French Meringue Cookies

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 250 g fine caster sugar
• 200 g ground almonds
• Food coloring (as desired)
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 50 g dark chocolate couverture
• 50 g white chocolate couverture
• 2 Tbsp whipping cream
• 2 tbsp butter
• 20 g strawberry jam

Instructions

1. 1.

   Beat the egg whites with lemon juice until stiff peaks form, gradually adding the sugar. Continue beating until a firm, glossy batter forms. Gently fold in the almonds and divide the dough. Color the batter with cocoa or food coloring as desired.

2. 2.

   Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip with the batter. Pipe small half‑spheres about 2 cm high onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 150 °C (fan 130 °C; gas: level 1–2) for about 40 minutes, leaving the oven door slightly ajar.

3. 3.

   For the filling, chop 50 g of each chocolate into small pieces and melt gently over a double boiler. Whisk in 1 tbsp cream and 1 tbsp butter with a whisk. Color the white chocolate as desired with food coloring. Let the mixture cool slightly.

4. 4.

   Spread half of the macarons with the various colored chocolate fillings or strawberry jam, then sandwich them together with the remaining macarons.