Little Clouds of Deliciousness!

Or, as my friend Amy (half of the marvelous duo who own and operate Bohemian Dream Creative Arts Studio) called them, "little dessert hamburgers!!"

I've been thinking, hard, about what I should make for my very first With Pictures Food Post.  I, of course, had delusions of granduer, thinking I would make something so spectacular that I would immediately gain so many followers that I would have to quit my job and blog full time forever (...oh horror!).  I obsessed over Cake Wrecks the other night, thinking that I would practice my fondant skills and make some amazing, fondant covered cake.  But then I realized, that I would probably end up ON Cake Wrecks, with something that looked something like this.  (AHH!  I might have nightmares of that thing watching me in my sleep...).

I thought about making pie pops, because who wouldn't like a pie on a stick?!?  Pie is amazing as it is, and to have it in portable stick form is seriously the best idea I've ever come across.  For whatever reason, though, it didn't seem to quite fit the bill.

Part of me thought that, as my blog is called Baking with Altitude and all, I should maybe make something that required adjusting for altitude.  (Informative!)  But, I'm planning to bake cupcakes later this week for our office potluck, so I figured that could wait.

Finally, I settled on making French macarons.  Rumor has it that cupcakes are on their way out.  While I don't believe that for one hot second, I acknowledge that I should probably diversify.  Plus, I heard somewhere that, if cupcakes are indeed on their way out (never!), macarons are on their way in.  These aren't your momma's macaroons; the little coconut haystacks that I'm sure you're thinking of. These are the tiny little bright colored sandwich cookies that come in all sorts of awesome flavors.  They're made of a meringue and almond flour batter, and filled with whatever you want!  (I filled mine with raspberry jam).

Look how pretty!

For my first try, I've got to say that I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out, and I'm already daydreaming of the endless flavors and fillings I can combine to make more!  Rootbeer and vanilla macarons, peaches and cream, brown sugar and cinnamon....the possibilities are endless!

I used Martha Stewart's recipe for Parisian Macarons, but didn't make the filling she suggested.  Instead, I thought I would try to make them pretty and vibrant like the macarons I see on other food blogs, and then fill them with jam.  I had a moment of panic when I realized that I had switched the tops to my black and my red food coloring.  Luckily the red canceled out the black well enough, but Amy and I agree that next time, I need way more food coloring to make them prettier.  I also think that maybe I left them in the oven just a bit too long, and they browned a little bit.

More color!!

Oh well.  In no time, I'll be churning out bazillions of my little dessert hamburgers (which, by the way, may be my new pet name for Matt.  "Awww...my Little Dessert Hamburger").

Later this week:  CUPCAKES (which I swear will NEVER go out of style).  What should I make for our potluck??  Lemon and berry cupcakes?  Banana cream pie cupcakes?  FUNFETTI?!?!