failure is always an option - day 1

I came across this statement the other day...

Failure is always an option.

 ... and I realized that I really do let the fear of failure stop me from doing a lot of things. If I can't get it perfect the first time I try, I shouldn't even make the attempt. Stupid, really. Because who can live up to that standard?

So I've decided that February is going to be my month for doing things. New things, old things... doesn't matter. I need to lose the "what if"s and just do stuff. If it works out, great!!! And if not, well, at least I made the attempt.  My goal is one thing a day... I might fail at that too, we'll see!

One new thing that I've been eying for a while is Macarons. They look fascinating, and complicated, and totally yummy. I had some egg whites sitting in the fridge from a marathon Creme Brulee-making session on the weekend, so I figured that today would be a good day to give it a shot.

I used the recipe from the amazing Helen at Tartelette, and a basic Vanilla Buttercream for the filling.

 Here are the basic ingredients being mixed together: almond meal run through the food processor with icing sugar, and egg whites beaten with granulated sugar. The tricky part here is mixing them enough. I didn't. My batter was still a little thick. Oh well... now I know for next time.

The dough is then piped onto parchment paper, and left to sit for about an hour, so it can develop a bit of a crust on top. Then it's popped (gently!) into the oven to bake. I, of course, pulled up a little chair and sat and watched the entire baking process, so that I could see if my cookies would develop the requisite "feet" underneath. They did! It was very exciting.

Well... most of them did, anyhow. Some of them went all cracked and hollow. But a bit of vanilla buttercream hides a multitude of imperfections. Once they were all sandwiched together (and somehow I had perfect matches for all of them... some big, some little), they all looked good enough to eat.