Macarons

Alright, I've mentioned her blog before: Whisk Kid - and I'm mentioning it again, because her recipes and photography have provided some great inspiration recently. Like, seriously, bravo to this kid cuz she's good! Well she has lots of different macaroon recipes and pics on her blog- I thought I'd take a stab at them.

More like wimpy five year old hit actually- they failed; pretty much everything that could have gone wrong went wrong- they were flat, they cracked, they had no "feet"- they were pathetic. So. . I made them again! Except I used David Lebovitz's recipe for chocolate macs instead and then paired them with peanut butter chocolate ganache from whisk-kid. I think they were a success! Except i probably should have made them a little larger to balance out the height.

the fail.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Macaroons

For the Macaroons via David Lebovitz

1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)
3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

1) Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn't quite fine enough.

2) In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat

the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.

3) Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the

batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you're alone).

4) Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles (about 1

tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch apart. *I just used greased pans cuz i was out of parchment.

5) This is where I differ from Mr. Lebovitz: I let them set out for an hour and a half to two hours or until they have a dry "crust" or skin on top of them- no skin, no feet. Bake at 300F for about 15 minutes. Let cool and then take off of pans. Fill with the filling of your

choice- but i like the pb & choc ganache below.

For the PB & Chocolate Ganache via Whisk Kid

scant 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup dark chocolate (I used semi-sweet choc. chips)

spoonful of peanut butter

Heat the cream up in the microwave for about a minute, or until steaming and hot. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until combined. Whisk in the peanut butter until everything is well combined. Stick in the freezer for like 10 minutes, or until it sets up.

Enjoy!