I’ve been having a play! Ever since I picked up a pot of Speculoos Spread from the supermarket last week, it has been calling me from the cupboard. Now I know these are not the world’s prettiest macarons but for a play around I rather like the rustic look. If I was to make them properly I would, of course, sift the icing sugar and the ground almonds to get rid of the texture.
Speechless always remind me of our holidays in France – Violet in particular loves Lotus Speculoos biscuits. From reading up about speculoos though, it would seem that they are more of a traditional Christmas treat.
The actual macarons do not contain any Speculoos biscuits but I’ve adapted them to taste fairly like them – The Speculoos Spread that I have used in the buttercream gives plenty of the taste but if you really want to go the whole hog, you could replace 50g of the ground almonds with finely crushed Speculoos biscuits.
SPECULOOS MACARONS
| Serves | 10 |
| Prep time | 50 minutes |
| Cook time | 16 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hours, 6 minutes |
| Meal type | Dessert, Snack |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Serve Cold |
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Medium Egg Whites
- 55g Caster Sugar
- 100 + 50g Icing Sugar
- 80g Ground Almonds
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- Pinch of Salt
- 50g Butter
- 3 tablespoons Lotus Speculoos Spread (I used the crunchy variety)
DIRECTIONS
| 1. | |
| Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until you reach stiff peaks | |
| 2. | |
| Very Very slowly add the caster sugar (should take at least 6-8 minutes) whilst still mixing on a medium speed | |
| 3. | |
| Remove from the mixer and extremely gently, fold in the icing sugar, almonds, salt and spices | |
| 4. | |
| Put gently into a piping bag and pipe circles onto a sheet of baking parchment at least 2 cm apart. Bang 3 times on the work surface to get rid of any air bubbles. When I want my macarons to look pretty, I get a damp paintbrush(one that I use for cooking & sugarcraft) and flatten down the little peaks on top | |
| 5. | |
| Leave on the side for 15 minutes until a soft shell has crusted onto the top of the macarons – Meanwhile heat the oven to 140C | |
| 6. | |
| Bake for 14 minutes until just turning golden and turn the oven off. I keep the macarons inside the oven for another 2-3 minutes | |
| 7. | |
| Remove and leave on the worktop – Do not try to lift from the baking parchment as they will break | |
| 8. | |
| Beat together the remaining icing sugar, Butter and Speculoos Spread and place in a piping bag with a small hole for the tip | |
| 9. | |
| Pipe a small swirl on one macaron & sandwich together. Best eaten same day | |
Oh gorgeous! I actually love the slightly more rustic look of them!
Thanks Kerry – They disappeared quite enough so rustic definitely suits us!
I love them! The swirl looks so good and the rustic look is very appealing. I must try again to make some!!
What a brillant idea for a linky! I’m next to useless in the kitchen. I can do packet mixes for cake and that’s about it so sadly I couldn’t join in. But ill be stopping by to look at your yummy recipes! #love2blog
These look amazing! I’ve heard they are super difficult to make, but I’d love to challenge myself to try one day x
Oh those biscuits are amazing! I’ve yet to give the spread a go, so I’m tempted to give these a bash!
My daughter would absolutely LOVE these. She adores both Macarons and Speculoos. Attempting to bake Macarons is on my foodie bucket list for this year.
They look and sound delicious, I like that rustic look. Love the sound of Iron Bru cupcakes too, it’s my favourite drink!
Oooh these look so yummy! I am useless at baking, but love seeing what fabulous things other people make! Kaz x
These macaroons look really great! I love baked goods with almonds. Angela from Daysinbed
Oh wow they all look delicious! I have never tried macaroons!
Great round up Helen! And I love your macaron…….. although I have had a couple of successes with Macaron, I have also had a few failures too and my confidence dipped as a result! These look amazing…… I really should have another bash!
These looks so nice, I love macarons . I wish that I could bake but I am terrible at it which is a shame as I come from a family of bakers and nothing tastes as nice as home made baking xx
These look so good. May have to try and make macarons – i’ve always been a bit apprehensive xx
These look fab, I love Lotus spread and have a jar I am waiting to play with. xxx
I think they look and sound absolutely gorgeous! Have never heard of speculoos before though!!! Thanks for linking up with #CookBlogShare
I love Macarons and I actually really like the rustic appeal. These sound lush – we love Lotus biscuits! x
Oh my, this spread is to die for!!! And your macaroons look deeeeelish!! I I wasn’t trying to lose weight I would be all over this recipe! xx
Macarons are one of the bakes I am still yet to try, they always seem like such hard work. These look and sound so good! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare
I have never made macarons. I really want to try one day! x
They look so good! I need to give making them a go as I love eating them! x
everything looks good #Joseph
Your macarons are so pretty, I like the rustic look. Love the idea of adding Speculoos to the buttercream, delicious.
This is like paradise for me! I love the spread and I love macaroons, but whether one should combine two pleasures into one…. well, if I have the spread on my morning toast, I can always have a macaroon for afternoon tea, whereas if I’ve had them both already; what pleasure is left in life?