Step 1

The evening before you are planning on making macarons, separate the eggs and keep the egg whites in a bowl in the fridge to 'age' overnight. It will help get a stiffer meringue.

Step 2

Place the ground almonds and icing sugar in the mixing bowl. Blitz 20 Sec. / Speed 10.

Step 3

Sift through thoroughly and transfer into a bowl. Set aside. This is called your 'tant pour tant' and will build the basis of the macarons.

Step 4

Clean the mixing bowl thoroughly and insert the whisk attachment. Add the refrigerated eggs and cream of tartar and whisk 3 Min. / 37°C / Speed 3.5 / no measuring cup. Remove the lid and wipe off the condensation. Then whisk again 2 Min. / 37°C / Speed 3 / no measuring cup. While whisking, slowly add the caster sugar teaspoon by teaspoon through the lid. Wait at least 5-10 seconds between each teaspoon full. The mixture should come together very stiff but smooth.

Step 5

Whisk again 1 Min. / Speed This is your meringue.

Step 6

Now prepare your baking trays. Line 2-3 large rectangular trays with greaseproof paper. Put two bowls and your spatula in place. Get the piping bag ready and if you are using food colouring, get that ready as well.

Step 7

To make the macaron mixture, it is important to do it in stages to avoid having deflated meringue and a runny mixture that you cannot pipe.

Step 8

Pour 1/2 the tant pour tant in a large bowl and add 1/2 the meringue. Using your spatula, do a circular motion around the edge of the bowl, scraping the meringue towards the middle, then fold your spatula through the centre. This is called a turn. You should apply gentle pressure but be very careful as you don't wish to have deflated meringue. Repeat this 'turn' until the mixture is quite stiff. Then add the remaining tant pour tant and meringue and repeat until everything is incorporated and looks like super thick, spreadable custard. It could take between 20-30 turns to do that. There should  be no large lumps left and it should look quite smooth. There may be a few grains, which is fine. At this stage, you can add a few drops of food colouring and fold under.

Step 9

Fill the mixture into a piping bag and cut off the bottom so that you have a large opening, about 3cm.

Step 10

Pipe little dots on the prepared trays with a 3-4cm gap in between each macaron.

Step 11

Now we are doing the most important trick for the perfect macarons: tapping. Lift the tray with the macarons and tap very hard onto the kitchen surface twice. Very fast movements. Then rotate 90degrees and repeat. Rotate 90degrees and repeat. Do this at least 10-15 times clockwise or counterclockwise, which ever you prefer, until you can see that the macarons are getting flat, even and air bubbles are starting to pop. Now they are ready.

Step 12

Leave the macarons for at least 30 minutes on the kitchen surface to build a skin. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 130°C No Fan. If you have a fan oven, select the 'no fan' setting or turn it down to 110°C. After the macarons have built a skin on the top, you can bake them in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they have built little feet and look baked from the top.

Step 13

Remove and leave to cool before removing them from the tray.

Step 14

To make the filling, place the butter in the clean mixing bowl. Mix 30 Sec. / Speed 5.

Step 15

Insert the butterfly whisk attachment. Whisk 2 Min. / Speed 3.While whisking, slowly add the icing sugar through the lid. At the end, add the vanilla extract and a splash of water. Fill into a piping bag and pipe a bit on half of the macarons. Top with other macaron and store in a jar or cookie tin for up to 4 days. Enjoy!