• Preheat the oven to 145 degrees Celsius / 295 Fahrenheit. 
• Prepare and weigh out the ingredients, separating the egg whites from egg yolks if necessary. 
• Blend the ground almonds and powdered sugar together until they are a very fine consistency and completely combined. Sieve the mixture into a large mixing bowl.

Italian meringue

• Place the water and granulated sugar into a saucepan. Gently warm the water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once it has dissolved, turn up the heat, stop stirring and place the sugar thermometer into the mixture. 
• When the sugar syrup reaches a soft boil temperature of 115 degrees Celsius/240 degrees, start whisking the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then pour in the sugar syrup a little at a time. 
• The Italian meringue will turn a smooth, glossy and opaque white. Continue to whisk once all of the sugar syrup has been added to bring down the heat until you can touch the side of the bowl and it feels warm but not hot. 

Almond paste

• Make the almond paste by mixing the other egg whites with the ground almond/powdered sugar mixture until it is fully incorporated.

Macaronage

• Now mix the Italian meringue into the almond paste in three stages. 
• Firmly mix in the first third of the Italian meringue with a metal or wooden spoon to loosen the almond paste and fully combine the two mixtures. 
• Fold in the remaining two thirds one at a time using the softer spoon or spatula, being very gentle with the final third to not overmix the batter and make it too slack. 

Piping macarons

• Move the macaron batter to a piping bag and cut half a centimetre from the tip. 
• Pipe two circles of macaron batter next to one another so that they touch, with one slightly larger than the other to form the shape of a snowman.
• Firmly smack it down onto the work surface twice to settle the Italian macaron batter and get rid of any air bubbles. 
• Bake straight away for 17 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow the macarons to cool on the tray. This is a no-rest macaron recipe, but if you cannot fit all of your macarons in the oven at once, it won't harm the remaining macarons to be out on the worktop for 17 minutes. 

Cinnamon buttercream filling

• Cut the butter into small chunks and allow to soften for 20 minutes. Sieve the powdered sugar.
• Whisk the butter until pale and creamy and then slowly add the powdered sugar and cinnamon until thick, smooth and fully incorporated.
• Pipe the cinnamon buttercream filling onto each macaron shell using a flower nozzle before sandwiching it with another.

Snowman decorations

• Make the icing by mixing the sieved powdered sugar with hot water until you have smooth, thick icing.
• Use the icing to stick the chocolate drops onto the snowman macarons to make eyes and buttons and to make a scarf, or use further buttercream icing.