whatsinmykitchen:

Vanilla Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Macaron shells (recipe from yummymummykitchen)

Ingredients

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together almond flour and powdered sugar. You can skip this step but your shells won’t be as smooth.
3. Beat egg whites, salt, and granulated sugar together until soft peaks form.
4. Add in the vanilla extract and beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks. Don’t underbeat!
5. Dump the flour mixture into the egg whites and fold it in.
6. Pipe 1” - 1 1/4” rounds on the prepared baking sheets and let rest until the shells look less shiny.
7. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
8. Bake shells for 16 - 18 minutes, taking care not to underbake. Let cool completely on baking sheets before attempting to remove from parchment paper.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 4 ounces dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), chopped
• 3 ounces milk or heavy cream

Directions

1. Boil milk or cream and pour over chocolate in heat-proof bowl. Let sit for a minute or two, then stir until smooth and combined.
2. Let cool until spreadable, then pipe or spoon some onto a macaron shell and pair with a shell of the same size. It helps to match up macaron shells by size prior to filling.
3. Place in an airtight container in the fridge to mature for 24 hours for best results.

Makes 24 macarons.

I was always told that you had to have a kitchen scale to make macarons but I successfully made them with volume measurements! I have almond flour with skins and decided not to sift my flour/powdered sugar so my shells aren’t as smooth as they could be. I also slightly undermixed, contributing to the lack of smoothness in my shells. But for my second attempt, I think they turned out pretty well! I didn’t have too many cracked shells (there’s one hot spot in my oven that always makes one row crack) and they all had feet and interiors that weren’t hollow!

These are so much cheaper than store-bought macarons too (despite how much I love them, my wallet doesn’t). I calculated and it’s about $3.50 per batch, which is about the price of two macarons at Lette! Yay!

(Source: )

these look sooooooooo yummy

(Source: katiatitova)

all-france:

Paris

Restaurants Printemps Haussmann - Restaurants - Services - Printemps on We Heart It. http://weheartit.com/entry/23674562

(Source: gwengold)