~*Macaroons*~

There is this fantastic ice cream place here in Columbus Jeni's. They make awesome ice cream sandwiches with two french macaroons as the outer cookies. They truly are mouth watering. I was craving something sweet (go figure) so I thought I'd try my hand at french macaroons. These perfect little clouds of almond bliss seemed like quite a daunting task so I decided to do a bit of research. Many blogs said that you should not try to make macaroons unless there were blue skies and absolutely no humidity outside . I am quite superstitious so decided to wait until the skies were blue, the birds were chirping, and my hair wasn't frizzing because of the humidity:) (rare day I know).

I was surprised at how simple these cookies were to make. The macaroon batter had a beautiful sheen with specks of almonds dispersed throughout. After they baked their consistency was perfect. They turned out light, airy, and slightly gooey in the middle. The inside had a nice air pocket that gave the cookie a nice crunch when bitten into. I purposely didn't grind my almonds super fine because I like the grainy look they give the cookie. The macaroons were perfect on their own, but the ones I have eaten in the past have always had a buttercream, or ice cream in the center so............... I decided to make a semi-sweet chocolate ganache to sandwich in the middle. So so so yummy, I can't even do it justice with words.

French Macaroons
1 1/2 cups ground almonds
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 large egg whites
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbs sugar
* Preheat oven to 300. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper.Grind whole almonds or buy pre-ground almond flour. It was cheaper to grind them myself so I just bought whole roasted almonds. Combine 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar with the 1 1/2 cups ground almonds. Beat egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add in the 3 tbs sugar while beating eggs on high until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold in almonds mixture. Place batter into a plastic freezer bag and cut one of the bottom corners to form a make-shift pastry bag. Squeeze batter out into hershey kiss sized dollops on the parchment paper. Let cookies stand for 20-30 mins before baking. Bake for 20-30 mins. Let cookies cool completely before sandwiching with ganache.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Ganache
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbs butter
*Melt chips and cream. Stir in butter and let melt. Let ganache slightly set for 20 minutes. Place 1/2 tsp on one macaroon and sandwich with another. Place on a plate and let finished macaroons set in the fridge for 20 minutes.