Magnificent Macaroons, Maybe?

I have been contemplating making the macaroon for a while (I think I may have mentioned it here a few times) and last weekend I was presented with the perfect excuse, a friend's birthday! I searched the interwebulator for a recipe and, of course, there are a lot to choose from and how do you choose? A friend also gave me a book (a whole book) just on the macaroon, I ♥ Macarons. This book takes macaroons very seriously, but spells them wrong! Although there are a lot of artistic photos of macaroons (all colours) there are also lots of instructions on the making, baking and sandwiching of the said sweetmeat. Not just lists of equipment and ingredients but photos too. This was all a bit too much for a first attempt so I decided to use a recipe from BBC Food by Simon Rimmer and use some of the advice from the book. For example, a macaroon has a pied (literally "foot", the "craquelure" at the base of a macaroon) and to get this effect once you have piped the macaroon you bang the baking tray on a hard surface. Also you have the "macaronnage" which is the way of mixing the flour and meringue to get the batter for the macaroon. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one. But undaunted I started by processing the ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa and sieving it into a bowl (one of the keys is that this element is as fine as possible). Next the egg whites, I whisked them to a stiff peak and then added the flour mixture in three batches and then I attempted the macaronnage. This is basically pressing the batter along the side of the bowl and then turning it all over and repeating 15 times (no more or there will be consequences as laid out in the book). I did it as best I could and it seemed to be the right consistency, when it's ready it will drip slowly from the spoon. I had prepared the baking sheet by drawing circles on baking paper and now I tried to pipe the batter onto the circles. Easier said than done! I had a piping bag but not a metal tip, but that would OK wouldn't it? I filled the bag and piped. Now piping is not something I have done much of (none really to be frank) and so I did my best but I made the circles too big and all the batter spread out so much that the baking sheet was one big macaroon. I surveyed my work and decided to try again, I scraped it all off put it back in the piping bag and re-piped, smaller this time. I then banged the baking tray on the surface and left the batter to dry for 15 minutes. The recipe I was using asked for them to be cooked in a 180 degree oven for 7-8 minutes with the door ajar and the a 190 degree oven for 15-18 minutes (door closed, I presume). Very different timings, I went with Simon Rimmer and it was about right, if I had left them in for 15 minutes they would have been little pieces of charcoal (yum).
When I took them out they looked good, shiny, cracked surface, pied.
To sandwiching. I used a chocolate butter icing from Rachel Allen's Bake and sandwiched the little morsels together and packed them for transport. I think, for a first attempt, these worked out well. They certainly tasted good, moist almondy chocolatey bites. I will try again and this time be a bit more prepared and organised (a piping metal tip would be a good start!) and maybe try some different flavours and colours to boot.