Down-to-earth, traditional Macarons de Nancy

My second Macaron attempt has been more successful. This time round, I ditched fanciness and opted to make more ordinarily-looking macarons, which is realistically more achievable for an amateur cook like me.

Macarons de Nancy is a specialty of Nancy (a city in France), said to be baked by nuns seeking refuge in the region during the tumultuous French Revolution. It's also made up of egg whites and ground almonds but less fanciful than the colourful sandwiched macarons common in Parisian patisseries.

I got my recipe from Camille's French classic cookbook, but did not follow through her exact proportion. Learned also that in French, when they said "sucre en poudre", literally translated as powdered sugar, they don't mean icing sugar, but just fine castor sugar. Well, my icing sugared macarons still tasted yummy, and added some Chinese New Year festive spirit to my kitchen routine.

Macarons de Nancy
makes about 30 cookies

150g ground almond
150g fine castor sugar
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons clear honey
a few drops of almond essence

Mix ground almond and sugar together. Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing well with a wooden spoon. Original recipe asks for 200g of ground almond and sugar, but as I was using normal size eggs, and also not having enough ground almond, I find 150g sufficient. But be prepared to adjust quantity up if your dough is too liquid.

Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

Line a cookie tray with baking paper. Take a pinch of the dough and roll into a small ball. Flatten on the tray. Space each cookie about one inch apart to allow room for expansion.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to air tight container. The inside should be a bit soft and chewy.

It is possible to substitute ground almonds with dessicated coconuts.