Drooling lads.

Do you adore all things gin? Well, get ready to freak out. I recently found the most unreal recipe for gin infused macaroons - and they taste as good as they look! So if you fancy getting your bake on, keep reading... For the macaroons:

• 220 ml confectionery sugar
• 125 ml almond flour
• 3 eggs
• 3 ml cream of tartar
• 1 ml salt
• 65 ml castor sugar
• 10 ml gin
• 10 ml lemon zest
• 5 oz yellow food coloring

For the lemon and mint mousse recipe:

• 10 ml lemon
• 5 ml zest
• 65 ml icing sugar
• 200 ml cream
• 2 ml lemon essence
• 5 ml mint

For the garnish:

• 5-10 mint leaves
• 5 lemon slices (candied)
• 100 ml simple syrup
• 100 ml castor sugar
• 5 g coconut flakes

Method For the macaroons: Combine icing sugar and almond flour. Sieve icing sugar and almond flour little by little into a bowl. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium and start adding the castor sugar little by little until stiff peaks form and the mixture is shiny. Gently add the almond and sugar mixture into the egg white mixture, and fold until combine, but don’t over mix. Grate the lemon zest into the mixture and add the gin flavoring. Mix until combined and until it is smooth. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag and start to pipe small circles. Tap the baking sheet twice to release the air bubbles. Let the macaroons sit at room temperature until their surface is no longer sticky. Bake the macaroons until it is well risen and shiny. Transfer to a cooling rack and let it cool completely. Then once it is cooled sandwich them together with the filling. For the lemon mint mousse: Combine all of the ingredients, except the cream, to form a paste. Whip the cream until medium peaks. Fold the lemon paste into the cream until it is combined. For the candied lemon: Prepare simple syrup by simmering equal quantities of water and sugar together. Slice the lemon into slices 1-2 mm thick and put into the simple syrup. Simmer for 20 minutes, remove from syrup and let the lemon slices air-dry on kitchen towel before dusting in castor sugar. Dust the excess castor sugar off and put the slices on a tray and into an oven at a very low temperature to dry out completely. Recipe courtesy of Food 24.