French macaroons

Oh, did you think I was going to start that whole "posting more regularly" thing ever right away? No, no...I totally meant to go a few weeks without posting and then start up with renewed vigor in mid January. I know you believe me because I would never ever lead you astray.

So, French macaroons.

The subtitle here should be "Now with 75% less failure."

I tried French macaroons a few years ago, and the failure at that time was complete. Those babies hit the trash before anyone, even Adam, caught sight of them. And you know that's bad, because I will eat anything with sugar in it. I even ate the fail fudge.

The degree of failure involved in that experience explains why I have been too afraid to try them again until the promise of backup in the form of my sister-in-law. So together we made a fresh attack. And it was not a total failure! Marginal success is mine!



These were some ugly cookies (the one in the photo was, by far, the best of the bunch), which is sad because I feel like half the point of macaroons is all the dainty, pretty fanciness. These were huge, due in part to the fact that they spread after piping and in part to some complete malfunction of spacial estimation on my part. (The book said to pipe two-inch rounds, but we ended up with at least one cookie sandwich that was bigger than my fist.) But, hey! They tasted fine. And I was quite proud of my first foray into real buttercream for the filling. All the cookies were eaten! None of them were thrown away! (Feeling good about the end result is easier when the bar is low. Very, very low.)

Buoyed by this lack of complete failure, I have already committed to a "next time" even! Let's just hope I do a little better with that commitment than I have with the "post more regularly" commitment thus far.