Basic French Meringue Macaron, By Helen Mcsweeney, Of Tartelette Recipe

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue.

Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse if you use already ground almonds (that you have ground yourself separately) It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almonds with it evenly. If you use whole almonds, pulse thoroughly for a minute or so.

Add the almonds to the meringue, and add also the cocoa and chocolate. Start with quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flatten on its own, you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple more folds. Better to underbeat than to overbeat.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper baking sheets. (You can also drop by tablespoon, dipping the spoon in water and shaking it free of extra water before each spoonful.)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shells a bit, and bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on their size. Let them cool completely before filling. If you have done it all correctly, there will be a little "foot" on the bottom and the top crust will have separated from it. These should be very moist--you do not want to dry them out.

Pipe or spoon some of your filling on one shell and sandwich with another one.