Paris + Macarons

I have been talking a lot about traveling lately and J and I are in the midst of trying to plan a Europe trip for later in the year and if it all works out we will be in Paris for our 4th anniversary. Ahhh... our 4th anniversary. I can hardly believe it!  We have never taken a trip for an anniversary before and I am so excited for the possibility. And Paris would be the perfect place. I have only been once before and that was with J (and the rest of our London program) the very first summer we met, and we were just figuring out how much we liked each other. It would be fun to celebrate our anniversary while reminiscing about our first trip to Paris.

Lately, all the talk of Paris has got me hankering for a macaron and today I decided to whip some up. Below is a pretty simple macaron recipe. You might be thinking that the words simple and macaron don't belong in the same sentence, and you would be right. Now I do believe this recipe is actually pretty simple but it was my first time attempting it and let's just say there was some struggle involved.

First off, I didn't have the patience to sift the flour as thoroughly as I should have. So, make sure you sift well, mine turned out a little bumpy. Also, I really should buy some pastry bags. Trying to do it with a ziploc bag just wasn't cutting it. The shape ended up a little uneven and next time I would make them a little bigger.

Despite all that, they tasted delicious! I will definitely be trying this recipe again and maybe even experimenting with different flavors and fillings.

Macarons with Chocolate Hazelnut Filling

1 3/4 cups almond meal or flour
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt 
3 large egg whites
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Food coloring of your choosing
Nutella

• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

• In a bowl sift together almond flour and powdered sugar. Add salt.
• In a separate bowl beat egg whites while adding granulated sugar a little at a time. Beat until stiff peaks form. (Add food coloring at this step.)
• With a spatula gently fold flour mixture into egg whites until fully incorporated.
• Transfer batter into a pastry bag with a regular tip (or a ziploc bag with a corner cut out).
• Pipe even mounds of batter onto lined baking sheets about an 1 1/2" apart.
• Tap sheets on counter to help level mounds and let stand uncovered on counter for 20 minutes.

• Move oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 300 degrees.
• Bake cookies for 20-25 minutes switching positions halfway through.
• Cool completely for 30 minutes on baking sheets. 
• Once cooled, spread small amount of Nutella on half of the cookies, then pair with other half to make sandwiches.

After all of this I could really use a glass of champagne with my macarons but tea will have to do.
 

And here is your daily dose of Gracie (Maybe that should be an actual thing because she really is that cute and who wouldn't want to see her cute mug everyday?!)... J is working from home this afternoon and he and Gracie got some play time in.