Macarons

One of the most inspiring and somewhat daunting baked good is the Macaron. For ages, I had held off on making them because of my oven not being the best, because it involves Meringue ( which is temperamental at the best of times!) I'd seen a lot of really nice recipes for Macarons, and while home in Australia over Christmas, I attempted it with my friend B. They didn't turn out so great but tasted nice! Apparently, (now I have learned) I was coddling the batter too much. They need a firm-ish type of hand to get the air out!
To say the least, the recipe from Raspberri Cupcakes  inspired me to give it a go. So, Kira and I thought we'd try our hand and what do you know?! Look at how beautiful they turned out!

Half way through the piping we decided we had under-mixed (for fear of over-mixing ) so the second half of the batch after a bit more whipping, produced beautifully shiny and footed Macarons.  In the picture above you can see the first three rows looking rather like grits... and then the bottom two rows lovely and glossy. A little more practice and I will venture into the world of colored and flavored Macarons :)