Almond Macaroons

Day two of summer break in this part of the world. I have not had a lot of 'I am bored' yet, but I am expecting it. Day one was spent eating out and shopping, which left me exhausted, but it was fun !! Almost-Teen had her friend over for the day, and after air hockey, lunch, a movie, talking, chess, and much, much more, finally came the dreaded sentence: 'Mom, we're bored'. So, I suggested baking something. The instant response of 'yeah!' did take me by surprise. Before I knew it, I saw them poring through my recipe books and googling away. In 10 min they announced that they were going to bake macaroons and they did not want anything to do with me in the kitchen. I did have to step in to help them blend the almonds and while using the oven, but other than that, they did a pretty awesome job! The enthusiasm did seem to dip a bit when I asked them to clean up: it did require a little more than an obvious hint. With the bright blue skies and the perfect early evening light, it took me no time to click some pictures! And as I told the girls, don't eat too many, or you'll be spending some quality time in the bathroom the next day!

11/2 cups blanched almonds
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Confectioners Sugar for dusting

Confectioners sugar is not the same as fine sugar. Confectioners sugar has corn starch in it. Do not substitute one for the other. We just had 1 cup of blanched almonds so we added half a cup of regular almonds. If we had used just blanched almonds, I guess the cookies would have been a bit more white in color.

Preheat over to 325 F.  Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Keep aside some blanched almonds for decorating.

In a food processor or blender, blend the sugar and almonds.

Pour in the egg whites a little at a time, until it forms a dough consistency.

Add the vanilla extract.

Shape the cookies into walnut size balls.

Press a blanched almond on each.

Dust with confectioners sugar.

Bake for 12-15 min.

Recipe from : Hilaire Walden