Macarons!

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a blog post about macarons. I remember eating some with Nathalie last time I was in Paris a few years ago. We went to the very famous Laduree shop and had the most excellent macarons!
I decided to make some myself but little did I know how hard and time consuming it would be. I researched recipes and web sites for the past couple of weeks and almost gave up on the idea after finding out that most people have to try several times before finally making macarons worthy of their names.
Well, I did make them. They look good, very good. They do taste good too. But, and yes, there had to be a but... it couldn't be so easy... the shells are a disaster. They look perfect from the outside, but they are almost completely hollow :-)

Here is the recipe I followed.

I will spare you the pictures of what led to this. I spent hours last night, making chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream. The hardest part was sifting the confectionner's sugar and almond flour together, as the almond flour was much thicker than the sugar. Just that took me more than an hour.

Then, today I had to make the batter, which was a feat in itself (well, for me it is!) My kitchen is now a huge mess. I am even afraid to step in it!