Why lemon? Because I prefer it to chocolate, and because pistachio is a tricky flavour to start with. Be warned that making macaroons takes practice – particularly the piping, which might make you grumpy and quite depressed. There’s also a bit of advance preparation, so it’s not an option for elevenses. Sorry. Anyway, here’s how to get started.

Egg whites: these should be separated at least two days (preferably 72 hours) before you want to use them and be at room temperature before whisking. This helps to give them volume.

Baking trays: for the quantity below, you will need three “doubled” baking trays (that is, two trays of the same size slotted into one another to give a double-skinned tray). You will be baking in relay, though, so you could conceivably reuse the bottom tray three times.

Baking parchment: cut this to fit the top tray of each pair so that it lies flat in the bottom. Note: greaseproof paper is not the same thing.

Piping bag and nozzle: I never thought I would want or need one of these, but it does make macaroons a lot easier. If you want, you can spoon them out with a teaspoon instead, although the shapes will be wonky.

Oven: I’ve had the best results in a fan-assisted oven, but I’ve given temperatures for a conventional oven as well.

Right, on with the recipe...

For the macaroon shells
225g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
125g egg whites (from about 4 medium eggs, but do weigh it out)
A few drops of lemon juice
25g caster sugar
20-30 drops of yellow food colouring

For the filling
Good-quality lemon curd
Mascarpone

1 In two batches, put the icing sugar and almonds in a food processor and blitz until you have a fine powder. Stop halfway through and loosen any bits that have clumped in the bottom of the processor bowl.

2 Sieve the powder into a large mixing bowl – again, do it in batches. Try to sieve all but a teaspoonful of chunky almond bits, which you can throw away.

3 Put the egg whites into a clean metal mixing bowl and whisk until they start to hold its shape. Add a few drops of lemon juice, then gradually whisk in the caster sugar in two lots until the whites form stiff peaks. Finally, whisk in the yellow colouring until well combined.

4 Mix one-third of the whites into the dry ingredients. Then tip the rest of the whites on top and, using a metal spoon, gently fold them in, using a figure-of-eight motion. It will be stiff at first, but it will gradually loosen. You want it to be smooth and glossy, but not too liquid. The texture is very important and tricky to judge: when you fold the mixture, it should form a ribbon on the surface. Too runny, and you’ll end up with flat crisps; too stiff, and it’s meringue.

5 Take your piping bag, fitted with an 8mm plain nozzle. Stand it upright in a jug, then turn down the wide opening of the bag. Fill the bag with the macaroon mix, then turn up the sides and twist to seal the mixture inside. The idea is to get rid of any air so that when you squeeze the bag, a solid stream of mixture comes out of the nozzle.

6 Hold the bag in your right hand and the nozzle in your left (or the other way round if you’re left-handed). Hold the bag in front of you, tilted slightly and with the nozzle just above the surface of the first parchment-lined baking tray. Pipe a round, 2cm-diameter blob of mixture (by squeezing the closed end of the bag). Lift the nozzle sharply to finish the blob. Carry on piping more blobs, leaving about 2cm around each one to allow for spreading (they should spread to about 3cm). Continue until all the mixture has been piped – you should have about 50-60 blobs in all.

7 If any of the macaroons have nipples, smooth them gently with a wet finger. Leave them to stand for 45 minutes. This helps them to form a smooth shell when baked. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 130C fan (or 140C/280F/Gas Mark 1).

8 Bake the macaroons in the middle of the oven, one tray at a time. After 5 or 6 minutes, they should have started to rise, forming a lacy collar around the bottom. Cook for a total of 12-15 minutes – don’t let them burn. The exact timing will depend on their size and your oven; try a small test batch first – leaving the uncooked macaroons on their trays won’t hurt them.

9 Remove from the oven and leave to cool on their trays. You should then be able to remove them gently without leaving the insides behind. If not, carefully ease off with a knife.

10 Beat together the lemon curd and mascarpone to give a lemon cream (I’ll leave the exact flavour to you). Pair macaroon shells of similar size and sandwich together with 1-2 tsp of the cream. Eat immediately, or keep in the fridge for a day – they’ll be even better.

So there you have it. Lemon macaroons. Possibly.

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