happy new year!

We shared our New Year's Eve with close friends this year.  We enjoyed ridiculously good food - pork belly steam buns for snacking, lobster, steak, twice baked potatoes, brownies, macarons.  We drank ridiculously good wine - Sea Smoke Pinot Noir and Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.  And played a very entertaining game called Wits and Wagers.  I was the lone non-pregnant female in attendance and we played drinkers vs. non-drinkers, and drum roll, drinkers won!  This game was super fun and highly recommended, however, I don't believe we played by the official rules.

So, whenever you are the guest to a dinner party, it's a must to bring a little something along.  We always like to bring something for sipping, but also love to bring along appetizers or desserts.  For the New Year's Eve party Paul and I decided on pork belly steam buns (Paul's masterpiece) and macarons (my ambitious idea).  Macarons are pretty pretty little cookies, delicious to eat, and a pain in the butt to make.  But, it's the New Year, and if you have a open day and are feeling adventurous these are a wow to bring to a party.

French Macarons (makes 25-30 filled macarons)

For the shells, you'll need:

2 3/4 cups almond flour
2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup egg whites (from 7 eggs)
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup superfine sugar
Gel food coloring

Blend the almond flour and confectioners sugar in a food processor until it becomes a fine powder.  Empty into a large mixing bowl.

Beat the egg whites and salt with a mixer using a whisk attachment.  Start slowly, increasing the speed as the egg whites begin to rise.  Add the superfine sugar.

Use as much food coloring as you'd like to get your desired color.  Gel food coloring is recommended so the mixture is not too wet.  (I used 3 drops of green gel food coloring).

Beat the mixture until the egg whites form stiff peaks and are firm and shiny.

Pour the beaten egg whites into the almond flour mixture.  Gently fold the egg whites into the flour using a spatula.  Continue to fold the batter until you can't see any lumps of flour, the mixture should be shiny and smooth.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the macaron batter into a pastry bag (there are plenty of pastry bags out there both disposable and re-usable, or you can always use a large Ziploc bag with the corner cut off).  Now, you're ready to start piping!

Squeeze 2 inch circles of the batter onto the lined baking sheet (keep the circles about 1 inch apart). Tap the baking sheet on the counter to eliminate any air bubbles.  Make sure to let the piped macarons rest for 20 minutes prior to baking.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F for convection ovens or 325 degrees F for non-convection ovens.

Bake for 14 minutes.  Keep the oven door open slightly to release steam (we placed bamboo skewers to keep the door ajar).

Let the macarons cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the parchment paper.

Your macarons can be filled with whatever flavor your heart desires.  We ended up doing a chocolate ganache.  Once your macarons are filled, be sure to let them sit in the refrigerator to allow the flavor to develop in the shells.  It's recommended that they sit for 12 hours, but ours rested for about 2 hours and turned out just fine!

Enjoy!

Looking forward to all the great times that 2012 is sure to bring!