How to Make Macarons (No, Not Macaroons)

So inspired by Mad Baker, a Singapore based blog with beautiful images of these colorful macarons, I set out to find some recipes and how-tos to make them. (Her chestnut macarons shown below. Read about her adventures with baking on her blog.) Macarons–not misspelled macaroons, as I admit to first thinking–are traditional French pastries, cookies made from egg whites, almonds, sugar and icing sugar sandwiched with cream or ganache. Serious Eats provides recipes and tutorials for the macarons you see above, a basic recipe with a bittersweet chocolate cream ganache filling. They also provide tons of links to find more information on making the treats (for chestnut, sesame, chocolate, caramel, lemon, orange and more). You can also find instructions by downloading the #2 issue of Desserts Magazine. They have an entry titled “Macarons 101.” Sounds good for beginners!