R khooks

Chocolate macaroon love hearts

As an English saying goes ‘A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. I’m sure you could say the same for women as long as some form of chocolate is involved. So for this Valentine’s why not try making some chocolate love heart macaroons.
To be honest I don’t think I’ll be parting with these. They’re way too good to be giving away.

Chocolate macaroon love hearts

300g ground almonds
300g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites
icing sugar to dust
200g dark chocolate

Makes about 20

Heat the oven to 180°c. Beat egg whites until foamy. Mix together almonds and sugar, then fold in the vanilla extract and eggwhites to form a softish dough.
Use icing sugar to dust surface and roll out dough to about 2cm thick. If the dough is too sticky, chill it for a while. Cut out heart shapes. Place on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for about 20 minutes depending on the size of hearts. They should be pale on the outside but still gooey inside. Be careful when you remove them. While they’re hot they’re still very fragile.
Melt chocolate over a ‘bain marie‘ and allow to cool a little. Dip each heart in the chocolate and leave on a wire rack to set. Alternatively use the melted chocolate to pipe a valentine’s message (Funny valentine poems/limericks).