sugar baking high

so this weekend i looked at my life and realized that what i'm missing is french pastries in a rainbow of colors. plus all the uppity snotty-ness that goes along with being a master baker! which is laughable because the only things i can do in the kitchen is make mac and cheese and cupcakes. look at me branching out and growing up! {and lets not focus on the fact that all the things i can make are really unhealthy in large doses}

so. macarons. i've been seeing them everywhere lately, and they look so yummy and adorable {is that a word i can use to describe food?} all at the same time. i keep describing them as "the next cupcake" because that really seems to wrap it up. so this weekend i attacked them! i scoured the internets for directions and a recipe and relied heavily on this one. which i followed as closely as possible. 

these are the results:

batch #1

success! these little babies got feet! which is huge, but unfortunately the only good thing about them. 

 problems: texture {i didn't sift the mixture well enough}

i over-beat the egg whites

i didn't cook them long enough {they were gooey inside}

very inconsistent shape/size. who knew circles could be so difficult!

but they still tasted pretty good. and they look, well, pretty!

{they're purple in real life, not this weird grey}

batch #2

 success! i am in love with these. they're much lighter and the texture is finer. and they didn't just get feet, they got big feet! yays! i got the size and shape much more consistent this time, too.

i made them yellow and filled with nutella {which i just noticed makes them look like mini-burgers...} and then ate way too many before bedtime. 

luckily the only supply i didn't already own was a kitchen scale, so i just got a cheap one. now i think it may be time to invest in an awesome macaron book, too. i'm pretty proud of my new venture, and i'm already thinking of some halloween macarons!

 not perfect yet, but oh so close and oh so yummy!