Beat egg whites on low speed in a medium mixing bowl until it reaches soft peaks. Turn the mixer on high speed, gradually add caster sugar and beat until it reaches stiff peaks and becomes shiny.

Add you drop of yellow food coloring and lemon zest and mix in.

Sift the almond flour and icing sugar over the meringue. Work the small lumps through the sieve with your fingers. Set aside the almonds that don't pass through for another recipe.

IMPORTANT TECHNIQUE: Fold the almond mix carefully into the egg whites. Slowly fold the mixture until it loosens a little and becomes smooth. This takes around 30-40 mixes. Take care not to overmix, the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after 30 seconds to a minute. It takes practice to get this technique right.

Fill a piping bag with the macaron mix fitted with a number 5 nozzle (around ¼ inch thick ). Slowly pipe a round macaron for the base and a circle with a hole in the center for the top of the donut macaron.

Place your stencil (link above) on a thick bottomed baking tray. Lay parchment paper over it. Remember that the mix spreads once piped so leave room for it to spread. Continue with the whole sheet until the mix is gone. Gently tap your baking sheets on your bench top to remove any extra bubbles from your piped shells.

Leave shells on in a dry area to dry for about an hour, so that when you press the surface it is dry and not sticky.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F (temperature varies depending on your oven

Before they go in the oven pipe on your $ signs (or euros etc) . You don’t need a nozzle, just cut a very small hole in the bag

Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely. If they do not remove easily from the tray that means they need more baking.

Assembling the macarons: Dust the macarons with the edible gold dust. Pipe some mascarpone (or butter cream/ cream cheese) around the rim leaving space in the center. Add a drop of lemon curd in the hole to make a lemon center.

Place the top of the macaron on top and press gently.

Once assembled with filling, eat within 24 hours. These macarons make fantastic gifts! :)