EASY MACAROONS.

I've been eying macaroon recipes for a while now, 

and I've read about a million of them & watched a couple videos,

but I decided to take the plunge and try these babies out for myself!

Here's the recipes + directions.

• 1 1/4 cups almond flour
• 1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla if your looking for extra flavor  direction

Directions:

• Whisk together almond flour and confectioner's sugar and sift over a large bowl.     
• Beat egg whites until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add granulated sugar and almond extract or use vanilla extract for extra flavor, beat until medium shiny peaks, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Fold egg whites into almond mixture until combined.  Transfer mixture to a pastry bag or zip lock bag, cut off 1/2 inch off tip. Pipe 1-inch rounds about 1 inch apart on parchment-lined sheets.
• Let dry 30 minutes to an hour and a half until tops are firm and dry. Preheat oven to 350. Bake one sheet at a time for about 14 minutes, rotating once. Let cool completely.

Tip: If you have a convection oven bake at 315 degrees. Convection ovens tend to cook faster and hotter, so if you happen to have one, like us, the 350 degrees will cause the shells to crack, so cook at a lower temp!

Filling:

You can use jam or any type of buttercream filling you already love. Here's what I used for my filling

• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 1/2 package of cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries

Blend cream cheese and butter together. Add raspberries and vanilla, until a smooth consistency. Add 1 cup of confectioner's sugar at a time. Fill in piping bag and fill cookies.