March Macaron Madness

 Kind of messy because I got lazy with the filling. I am always looking for more uses for Nutella. 

Turns out, Nutella goes to liquid when the mercury crossed the 85° mark.

I have come to the conclusion that I spend far too much time on the internets. I read blogs, mommy blogs, cooking blogs, blogs about blogging. It just goes on and on. It gets to the point where I can't tell where I read things.

And then there will be something mentioned on one blog and I will suddenly see it everywhere. There is some trend or fad that I am missing and I can't figure out how the world passed me by.

I mean, other than the fact that I am sealed in this house with plastic on the windows.

There are men swarming all over the outside of the house with all manner of tools, power and non, making the MOST unholy racket! From 8 am until 7 pm, there are footsteps, hammers, saws, sanders, etc. I can't wait for this to be done. I feel claustrophobic and trapped here.

I really need to get out. Really really really.

But enough already about my problems. It could be so much worse!

So about a week back, I started seeing mentions of something called macarons. I, of course, being uninitiated, thought this was a typo.

Nope.

Apparently this is the next big thing that is already the big thing. Cupcakes are soooo over people!

Now, just as a warning, these take some planning. You have to leave the egg whites out to age for at least 24 hours. Something about moisture, protein and such. My father just glared at me when I told him. He's a chemist, so he does that quite a bit.

I am not a chemist. Yeah, cuz, you couldn't tell that right away!

As a matter of fact, one of the greatest shames of my father's tenure as my father is the fact that I had to take Basic Chemistry twice in high school. Yup, I am that girl. I am the girl that broke almost every piece of glass labware I came in contact with. I actually, during one lab, pulled down (accidentally people, come on!) an entire rack of test tubes. Freshly washed, drying for other lab folks test tubes.

All my father has to do is mention viscosity or slurry and I start to get sleepy. My brain just doesn't work that way. Awhile back I read a New Yorker article that was discussing the possibility of people suffering from the math version of dyslexia. If there is any merit to that theory, and I am living proof that there is, sign me up for THAT telethon! When it comes to math, I am one of Jerry's kids!

Where was I? Oh...right, macarons.

So, Bakerella did a post about macarons. More specifically, two posts about them. Which led me to this blog...wow! Which then led me to the recipe she uses, with photos and advice. It is definitely daunting, but since I have been ordered to stop already with the damn cakes, I have to make something! Don't I?

So a few days ago I gathered some egg whites. Four to be exact. I was worried that it would not be enough. Turns out, three would have been plenty. Lesson learned.

Now, your main job will be to protect said egg whites from the egg police. My mother is the egg police. She is so compulsive about raw eggs, it is hilarious. She tried on four separate occasions to talk me out of keeping the egg whites, making the cookies and leaving the egg whites out of the chilly climate of the fridge. I had my work cut out for me. She is a formidable opponent when it comes to food freshness.

I made sure to measure all the ingredients using this nifty new scale (thanks Mom & Monkey) that measures by weight. Can't recommend it highly enough. You can weigh on the scale directly, or put a container on it, zero it out and weigh your ingredients. Bliss!

I did not experiment too much since I was scared to death that these would fail, always a very real possibility when you are working with egg whites.

Don't you wish you could sleep like this?

This picture has no relationship to this post. I just thought it was hilarious.

Go get yourself some egg whites, defend them from the food freshness police and make some cookies! Experiment.

Pure joy! That is the look on this Lego Loving Boy's face!