family history, france, macarons......

I was looking at my sticker collections last night, and I found my Eiffel Tower sticker sets and I started thinking about France and how my family lineage(history) goes back to France...My Grandpa has always talked to me about how his family was directly descended from France and the old family history story was passed down to all generations...

I enjoyed hearing about all that, and I know that I enjoy some of the things the French enjoy:

Things like:

Love
Wine
Food
Baking
Cooking
Flowers
Poems
Art
Painting
Countryside/Farmland
AND a slower pace to life, being able to enjoy a meal or a quiet talk with others and not be in a hurry all the time.....

Paris, France is supposed to be the City of Love they say, but who knows?

I enjoy a French Restaurant near OKC...called La Baguette....it is a nice enjoyable place to have a breakfast, a meal,  or an event there.....they have the cutest bakery there with Petit Fours beautifully decorated, cakes you can order, and macarons!...I like to look at them whenever I am able to go there and see how beautiful they are decorated......

I would wish for another one nearby closer to home I could go and enjoy with loved ones, go have breakfast or purchase some Petit Fours or Macarons...

I have a recipe for Macarons...I like to see them colorfully decorated, they are a meringue cookie type....these are fun to create, I baked a set years ago!

it is fun to create/bake something that is French when I have French family lineage....I like them bright & colorful....

French Macarons

3 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar
1 and 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 cup finely ground almonds
Gel Food coloring drops

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Then you
2. Beat egg whites in the bowl with hand held mixer until whites are foamy; beat in white sugar and continue beating until egg whites are glossy, fluffy, and hold soft peaks...like meringue. Sift confectioners' sugar and ground almonds in a separate bowl and quickly fold the almond mixture into the egg whites, about 30 times. ADD a few drops of your favorite gel food coloring. Fold a few times until all batter is colorful...IF you wish for many other colors you can separate batter into different bowls and stir in other gel food colorings.Bake separately.
3. Spoon a small amount of batter into a plastic bag with a small corner cut off and pipe a test of macaron batter, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, onto prepared baking sheet. If the batter holds a peak instead of flattening immediately, gently fold the batter a few more times and retest.
4. When batter is mixed enough to flatten immediately into an even macaron, spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round frosting tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet in rounds, leaving space between them...not too close. Let the piped cookies stand out at room temperature until they form a hard skin on top, about 1 hour...depends on the weather outdoors sometimes!
5. Preheat oven to 285 degrees.
6. Bake cookies until set but not brown, about 10 minutes; let cookies cool completely before filling.
7. Remove with spatula.
8. I like the cream cheese filling best, it works well for these.
9. spread the filling onto the flat side of the macaron and place the other flat half onto that one, like you would a hamburger....lol...OR as the picture above....others enjoy French buttercream frosting, but that's way too sweet for me!...I think the cream cheese isn't way too sweet...and I prefer that best for macarons.

julie