This is a lovely recipe from my macaron book which has remained untouched until recently. It's a great little book all about macarons. There are pretty pictures and clear instructions with step by step photos. I particularly like the recipes in this book because there is no egg wastage. The egg whites are used for the shells and the egg yolks for the filling. I would say these were a semi-success, far from perfect but I'm glad I tried them again. I particularly liked the filling - I could just eat it on it's own! I think I can now say with confidence that I've conquered my fear of macarons :)
strawberries & cream macarons ... but I've run out of strawberry jam so it's raspberries and cream for me
I didn't have any vanilla pods either so I used a tablespoon of vanilla bean paste - smells amazing and you can see the flecks of vanilla seeds if you look closely enough
you are supposed to mix to a ribbon like texture... so far so good.... 
Glitter makes everything better
A skin formed - honestly! 
I couldn't resist peeking into the oven... looks good :) 
ta-da! 
look there's feet!! 
whisking egg yolks, sugar and cornflour... 
to make a custard like filling...
ready for the fillings
jam on one side, custard-cream filling on the other 
mini macs just because everything looks better in miniature form!
I'm so super proud of myself!! :) For the macaron shells
200g icing sugar
100g ground almonds
120 - 125g egg whites (approx 3 egg whites)
a pinch of salt
40g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod split lengthways (I used vanilla bean paste)
red edible glitter
For the filling
Raspberry jam (original recipe states strawberry jam)
3 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
250ml milk
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways (I used vanilla bean paste)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
100ml double cream
- Blend the icing sugar and ground almonds for 30 seconds until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold a stiff peak.
- Continue to whisk at medium speed while adding the caster sugar a teaspoonful at a time.
- The mixture should be thick, white and glossy.
- Using a large metal spoon, fold the ground almond and sugar mixture into the egg whits.
- Continue folding until a ribbon-like texture as shown above.
- Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe evenly sized rounds onto a baking sheet (I used a silicone mat which you can buy online here)
- Tap the bottom of the baking sheets sharply, once, on the work surface to expel any large air bubbles.
- Scatter edible glitter on top (I used a small paintbrush which I tapped gently from a height).
- Leave the macarons to rest for about 15 minutes - 1 hour until they have set and formed a dry shell.
- Preheat the oven to 170C.
- Bake the macarons, 1 sheet at a time for about 10 minutes.
- The tops should be crispy and the bottoms dry.
- Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
- To make the filling, put the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a small heatproof bowl and whisk until combined.
- Heat the milk, along with the vanilla pod (or vanilla bean paste) in a small saucepan until it only just starts to boil.
- Remove from the heat and pour over the egg mixture, whisking constantly until smooth.
- Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook gently over low heat, stirring constantly until the custard comes to a boil and thickens.
- Strain into a clean bowl, add the butter and stir until the butter has melted.
- Cover with clingfilm and leave to cool before refrigerating.
- Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks and fold into the chilled custard.
- Take one half of the macaron shells and spread about 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam onto each one.
- Fill a piping bag with the vanilla cream filling and pipe it onto the remaining shells.
- Sandwich together with the jammy macarons and leave to rest for about 30 minutes before serving.
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