French Macarons (source from : Joy of Baking) 100 gm ground blanched almonds or almond meal 180 gm confectioner (powdered

or icing) sugar 100 gm "aged" egg whites at room temperature 1!" teaspoon cream of tartar (optional) #$ gm superfine or caster white sugar 1!% tsp &anilla e'tract (my addition) some pink gel food colour (my addition) (ote : )eight measurements (grams use a digital scale) are only gi&en for this recipe* +olume mesurement (cups) are not recommended* ,a&e ready three baking sheets (make sure they ha&e flat bottoms (no warping) lined with parchment paper* -o make all the .acarons the same si/e 0 like to make a template* -ake a piece of parchment paper and draw %0 of 111!% inch (#1 "cm) circles spacing the circles about % inches ($ cm) apart* (.ine was 1% to a tray)* 2lace the template under your parchment paper so you can use it as a guide* 2lace the ground almonds and confectioners sugar in a food processor and process until finely ground (about 1 1 % minutes)* 3ift the mi'ture to remo&e any lumps* 0n the bowl of your electric mi'er fitted with the whisk attachment (can use a hand mi'er) beat the egg whites and cream of tartar if using on medium speed until foamy* 4radually add the sugar and continue to beat on medium1high speed until the meringue 5ust holds stiff peaks (when you slowly raise the whisk the meringue is straight up no drooping called a "beak") (but do not o&er mi' the meringue or it will "break")* -hen in three additions sift the ground almond!sugar mi'ture o&er the meringue* )hen folding cut through the meringue and fold up and o&er making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl* 6nce the almond mi'ture is completely folded (called macaronage) into the meringue (the batter will fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon) it is time to pipe the .acarons*