There are several theories out there as to how to age the egg whites. This step essentially is to dry out the maximum possible moisture from the egg whites. I separated the eggs and left them covered with a kitchen towel inside the refrigerator for 3 days. On the third night, I removed it and left it out on the counter top still covered with the towel overnight. To be exact I left it out in room temperature for about 14 hrs.

Almond flour is available in the grocery stores. If you do not find it in stores, this is what I did. I had some blanched almonds, which I ground in the mixer. Then I sieved it. This time I did not get too much of fine almond flour. Then I ground it again and then sieved it. I repeated this step 3 times until I got the required amount of fine almond powder.

Pulse the confectionary sugar and almond flour in a food processor or blender until well combined. Now sieve the mixture at least twice and keep it aside.

Place the aged egg whites in the bowl of the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip it until foamy.

Now add the cream of tartar and whisk it until soft peaks form. Now slowly add the super fine sugar and whisk it until stiff peaks forms. Stiff peak is something that does not break when removed from the bowl. I stopped when the peak would not drip down from the whisk and it held its shape.

Now sift the flour/sugar mixture over the whipped egg whites and fold it until a smooth shiny batter forms. Do not mix it all together; you need to slowly fold the flour inside the egg whites, without disturbing the meringue too much. Once you see that the mixture is shiny and glossy, stop mixing. You do not want to over mix the batter because that would result in flat cracked macarons.

Pipe the batter onto a parchment lined baking tray about 1 inch wide. I would provide some links at the end, do watch those videos to learn how to pipe the batter. You need to pipe it in such a way that the peaks do not stand up.

Tap the piped tray for about 3 times to release all the trapped air. Now using a tooth pick burst the bubbles that form on the surface. Leave the tray for about 45 mins undisturbed for a thin dry layer to form on the top. You know that the macarons are ready to go into the oven, when the top does not stick to your fingers when touched gently.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Bake one sheet at a time. What also helped me was, I used another tray beneath my tray with the macarons (double tray).

The feet started to form at about 7 mins into baking. It took me 7 more mins after that to get a nice golden color macarons. Rotate the tray at least once in between.

Measure the semi sweet chocolate and keep it in a medium bowl.

Heat the cream over medium heat until it starts to boil. Now pour this cream over the chocolate. Leave it undisturbed for about a minute. Now add the butter and then whisk it well until smooth and shiny.

Now leave it in the refrigerator for about half an hour to cool down. The ganache should still be in a spreadable consistency.

Once the macarons and the ganache have cooled down, carefully select pairs that are similar in shape and size. Now pipe or spoon the ganache over one of the macarons and then top it with the other one. Press gently and arrange all the macarons in a tray and refrigerate for at least 24 hrs for the flavors to combine.

The macarons taste the best, when refrigerated 24 – 48 hrs. Bring it back to room temperature before serving.