Macarons with Peanut Butter Caramel Crunch

method:

• Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2. Toast the peanuts until golden, and set aside to cool.
• Sift the almonds and the icing sugar together. Whisk the egg whites until fluffy. Add the caster sugar to the egg whites and continue whisking until you have stiff, glossy peaks.
• Fold the ground almonds and icing sugar into the meringue mixture. Cut and fold the mixture with a spatula until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
• Spoon the mixture into a piping bag. Pipe 2cm circles in straight lines across a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Leave a 1cm gap between each macaron shell. Drop the tray of macarons onto the work surface from about 30cm to remove any large air bubbles.
• Sprinkle the cooled, chopped peanuts on top of each macron, and allow to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes or until the macaron shells are no longer sticky to touch.
• Baking in the oven for 15 minutes. If you are baking lots of macarons, you may need to keep the oven door slightly ajar (with a spoon) to prevent steam building up in the oven. After 15 minuets, check the macarons are cooked by gently lifting a macaron at the edge of a tray. If the macaron does not stick, allow the tray of macarons to finish cooking on the tray as it cools.
• Now make the filling. In a dry, heavy-bottomed pan, melt the sugar until you have a medium coloured caramel. Add 10g of the Lactofree Spreadable to the caramel and stir in gently until completely absorbed.
• Add the double cream and stir until incorporated. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the crunchy peanut butter.
• Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature. Once the caramel is cool, whisk in the rest of the Lactofree Spreadable by the spoonful until the mixture is glossy and smooth. Pour into a tray and refrigerate until the caramel is set.
• Spoon the caramel into a piping bag and then pipe on the centre of half of the macaron shells. Top with a second macaron shell and twist gently to spread the mixture to the edges.