While it feels like the spring is always a busy time... I forget how crazy things can be in the fall as well. That said I have been a total slacker with the blog and am now going to try and be better about posting, especially with the holidays coming up. And by holidays... I mean Halloween of course! I just got the cutest mini cookie cutters that are Halloween themed, must do something cool with them!
Fall craziness aside, I did take a week where I tried to master the French Macaron (this does not have coconut) and when I say "master" I mean try two batches before getting tired of spending all my money on sugar and egg whites. But really, I wanted to try this out because I wanted to be able to give a fabulous cookie to my friend who has a gluten allergy and these are gluten free cookies (they are made with almond flour, and no it is not available in the store, you have to grind them up yourself!). So while I am sharing pictures, just know that this is my first attempt, which actually went much better than my second (Martha's recipe was awful...gasp!).
I found the most success with the recipe from David Lebovitz's book The Sweet Life in Paris which is by the way an excellent read. The recipe was easy to follow, however I was only able to get one batch to come out of the oven successfully. I need to mess more with the temperature and the time. I did not follow the time exactly in the recipe, but I will post more about it when I can get it right. For now though, here are the pictures of my first attempt at Macrons. They truly are worth the effort. There is something about the crispy outside and the soft cream filling that is like no other cookie I have ever had!
David Lebovitz's French Chocolate Macaron Recipe
