Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

(The day before):

1. Aging the Egg white: Separate the egg whites, without any trace of yolk. Weigh the exact measure of 75 gm and place it in a clean glass bowl. Cover with lid or Saran Wrap and place in the refrigerator till the next day.

(Day of baking):

1. Add the finely ground almond to a processor and process briefly to get a super-fine ground almond flour. Measure and set aside.
2. Measure all ingredients before you start. Place the aged egg white at room temperature before measuring other ingredients.
3. Sift the superfine ground almond along with 98 gm of icing sugar into a large bowl. Sift two times to get a light mixture that is thoroughly mixed.
4. Beat the egg whites on low-medium speed till frothy. Add the icing sugar 1/3rd at a time. ( or a spoon at a time if you have someone to help) Increase the speed once all the sugar is added to medium-high. Continue to beat at a steady speed till soft peaks form. (when you can see lines in the egg white and soft peaks form when the beater is lifted.)
5. Then continue, turning up the speed if needed, till the peaks become stiff but still glossy. (Stiff peaks will stand up stiffly when the beater is lifted). This takes approximately 5  minutes. Do not keep whisking. Overwhisked egg white will result in Hollow Macaron shells.
6. Scrape off as much of the whipped whites from the beater. Add the whipped egg white to the bowl containing the sifted almond meal and icing sugar mixture.
7. Draw the spatula through the mixture, folding over in one direction, and cutting through the center to deflate, after each fold. Give the bowl a quarter turn with each fold.
8. Fold the batter just until you can no longer see the dry ingredients.
9. Add the gel food coloring, a few drops only at first, adding more only if you want a more intense color. Continue folding, turning, and scraping down the sides of the bowl, again in one direction, till the batter loosens up a little. The batter should be smooth and start to fall off the spatula in a ribbon. Once you can form a figure 8 with the falling batter like this, the consistency is right. (2-3 minutes total).
10. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag, fitted with a round nozzle.  Using a piping bag tie, helps keep things neat.
11. Place the template on the ‘underside’ of the aluminum baking tray. Then place baking parchment paper over it.  Add a little batter to the corners so that the parchment paper does not move.
12. Holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet (using the template as a guide), pipe the center of the macaron. No need to pipe till it fills the circle as the batter will spread naturally. Pipe only in the center, applying gentle force.
13. Lift the baking tray with one hand and, with the dominant hand, tap the tray from below to pop the air pockets in the piped macarons. Also, use a toothpick to remove any tiny bubbles. But do all this before the ‘skin’ starts to form.
14. For the same reason, it is best to do the tapping after piping every  5 macarons or so.
15. Once the macarons are piped. rest them for 30 minutes ( up to 2 hours ). A dry skin should form on the surface.  It should feel dry when you gently touch the surface.
16. Switch on the oven to 140° C/284°F. Preheat for 10 minutes.  Place only one tray at a time on a lower rack ( till the macarons rise and form feet). They should peel off the baking paper easily when fully cooked.
17. Allow to cool off completely once removed from the oven, before removing them from the parchment paper to get the flat bottom finish.
18. Once cooled, pair the same-sized shells together and place them side by side, flat surface facing upward.
19. Pipe the chocolate ganache between two shells to make the sandwich cookie. Chill the cookies in airtight containers

For the Chocolate Ganache Filling:

1. Weigh the chocolate and butter into a bowl. Microwave on medium power for intervals of 30 seconds, till the chocolate is melted and velvety. You will need to do this 2 or maybe 3 times, checking after each time.
2. Give it a good stir to make sure the lumps are melted.
3. Measure the cream into a small saucepan. Heat till it starts to boil around the sides.
4. Pour this hot cream over the melted chocolate and stir vigorously till incorporated.
5. Add vanilla bean paste and salt. Stir once more.
6. Let the ganache sit at room temperature, till it reaches a thicker ' tothpaste' like consistency. Then fill pastry bags and pipe the macaron shells.