"I don't know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.” 

― Vincent Van Gogh

Since young, I was fascinated with the life of Vincent Van Gogh and his unique style of painting. I learnt about him in primary school, where my teacher let the class listen to the song "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" by Don Mclean. My teacher was explaining to us about the meaning of the song, that it was written as a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh. From then, I discovered what a beautiful soul Van Gogh had, almost too precious for the harsh world. 

In an interview, Mclean actually explains why he wrote that song about Vincent Van Gogh: “In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms,” he says. “I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn’t crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo.”

"But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you."

Yield

4 Extra Large Macarons

Ingredients

[For Macaron Shells]

Meringue: 70g of Egg whites + 90g of Castor sugar

80g of Almond flour

80g of Powdered/icing sugar

Food colouring: Black, Yellow, Blue

[For Filling]

Click here to fill with your desired flavour!

Directions

[For Macaron Shells]

1. Make the meringue. In a bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed using an electric mixer until it is white and frothy (approximately 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar 1/4 at a time. When the first addition of sugar has completely dissolved (approximately 1 minute later), increase the mixer speed to medium and add until all the sugar has been incorporated. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

2. Sift the almond flour and icing sugar to the meringue.

3. Begin macaronage. Using a spatula, start the macaronage process by folding and lightly scraping the top of the batter. Continue until the wet and dry ingredients just start to become combined. In other words, you can't see traces/clumps of almond flour/icing sugar in the meringue. At this point, the batter should still be quite tacky.

4. Prepare different colours of batter based on the table below with food colouring. Continue the macaronage till you get a molten-like texture, then transfer to piping bags. Use a medium round tip for base batter, and a small round tip for deco batter.

	Base Batter	Deco Batter
Top Shell	Blue	Yellow, Dark Blue, White, Black
Bottom Shell	Blue	Yellow, Dark Blue, White

5. Pipe out batter onto parchment paper. Please refer to video above for demonstration.
6. Let the shells dry in a non humid place or an air conditioned room. You should be able to touch it gently with the tip of your finger without it sticking.