Heaven Comes in Small Packages

Rather, small edible packages. I cooked macarons- no, NOT macaroons, macarons. Macarons are a cookie from france made from egg whites, almond flour with a filling. They come in many different flavors and hues. I've been baking chocolate ones and they are pure bliss.

I made this batch over at Jon's sister's last week. One nice thing about macarons is that they are completly gluten-free. Faith has a gluten intolerence and these cookies are utterly delicious and friendly to those who can't consume gluten. The picture above is the cookie part post-oven. The bottom part of the cookie that looks like it's has oozed or something is called the 'foot'. Don't ask me, I just read it and bake it.
Keenai, their Rhodesian Ridgeback, LOVES chocolate. She's an addict and will stalk you once she gets a whif of that cocoa bean based goodness. I indulged her because I'm a sucker and I adore her, but, at the same time I felt the need to get a restraining order.

Can you get a restraining order for an animal? Hmmm questions to ask lawyer boyfriend. Anywho, this is a ganache I made by scratch that serves as the filling. Once this yummy amazingness cools you just slather it on one cookie and put another on top. And Violà! you have macarons.

Here's the final product... kinda looks like a mini-hamburger doesn't it? I actually forgot to photograph all the cookies once I put them together, luckily there were a few leftover so I got a shot before Jon and I headed out. We ate them too soon though, which is why I wasn't completly satisfied with this batch. For whatever reason these babies need to sit for awhile as they have a much better texture after several hours of 'gelling'. We ate ours an hour after they were put together- still yummy, just not quite right. I also needed to sift the almond flour after I mixed to take away a bit of the mealy texture. Ah well, there were no complaints and there will be more macrons to perfect in the near future.

[Oh if you are really curious, here's the recipe I used for the cookie from David Lebovitz's awesome all things French site: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/09/making_french_macarons.html (click on his chocolate recipe)

I don't use his ganache/filling, I found another recipe and while it makes more than what I need it is perfect as it isn't too sweet and compliments the cookie VERY well imho:http://www.epicurean.com/featured/french-chocolate-macaroons-recipe.html]