Eggless Macarons

Preparation

1. In a bowl, add the soaked-and-dried chickpeas.
2. Soak them in enough water so they submerge. You need to soak the dried chickpeas for about 8 hours to re-hydrate them.
3. After 8 hours, drain and discard the water in which the chickpeas were soaking. Transfer the chickpeas to a pressure cooker.
4. Add 3 cups of water to the cooker, cover with the lid with the whistle on.
5. On high heat, cook until 1 whistle. Then lower the heat to low and cook for 40 minutes.
6. After 40 minutes, take the cooker off the heat but do not depressurise the cooker or take the lid off.
7. Let it cool down on its own time, approx 12 hours. Therefore, it is best to do this in the evening so it has all night to cool down completely.
8. Next day, simply strain the aquafaba and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until needed.
9. Make sure you bring the aquafaba to room temperature before using in the recipe.

1. Weigh out 33 grams of the aquafaba in a bowl and keep aside.
2. In another bowl sift oat flour and icing sugar.
3. If you see any larger bits in the sieve, discard it. Keep the oat flour + icing sugar bowl aside.
4. Using electric beaters, beat the aquafaba on speed 2 (on a speed range of 1 to 6) for 3 minutes.
5. After 3 minutes, increase speed to speed 4 and beat for another 3 minutes.
6. Once you increase the speed to 4, also start adding the caster sugar one spoon at a time making sure it is well incorporated into the aquafaba between each addition.
7. After 3 minutes have passed, increase speed to 6 (highest speed setting) and beat for 10 minutes.
8. At this point, the aquafaba will have whipped up considerably.
9. After 10 minutes, add food colour and flavouring extracts of your choice.
10. Beat again for 2 minutes at the highest speed.
11. When you try to invert the bowl now, the aquafaba meringue should not budge.
12. Add the oat flour + icing sugar mix into the whipped aquafaba.
13. Using your spatula, go around the sides of the bowl and stroke in the middle. Do this several times, but also be cautious that you're not over mixing the batter.
14. It should flow freely and form a figure '8' seamlessly.
15. As soon as it reaches this stage, stop and transfer the batter to a piping bag.
16. Pipe your macarons onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper at a 90 degree angle so that they bake straight and not lopsided.
17. Once you pipe the macarons, tap the tray very hard against the countertop turning the tray in all 4 directions before every tap. This helps bring the air bubbles to the surface.
18. You then need to use a tooth pick and pop these bubbles
19. Now let it rest at room temperature either under a fan or in an air conditioned room ensuring there is no humidity
20. Preheat oven to 150^oC / 300^oF for 15 - 20 minutes.
21. By now, the macaron shells will also have dried.
22. Bake in the oven at 150^oC / 300^oF for 8 minutes. Then turn off the oven but leave the macaron tray inside the oven itself with the oven door left slightly open for 8 minutes.
23. After the total 16 minutes have passed, take the tray out and let the macarons cool down for 10 - 15 minutes before peeling them off the parchment paper.