I still have a headache after making those.  I thought this morning that if I want to have a go at making them for a living, I better get practising.  Made the shells the same method as always, but instead of 150 g of ground almonds I used 105, the remaining 45 g were ground hazelnuts. And no food colourant, 115 g of icing sugar, 35 g of cocoa.

It’s the freaking filling that was a pain in the butt. If I kept it simple, mascarpone + very strong instant coffee, it might have worked hours ago. But I diluted it with Baileys and spent forever waiting for it to thicken. It didn’t.  Gelatine didn’t help.  Freezer didn’t freaking help. At last, the cornflour did, but before I discovered it did, I was heading for the fridge determined to send it all down the bog, if still runny.

It will be stressful, having to make them perfect for a customer, but I will perfect macaroons. Is the plan.