French Macaroons

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C.

Place egg whites and sugar in a bowl and mix with electric mixer until stiff enough to turn the bowl upside down without it falling out, continue to whip for 1-2 more minutes.

Divide the mixture into 4 batches. Add food colouring and continue to mix for a further 20 seconds.

Sift the almond meal and icing sugar and salt twice, discarding any almond lumps that are too big to pass through the sieve.

Fold into the egg white mixture. It should take roughly 30-50 folds using a rubber spatula.

The mixture should be smooth and a very viscous, not runny. Over-mix and your macaroons will be flat and have no foot, under mix and they will not be smooth on top.

Pipe onto trays lined with baking paper, rap trays on the bench firmly (this prevents cracking) and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.