macarons

Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone in the world is obsessed with macarons? I've been hearing about these dainty little cookies and seeing pictures of them for years, but I'd never tried one until I received a box for my birthday last year.

I had heard a lot about them though, that they are very difficult to make, and as a baker, I'd always wanted to try so I could showcase my skillz (with a z). I decided to give it a try. I found this recipe from CHOW, gathered all the ingredients (almond flour better be secretly made of gold because it is super expensive) and set to work.

It was kind of a long process, just in that it's a lot of waiting to do things, but other than that it wasn't bad. I can see how it would be hard to get all of the cookies to the exact uniform roundness, but I have to say mine were pretty good for a first timer (NBD).

They may have been a teensy bit crooked but they were delicious, although truthfully I bet you could put chocolate ganache in between two pieces of cardboard and it would still be pretty good.

The next thing on my baking to do list is chocolate souffle, I've wanted to make that for as long as I can remember, which I realized this morning was probably a strange thing for a kid to think about? But then I thought about it a little more and had a flashback to watching Beauty and the Beast with all of the dancing pies and souffles, and my life made a little more sense.

I wonder how many other things in my life I've wanted to do solely because of childhood influence by a beloved cartoon character? I realized a few years ago that the likely reason for my choosing Journalism as a university major was because of my undying obsession with April (and her saucy yellow jumpsuit) from the Ninja Turtles.