it will become a more consistent dough. Shortbread is a dryer dough than others so don’t worry if the edges of your dough are particularly brittle.

Once the dough is rolled out, cut out shapes with biscuit cutters. To ensure the shapes don’t break when you transfer them to a baking tray, slide a spatula under the biscuits to help lift them to the tray. 

Space biscuits evenly on the trays and bake for about 20 minutes. If your oven, like mine, doesn’t cook evenly on each tray, you might like to swap the trays over or turn them around half way through the cooking time to ensure the biscuits cook more evenly. 

Cool on trays or wire racks. 

The quantity this recipe yields is dependent on the size of biscuit cutters you use. When I used this recipe for the biscuits I made in the photo above, the recipe made twenty-two biscuits. 

Shortbread are lovely on their own, or once cooled you can ice them. When I first started icing biscuits, I used the royal icing that can be bought in a packed at the supermarket. It is quite good to use if you are just starting out and one packet will ice more than one batch of shortbread. If you want a more smooth and glossy finish of icing however, the packet mix royal icing isn’t the one to use. For such a finish it is best to make your own royal icing. I have been using the recipe from ‘Sweet Bake Shop’* and have found it to be fantastic.

*Sweet Bake Shop website has now changed (last checked 10/10/14). Website previously contained recipes and instructions. The website now represents the evolution of Sweet Bake Shop, which is now an actual store front in Vancouver, Canada. The website no longer contains recipes, however there are some video tutorials by Sweet Bake Shop owner Tessa. 

Originally Posted January 8, 2014.