Pistachio French Macaroons

So a lot of my new friends here are wonderful and amazing women. Many of them are also what I like to call "fancy pants". Their houses are perfect and look like a designer pinterest board. They always dress beautifully and are sweet and generous and I hope I can learn how to get my crap together like them some day. Anyway, I wanted to make some "thank you" treats for my "fancy pants" friends. I got inspired while at the River Market. Bloom Bakery makes these to die for french macarons. But they are also $2 a pop, and my wallet wants to die whenever I step foot into that place. I figured, how hard can it be to make my own macarons? Well truthfully? It's dang hard. But now that I've got one batch under my belt, I think it can only get easier. Right? Well here's hoping.

I love giving baked goods away in these martha stewart treat boxes. It makes even ordinary cookies fun!

 French Macaron Recipe Ingredients
4 large egg whites 1/3 cup white sugar plus 1 tsp
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar plus 4 tsp
1 cup plus 3 tsp almond flour (also known as almong meal)
Tiny pinch of iodized salt
Food coloring of your choice (I used green to match my pistachio theme)
Crushed pistachios for the top of the cookies (optional) 

Preheat the oven to 300 degree

Mix egg whites and white sugar in your kitchen aid until the peaks are stiff and nothing falls out when you turn the bowl upside down. (Mix it 1-2 minutes after nothing will fall out of the bowl.) Add your food coloring and mix for only about 20 more seconds. Put a little extra color than you think you need because the color usually will fade during baking.

Sift the almond meal and icing sugar and salt twice, discarding all the lumps that are too big to pass through your sifter. (This is boring, fair warning.) Fold into the egg white mixture. It should take roughly 30-50 folds using a rubber spatula.  The mixture should be smooth and not runny. Over-mix and your macarons will be flat, under mix and they will not be smooth on top - so be careful! Then you put your cookie mix into a piping bag and pipe little drops about 1-2 inches big on your silpat or parchment paper. I used a silpat. You will want to tap your cookie sheet on your counter about 5 or 6 times pretty harshly to get out all the air bubbles. I wasn't super rough with mine and mine cracked a bit because of that. So be careful. 

Many recipes I found varied in the amount of cooking time. Some were 12 minutes, others were 20 minutes. I actually ended up cooking mine 30 minutes which probably was a little too long. But the main thing you want is to make sure the cookies come off clean when you take them out of the oven, because if they don't you will have a crusty outside and goopy inside. Anyway, this was a tough one, delish, but tough. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I've been owing a thank you to a sweet friend of mine for weeks. I figured what better way to give someone a treat, than to add a little "fall" to my gift. Anything pumpkin flavored is instantly festive and more fun. 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup white sugar
6 ounce container plain yogurt
3 eggs
15 oz can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 cups flour 
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon iodized salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  This makes 2 loaves. One for you, one for a friend - yay! When combining ingredients being careful to not over mix.  When combined, gently stir in chocolate chips.  Divide batter between loaf pans and sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips on top.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached.  Don’t overbake and enjoy.