Flavoured sugars

You can flavour caster sugar to use in cakes, baking, biscuits or desserts. It's really simple to do, so I want to share with you some easy flavours to make.

Take a clean Kilner jar.
Fill it 3/4 full of caster sugar.

VANILLA SUGAR
Vertically slice 4 vanilla pods, leaving the vanilla seeds inside.
Add these to the jar, top up with caster sugar, seal the lid and shake well.
Shake every few days and leave to infuse for a couple of weeks.
Use as needed and top back up with sugar, shake as before.
You will find that the sugar sticks together to start with as it draws the moisture out of the vanilla pods. Keep shaking and be patient with it!

ORANGE & CLOVE SUGAR
Using a potato peeler, peel the zest from an orange, place it onto a baking tray in an oven at 100C for an hour until dry.
Allow to cool.
Add the orange peel and 8-10 whole cloves to the sugar.
Top up, seal and shake well.
Shake every few days and leave to infuse for a couple of weeks.
Use as needed and top back up with sugar, shake as before. Make sure to pick out the cloves from your baking.

LAVENDER SUGAR
Pick fresh, clean lavender flowers. Ensure that you haven't used any pesticides nearby.
Shake off any insects etc.
Place somewhere warm until dry.
Remove the flowers from the stalks and add these to the jar, top up with caster sugar, seal the lid and shake well.
Shake every few days and leave to infuse for a couple of weeks before using.
Sieve to use as needed, returning the flowers to the jar and top back up with sugar, shake as before.
You want the ratio to be about 98% sugar to 2% lavender.

Macarons

Makes 20 large macaroons.
Prep Time 45 minutes.
Cook Time 17-19 minutes.

Ingredients:

Italian Meringue
275g Caster sugar
100ml water
½ tbsp Green paste food colouring
95g Egg whites (approximately 3 egg whites)

Paste
275g Ground almonds
275g Icing sugar
95g Egg whites (approximately 3 egg whites)

Method
1. Pre heat the oven to 145ºC. Cut out two sheets of parchment paper, the same size as the baking tray and set aside ready for piping.
2. For the Italian meringue: In a small saucepan, add the sugar and 100ml of water and mix until there are no lumps. Add the green food colouring and place the saucepan over medium to high heat and place the sugar thermometer inside. The required temperature is 114ºC.
3. In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the 95g of egg whites with the whisk attachment. This will then be ready for the sugar syrup when the required temperature is reached.
4. Once the sugar syrup has reached 110ºC, start whisking the egg whites on a medium speed and once the temperature has reached 114ºC, (the whisking egg whites should be frothy at this stage) lift the thermometer out and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl ensuring not to splash yourself! Turn onto full speed and after approximately five minutes, the Italian meringue will become glossy and whipped.
5. Meanwhile, whilst the meringue is whisking, make the paste. In a separate bowl, combine the ground almonds and icing sugar and add the other 95g of egg whites and mix with a wooden spoon until a paste has formed. The paste should be stiff.
6. Once the Italian meringue is ready (soft peaks will form) this is combined with the paste in three stages. If it is over mixed the mix will become too liquid and the macarons will become very flat once cooked. It is important to ensure a nice gentle mixing motion. The first addition of the meringue to the paste will be the most aggressive in order to ensure there are no lumps. The second amount of meringue must be folded in gently and the final addition of meringue must be extremely gentle.
7. The macaron mix is then ready to be piped. Using a spatula, fill the piping bag half way. Pipe some mix into each corner of the baking trays in order to stick the parchment paper onto the tray. Pipe in straight lines going from left to right leaving a 2cm gap in between each macaron.
8. These are now ready to be baked for 17-19 minutes at 145ºC.
9. Once cooked, take the trays out of the oven and leave to cool.

10. Sandwich together with chocolate ganache.