Sunday, October 17, 2010

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!

17 comments:

  1. These look so delicious. I love to cook (and bake a little), but I get so intimidated by recipes that require that you beat egg whites just so, etc . . . I'd be bound to screw them up! But yours look delicious and, let's face it, anything is good with nutella!

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  2. I may or may not be salivating on my keyboard while reading this blog post. Just saying. ;)

    P.S.) I adore your nail polish color!

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  3. oh wow, thanks for making my sweet tooth even worse! i'm actually not a baker, rather, i just choose not to do it because i'm way too lazy with anything that requires so many ingredients or steps!

    i was reading your older posts, and congrats on the magazine feature! i also play the violin, but i haven't played so much lately because of the nerve damage in one of my fingers, but i miss it so much!

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  4. Oh, wow! Thank you for coming by my blog and leaving a nice comment! What a fun blog you have- full of fun things, and now, you've almost convinced me to give true macarons a try. Nice job! Our daughter lived in Manhattan for awhile while her hubby was stationed at Ft. Riley. It's very purple there! But very nice community.

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  5. Congrats on your macaroon success! I've tried making them before and always had problems, as I didn't own a scale. Now that I do have one, I think it's time to try again. Did you like the recipe you used? The first one I worked with was much too sweet and I've been thinking about getting a macaroon book too so I can make the whole variety of them.

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  6. Look at you go! Nice work! I can see these packaged up all cute-like and given as Christmas gifts!

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  7. Your macaroons looks great! I've always wanted to try making them.

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  8. Those look fabulous and amazing and my mouth is watering. One day I hope to try my hand at macaroons too!

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  9. Hi, Angie!

    Oh, my! These look so yummy! I want them all, yum! =)

    Thank you so much for dropping by! :) I was thinking that I WILL HAVE TO get rid of some of the tags; SO, if you like them, I thought I could send them some to you, what do you think? Are you interested. If you're not, don't be afraid to say so, hehe. If you are, just send me your address by e-mail and I'll do my best to send you an envelope as soon as I can, k? ;-)

    shower_your_love@yahoo.com.ar

    Have an awesome week!

    Miki. :)

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  10. I meant "... I could send some to you ...". Dumb non-native English speaking girl, haha!

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  11. wow, i am impressed! macaroons are so hard to make -- but so worth it, right?! :)

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  12. I am super impressed because I'm kind of like you in the kitchen!! I also just recently tried macaroons:)
    ~ Village

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  13. oh wow! good for you for venturing out of the cupcakes and mac & cheese (although those are two of my faves so I can't knock them!)
    These look so great - I'll need to try them and see if I can grow up a bit too ; )

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  14. they look AMAZING and perfect. the one time i tried to make them they ended up looking like fried eggs!

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  15. that second batch looks great! (that's the book I use to bake my macarons too! I love it!)

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