Fit a large piping bag with desired piping tip (see designs above for tip # reference) and coupler. Twist the bag right behind the tip and add a clip to seal off the opening. Place the bag tip down into either a clean tall cup with the edges folded over the rim to keep the bag open, or clip it into a bag holder.
Pour batter into prepared piping bag, and twist the opening off. Hold your bag at the twist between your thumb and pointer finger. Remove the clip.
Pipe trees using the videos above for reference. For textured macarons, do NOT tap your trays to knock out air bubbles.
If a more traditional macaron texture is desired, use half of your batter to pipe one tray of textured trees, and then fully macaronage the remaining batter and pipe trees in the same shape to pair with your textured batter ones using a small round tip like a Wilton #10. See details in the next step.
If continuing to fold half the batter, start checking your batter’s readiness every 5 folds or so at this point by scraping all batter down to the bottom of your bowl, and then wiggling your bowl back and forth several times. If the batter levels out with just a few subtle few peaks and lines remaining, it should be ready. Do not overfold. (My recipe remains a bit thicker than most even when making traditional non textured macarons)
Once you’ve piped a full tray of traditional macaronage shells, firmly bang the tray on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles and smooth out shells. Pop any remaining large bubbles with a toothpick or scribe tool. Repeat with the second tray.
Begin preheating oven to 295 °F