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Almond Macaroon Cookies

Almond Macaroon Cookies

Chewy Almond Macaroons

This recipe shows you how to make some wonderful almond macaroons. These delicious almond macaroon cookies take me way back to my Summer holidays during my youth.

Great as a snack, or lunchbox addition, these tasty biscuits can also be good to serve at afternoon tea

I have very clear memories of visiting St. Agnes bakery, near Perranporth in Cornwall with my father as a young lad whilst on holiday down there in the West Country.

recipe for almond macaroons
Before…..
almond macaroons recipe
And after the baking….

Although this old bakery is renowned for their Cornish Pasties, we would go there especially to buy the fantastic old fashioned macaroons they sold.

st agnes bakery
The wonderful St Agnes bakery

What really sticks in my memory is that back then the bakery would always be buzzing with very large wasps which terrified me as a kid, and I am sure this helped me develop a manic phobia for wasps!

But then, August in the UK is wasp season and they obviously loved the smell of all the pastries being baked!

pics of macaroons

I am sure they have dealt with that problem by now though. We are talking about 50 years ago and the fantastic smell in that place would attract anything for miles around, not just wasps!

As I remember their macaroons were huge great things, deliciously soft and chewy on the inside and hard on the outside, with a rice paper bottom and a single halved almond on top.

We would add these to our cornish pasty to finish off our packed lunch on the beach.

recipe for macaroons

 

Types of Macaroons

There are several types of macaroons (not to be confused with a French macaroon or macaron, which is a meringue-based confectionery).

These lead back to the origins of macaroons which were supposedly from an Italian monastery in the 8th or 9th century.

vanilla macaroons recipe
Almond Macaroon Cookies

Traditionally almond paste was used in the recipe and later some people added coconut to the macaroon recipe to change it. This, however, is an almond macaroon recipe and I use ground almonds and icing sugar.

I did actually try to make these at first by adding some desiccated coconut to the recipe and they turned out quite well (they were actually really delicious). But I did find the next day they had become quite hard so have not included coconut in this recipe.

But do not despair, here I have a chewy coconut macaroon recipe for you if that is what you are looking for😃.

cookie jar

Big or small macaroons?

This easy macaroons recipe will give you some rather smaller versions compared to the ones we had in Cornwall.

But they taste just as good and are very moreish, so make sure you make enough of them! The small ones also fit in our cookie jar!

how to make macaroons

You could always try making them a bit bigger I suppose if you prefer, but they may take a bit more time to cook properly, and they may be more difficult to remove from the baking sheet.

Here below is what happened when I tried making them a bit bigger.

easy almond macaroons recipe
Note the soft bottoms. Let them fully cool before removing

This recipe will give you about 18-20 small cookies or maybe 10 large ones.

If you are going to make big ones it may be sensible to use some edible rice paper if you can get it. Otherwise, they will be more difficult to remove from your baking tray, due to the soft sticky bottoms. I could not find any edible rice paper in our local stores when I tried, or I would have used that.

recipe almond macaroons
Crunchy outside with soft chewy almond inside

I hope you enjoy trying to make these cookies. If you do, please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!

How to Bake Macaroons

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almond cookies

Almond Macaroon Cookies

Yield: 20
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

These delicious almond macaroon cookies are a wonderful tasty sweet treat. Keep them hidden because they won't last long!

Ingredients

  • 260g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 190g ground almonds
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1,5 tbsp cornflour
  • 1,5 tsp vanilla essence
  • 2 tbsp flaked almonds

Optional

  • Edible rice paper

Instructions

    1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C.
    2. Combine the ground almonds, icing sugar and cornflour together in a bowl. Take the egg whites and mix with the vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Then whisk them by hand until they are just becoming foamy.
    3. Fold the egg whites into the almond/sugar mixture to form a sticky dough. Mix it well using a wooden spoon. Then use a couple of spoons to place about 18-20 mounds of dough (with these quantities) onto a non-stick surface, or two depending on oven size. (I normally use a silicone mat but grease-proof or parchment paper also works fine).
    4. (If making larger macaroons, then use rice paper underneath the dough).
    5. Place them well separated from each other as they will grow in the oven.
    6. Then sprinkle the flaked almonds on the top. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until browned.
    7. Take from oven and leave to cool. When cooled, store in an air-tight container.

Notes

Traditionally these cookies would be cooked on edible rice paper as you will find that the bottoms stay quite soft.

However, I could not find any rice paper in the stores near us and there was no problem removing them from the silicone mat or baking sheet (I used both in these pictures).

If you make them bigger then they may be more difficult to remove.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 127Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 60mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 3g

This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.

Did you make this recipe?

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Keith

Thursday 29th of February 2024

Reacting to another comment, I used "Almond Meal Flour" (which soundsas if they couldn't be sure?).

Anyway, it was perfect; the macaroon had a smooth consistency but you could still experience tiny bits of almond long after the last chew.

Keith

Thursday 29th of February 2024

Transported to memories of sweets past. Wonderful. Grandchildren amazed; but wife reacted "too sweet".

Considering other recipes reviewed I made it half and half confectioners and granulated sugar. Came out well. Also split Vanilla, replacing 1/2 tsp with Almond. Would go further with that idea next time.

Thanks very much from a Yorkshireman in (Western) New York

Gav

Thursday 29th of February 2024

Glad it worked out Keith!

L G

Saturday 23rd of April 2022

Hello. Would love to make these cookies in the USA. Noticed that your ingredients listed “icing sugar (powdered sugar)” but your instructions reference “caster sugar.” I do not believe that icing sugar and caster sugar are the same so could you please clarify before I attempt to make them? Many thanks.

Patti

Friday 10th of March 2023

@Gav, can I use almond flour in place of ground almonds?

Gav

Monday 25th of April 2022

LG thanks so much for highlighting this error in the text. It is indeed icing sugar that should be used (I had even stated powdered sugar to clarify, but then put 'caster' sugar in the text!) My bad, sorry about that. I have corrected in the recipe. Good luck making them.

Michael Packwood

Wednesday 2nd of September 2020

From 1963 to 1976 I worked in a bakery in Newquay and made hundreds of thousands of cornish pasties, and we made almond macaroons, plus many other goodies. Those were the days. We worked hard and played hard. Today I make baked goods at home. I'm 75 and still love baking. Made a white bloomer today. Michael, Saxmundham, suffolk

Sally

Sunday 23rd of July 2023

@@Gav, I realise your question was a while ago but you might still see this.. Perfect pasty pastry:

1lb strong bread flour 4oz margerine 4oz lard /crisp n dry block 182ml cold water Salt

Grate fat into flour, mix to evenly distribute (do not breadcrumb!) Add water and refrigerate for at least an hour before using. Roll to about 1/8th inch Put a slit in top of pasty before cooking to allow steam to escape. I'm 70, from Luxulyan in mid Cornwall and make great pasties... Almost as good as my mother's!

Good luck.

Question for you... Did you mean to put vanilla essence in your almond macaroons?

Gav

Thursday 3rd of September 2020

Michael, Thanks for your comment. That must have been fun. Were you a surfer? I tried some pasties recently but it was a big fail - did not get the pastry right. Any tips for me? Tks

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