My First Macarons

I attempted to make macarons for the second time yesterday and realized I never posted my first time from a few weeks ago. I followed Tartlette's recipe to the letter found in Desserts Magazine.

These turned out so much better than I hoped! I remember when I was baking these, I told myself not expect much, this is just a trial run. I'm normally a very optimistic person overall, but on this baking project I had to psyche myself down (does that make sense?) I've read all the other blogs and read all the challenges and problems others experienced making these. As I stated in my earlier post, I really wanted to make macarons. I had some egg whites left over from a making creme brulee so decided to finally try since I've been putting it off for a long time.

They didn't come out perfect. The domes are too high and not that smooth. A few got cracks and some got ring marks from the piping. I would say they are more on the rustic side. I think it's because I used raw almonds WITH SKINS ON and I didn't sift them enough to get rid of the bigger pieces. But I'm just glad they got feet! I felt just like that bird on top of the crocodile. :) My husband thought I've gone crazy when he saw me jumping around the kitchen.

I just spread Nutella inside since I didn't even plan ahead for the cream filling. I was just worried about getting the shells right. They were pretty tasty so I'm hooked. Did I fare better on my second attempt? Stay tuned.