• Preheat oven to 150°C/ 300°F and place an empty baking tray on the middle rack.
• Line baking trays with silpat mats (you'll need 4 mats, if you want to pipe the macarons all at once).
• Prepare a large disposable piping bag with a #1A piping tip and place the bag inside a tall cup/jug, ready to be filled (see post for tips on using the piping bag). And keep a large bowl nearby, to rest the filled bag when needed.
• In a small saucepan, heat the caster sugar and water over low-medium heat. Make sure the water has covered most of the sugar and avoid stirring, as this will create crystals on the side of your pan.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer, but using an electric hand mixer, begin whisking the egg whites (A) and cream of tartar until frothy. Once the sugar syrup reaches 110°C, mix the whites on medium speed to form soft peaks, keeping watch of the syrup, as it must not go over 118°.
• As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 118°, remove the thermometer and (with the mixer turned to low) pour the syrup into the whisked egg whites in a thin, steady stream, being careful to avoid the whisk. This is the Italian meringue.
• Now place your mixing bowl onto your stand mixer with whisk attachment and increase speed to medium. Continue to whisk until mixture cools to 35°. While it's whisking, combine the dry ingredients.
• Combine the almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa (this will be your "tant pour tant"). Now sift it 3 times into a large mixing bowl.
• Now add the remaining egg whites (B) and mix with a rubber spatula, to form a thick paste.
• Once the Italian meringue has cooled to 35°, scoop some of it out with the rubber spatula and mix it into the paste to loosen it.
• Add the remaining meringue in a couple of batches and continue to fold through, scraping the bowl and folding the mixture over, whilst rotating the bowl. Make sure you scrape the bottom, to get all of the paste.
• Continue folding, scraping and rotating (macaronner) until the batter is smooth and shiny. Batter should have the consistency of cake batter and not too thin (see post).
• Scoop batter into prepared piping bag, then place the bag on the bench and press out air pockets. With the piping tip pointing up, twist the end of the bag and secure with a rubber band (I find twisting it is sufficient).
• Piping the shells: holding the nozzle end with one hand and the twisted end with the other, place the bag directly above the marked silpat mat and gently squeeze from the top hand. Release pressure before the batter reaches the inside edge of the circle and give the bag a little twist at the nozzle end, to break the release of batter.
• Place a tea towel onto the kitchen bench, then give a gentle tap of the tray, to release air bubbles. Rotate tray and repeat.
• Let macarons rest for 15 minutes, to dry a little.
• Place tray with the piped shells into oven and bake at 150°C/ 300°F for 17-18 minutes. Repeat with remaining trays. (I bake one tray at a time).
• How to tell if macarons are cooked: After 17 minutes check macaron shells -if they still wiggle, they're not quite ready. Give them another minute or 2.
• Once cooked, immediately slide silpat mat off baking tray and onto the bench to cool. Once completely cooled, shells can be gently lifted from mat (see post), put into pairs and filled with your chosen filling

Filling the Macarons

• Pipe your chosen filling onto half of the macaron shells, then sandwich with the remaining half. Refrigerate or freeze macarons in an airtight container.