Bakewell Macaroons

I'm not putting this one up as a proper recipe (so please forgive a few vagueries) as I think it still needs some refinement. I'm trying to think of ways to incorporate more jam and I'm considering adding a pastry or biscuitty base. However as it stands, I think it's still a good idea and a lovely alternative to bakewell tart or a normal macaroon.

A few days ago I was thinking about interesting recipes to try out. I'm in a bit of a dairy/flour free phase at the moment so macaroons seemed like a good choice, but I'd made a lot in previous weeks so wasn't feeling doing more of the same. After a bit of pondering, not to mention some discussion I decided to try out a play on the traditional bakewell, retaining the beautiful fragrance and jammy sweetness whilst introducing the chewy nuttiness of an almond macaroon.

So to start I preheated the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and lined a large flat tray with baking paper. In a large bowl I whisked together 2 egg whites with 1tsp of vanilla extract and 1tsp of almond extract. You could leave out the almond extract if you like, although I think it helps bring out that real traditional bakewell flavour. I then added 100g of caster sugar and whisked again until it was nicely combined, then mixed in 200g of ground almonds until the whole thing was a loose dough. From the mix I rolled out 12 balls and placed them on the tray, then flattened out each ball so they looked like thick-ish flat discs. I then blobbed about half a teaspoon of raspberry jam on six of the disks, placed another on top and moulded carefully until they were biscuit shaped (Taking care to ensure as little jam as possible leaked out). I was then left with six macaroony biscuits, which I evenly spaced out on the large tray. For each biscuit I pressed a few flaked almonds around the edge and popped half a glace cherry in the middle. 

In the tray went, centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until they were evenly golden on top. Once done I left them on the tray for about half an hour, then placed them on a wire rack to cool completely (whilst I went for a run). To finish, I took a small amount of icing sugar, mixed it with a little water and drizzled it on top.

They are very very lovely, although I am still trying to think of ways to get more jam inside. So any suggestions or ideas for improvements are more than welcome!