more macaroons...

It must be because I think I have a recipe down pat that they begin to fail! After my successful macaroon story, my last two attempts of making more macaroons failed miserably.
Could it be because I left the egg whites longer than 3 days in the fridge?
Or was it because I used liquid food colouring in the egg whites?
Or was it because I made soup during the day and my kitchen had too much moisture in the room.

One reason why it failed was because the macaroon mixture would not dry, even though it was more than two hours after I've piped them. Suspecting that it wouldn't rise, I put them into the oven anyway and sure enough, they turned out flat like pan cakes (they still tasted pretty yummy though).

Just as I was ready to try again, I was hanging about killing time in Borders while waiting for friends. Wondering through the magazine aisles, these colourful, beautifully formed, delicious looking macaroons on the cover of a magazine caught my eye. It was the Woman's Weekly macaroon and biscuit magazine with lots of tips on how to create the perfect macaroon and biscuits. Without a thought I scan through the section to look for the answer...

One tip which really stood out was the beating of the egg whites.
The magazine suggested the egg white should be whisked at slow speed until soft peaks are formed. Then gradually add the sugar and increase the speed until stiff peaks.
I followed this instruction and the macaroons turned out well although, the macaroon mixture still took a while to dry but it eventually did after 1 hour.
Here is the result...my green tea macaroons with rose flavour butter cream center! :D