Marian Keyes' tiramisu macaroons recipe

Put a new spin on macaroons with this delicious tiramisu recipe. Irish author Marian Keyes turned her hand at baking to bring us this quick and easy to make macaroon recipe, which basically gives you two recipes in one! You’ll only need three ingredients for the filling, including Marsala wine, but please note that the alcohol that will not be cooked off, so it may not be suitable for children or anyone not consuming alcohol. These delicious bites are the ultimate afternoon treat, especially if accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee. Tiramisu macaroons also make lovely food gifts, especially as they aren’t as common as other macaroon flavours.

Ingredients

For the macaroons:

• 2 egg whites
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 120g ground almonds
• 120g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp instant coffee, dissolved in a tablespoon of boiling water, then fully cooled
• Cocoa powder, for dusting

For the filling:

• 100g mascarpone cheese
• 1 tbsp Marsala wine (optional)
• 1 tbsp instant coffee, dissolved in a tablespoon of boiling water, then cooled

Method

1. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, gradually add the caster sugar, then the almonds and icing sugar.
3. Where you want to pay attention is when you add the coffee. When I say ‘dissolved in a tablespoon of boiling water’, I mean that literally. Just a tablespoon. On my first few attempts to make these, I used too much liquid and the uncooked macaroons just flowed all over the baking tray and ran into each other into one big, flat disaster. Also, the coffee must be fully cooled, because if it’s not, the heat will affect the consistency of the meringue, again making it madly runny. So, add your 1 tablespoon of cooled, dissolved coffee and stir carefully.
4. Using either two teaspoons or a piping bag, create your macaroons on your baking paper.
5. Leave to stand for about half an hour, then heat the oven to 140ºC/275ºF/Gas Mark 1.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then cool on wire racks. Use a palette knife to lift the macaroons off the baking paper and when they’re fully cooled, make the filling by beating the mascarpone until smooth, then mixing together gradually with the Marsala and dissolved coffee. If it goes very runny – by that I mean so runny that it will just run off the sides of the macaroons – put it into the fridge for a while.
7. When it has re-firmed to your satisfaction, use it to sandwich the macaroons into pairs.
8. Finally, sprinkle over a light dusting of cocoa powder through a sieve.