Almond, Macadamia and Chocolate... Macaroons?

Well almost... 

Perhaps not macaroons in the traditional sense but delicious all the same.  You see the problem was I ran out of almonds (always a challenge when preparing macaroons) so after rummaging around the kitchen I ground up some macadamia nuts and then continued adding from there.

The result?  The look and taste of macaroons with a slightly chewier centre – no bad thing - and great with that afternoon cup of coffee.

270g Macadamia Nuts (ground in a food processor)

250g Ground Almonds

115g Egg Whites

500g Caster Sugar

5-6 tbsp of Plain Flour

1 cup of Milk Chocolate Chips (white chocolate would be good too)

1 tsp Almond Extract

Whisk the egg whites until very stiff.  Add the almond extract, sugar and ground nuts.  Add the flour 1 tbsp at a time and stir until a firm mixture is achieved, you can do this is a mixer.  The consistency needs to be firm enough that you can take a heaped teaspoonful of the mixture and roll it easily into a ball in your hands.

Place the balls on baking paper with space between them as they will spread and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 150 degrees until just going a very pale golden brown colour and the top is slightly cracked.  Leave to cool on the sheet for a few minutes before peeling them off the paper and placing on a cooling rack.

Dust with icing sugar and serve up with coffee and a chat.