Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C.
2. Ganache: Under the supervision of an adult, place the small saucepan on the stove, half-filled with water, and bring to a simmer. Break the cooking chocolate into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl with the cream and the butter. Rest the heatproof bowl over the saucepan, ensuring the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water, and melt the chocolate, stirring with a spatula. Once the chocolate has melted, carefully remove from the heat and place to one side to cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites with an electric beater until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar and beat until the mixture is firm and glossy.
4. In a separate bowl, sieve the icing sugar and the cocoa powder together.
5. Slowly add cocoa mixture to the egg whites and fold in gently with a wooden spoon so as not to crush the air in the egg whites. The mixture should be creamy and shiny.
6. Line baking trays with MONO Baking Paper.
7. Put the mixture in a piping bag and pipe the macaroons onto a baking tray into small circles about 1cm thick and 4cm wide, leaving 3cm between each macaroon to allow room for them to spread.
8. Place in the oven to 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven to 100 degrees C for a further 5 minutes.
9. Once the macaroons are cooled and ready to be assembled, spread a little of the ganache on the underside of a macaroon, then place the underside of another macaroon on top of the ganache.

Tips:

1. The ganache can be substituted with chocolate icing, or whipped cream.
2. To make raspberry macaroons, omit the cocoa powder and add pink food colouring to the mixture.