Daddy-O’s Birthday French Macarons

Yield +\- 36 macarons

(Loosely adjusted from Martha Stewarts version: http://www.marthastewart.com/318387/french-macaroons)

1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup almond meal

2 large egg whites, room temperature

1 vanilla bean (optional, kind of)

• Pulse 1 cup of the confectioners sugar and the almond meal in a food processor. Sift this mixture.
• Preheat oven to 375*F.
• Whisk whites in a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add the remaining 1/4 cup confectioners sugar and whisk on high speed until firm peaks, about 7 minutes.
• Turn mixer off. Remove bowl from stand. Split vanilla bean in half and scrape, add to bowl.
• Sift almond meal mixture over whites. Gently fold together until just combined and shiny.
• Put batter into a pastry bag fitted with a round, open tip.
• Using a jam jar as a guide, trace 12 circles onto 3 pieces of parchment paper fitted to half sheet trays for a total of 36 circles.
• Pipe batter into circles thinly, keep about 1/2 inch away from the inside of the circle (no one wants pencil marks on their cookies!).
• Using your finger dipped in water, smooth the top of each piped cookie. (This helps to cook evenly with no browning).
• Bake one tray at a time. Place sheet tray on center rack of oven, shut door and reduce temperature to 325*F. Cook 5 minutes, then rotate the tray and cook 5 minutes more. Remove cookies from oven, preheat oven to 375*F again. Let the cookies cool about 3 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.
• Once the oven is preheated to 375*F again, put tray number 2 in and start baking process again. Repeat for tray number 3.
• Smear cookies with Nutella or locally made jam and sandwich together. Serve with the best coffee and enjoy with good friends and family sitting around your table.