Not quite Laduree

Well, I decided to give it a go...I made my first attempt at making French macaroons. I now have a profound respect for anyone who can master this art! There are so many factors to consider...is the batter overbeaten? has the batter rested long enough? is the oven temperature just right? *le sigh* No wonder it is so difficult to find them in the U.S.! Quite a few of my shells cracked (supposedly a sign of overbeating the batter). I utilized this recipe from Martha. I'm definitely going to need more practice! Hopefully I will have the technique mastered by the holidays so that I can give pretty little packages of macaroons as gifts.

{French macaroons require almond flour. I'm sure you can find almond flour at specialty baking shops and online, but I just made my own.}

{Shells fresh from the oven. Some cracked and some looked perfect. The non-stick baking mats worked perfectly with the delicate texture of the shells.}

{Spreading Swiss meringue buttercream on the shells.}

{Rows of macaroons in the fridge}

{The finished product}

{Pretty decent for the first try, no?}

The next time I try these, I'm going to color the batter and use a different filling recipe. I was not a fan of the Swiss meringue buttercream at all (the taste was off...maybe because I didn't use real butter). I think next time I will use a traditional buttercream recipes or try one of the fruit cream recipes. Fortunately, hubby liked the buttercream filling and has almost devoured the entire batch.