Macarons with passion fruit cream

1. To make the macarons, grind the almond flour and 3 tablespoons of icing sugar as finely as possible in the food processor, but make sure the mixture does not become oily. Sieve the almond flour (discard the larger lumps) followed by the rest of the icing over a bowl. Add 110 grams of egg white and use a spatula to mix.
2. Heat the granulated sugar with 75 ml of water in a saucepan. Boil on a medium heat to create a sugar syrup with a temperature of 118 °C. Check this using the sugar thermometer.
3. In the meanwhile, beat the other 110 grams of egg white with the mixer until stiff and glossy. Now gently pour the sugar syrup into the beaten egg whites, beating all the time. Continue to beat for about 3 minutes until the macaron batter has cooled to 50 °C.
4. Add half of the macaron batter to the almond mixture and fold using a spatula until the mixture is smooth. Fold in the rest of the macaron batter as lightly as possible until the batter is thick enough to stick to the spatula. Fill the piping bag with the macaron batter. Pipe circles of 3 cm in diameter onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Continue piping circles on the other baking tray. Tap the baking tray against the worktop to release any trapped air bubbles.
5. Preheat the oven to 120 °C. (top and bottom heating element, do not use fan function).
6. Leave the unbaked macarons to rest for at least 30 minutes before putting them into the oven. Bake the macarons on each baking tray in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes until the shells are cooked and crisp. After 10 minutes in the oven, open the door for a few seconds to release some heat. This will avoid caramelising the sugars. Cool on the baking tray on a wire rack.
7. Prepare the cream filling by lightly beating the butter and the icing sugar with the mixer. Mix 100 ml of water with the custard powder in a separate bowl.

Halve the passion fruits and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Add the flesh to the custard. Gently fold through the beaten butter. Place in the fridge to firm until use.

8. Spoon the cream filling into a piping bag. Pipe a little cream filling onto one macaron shell, then place the second shell on top. Repeat this for all the macaron shells. Allow to cool in the fridge for 20 mins.

9. Tip: Make a template by drawing circles of 3 cm in diameter on the baking paper with a pen and a small glass. Turn the baking paper over before piping on the macaron batter. This helps make similar size macaron shells. Draw the circles and pipe the macarons in an alternating pattern on the baking tray. This creates a better rise in the oven.

10. Tip: Bake the macarons using the top and bottom heating element of the oven, do not use the fan function. Circulating hot air does not create such a good rise.