I have been making macaroons for years, with great success and interesting failures. Even the failures can be tasty. A few tips: If you don't have parchment, large sheets of drawing paper or newsprint are traditional in French households. Before the cookies sit for two hours, some cooks recommend dropping the pan flat onto a counter, from a height of about a foot (my daughter loves this part - very noisy!). After they get out of the oven, lift the corner of the paper and drizzle a little cold water under the paper. They will come right off. We use King Arthur Almond Flour and Glazing Sugar, which has no cornstarch, sifted through a flour sifter to aerate. Hazelnut flour also works well and is great with Nutella, although the cookies are a speckled. Dried egg whites work fine and are very convenient. By the way, in France, the flour and sugar are sold together. There is even a special name for the way you stir everything together and flatten the batter: macaronage. But there isn't only one way to make these. The French Cookie Book by Bruce Healy has dozens of variations on the recipe. Some are tiny and delicate, others larger and shaped like rocks.

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