While I should have been finishing up a Christmas bishop dress for Violet yesterday afternoon, Jesse and I decided to take a stab at a very intimidating recipe (in French). She wanted to make Raspberry Macarons - just like the ones in Paris! How hard could it be? First of all, I don't speak French. Jesse is fluent, but as she has reminded me many times in the food markets in France, "Mom, I don't speak culinary French!" We were in for a challenge!
"Mom, it says to 'stir to a bird's beak', what does THAT mean?" While I know what 'stiff peaks' means when it comes to egg whites, have you ever heard of 'bird's beak'? Ha! We had more than a few laughs! Just to be safe, I found a similar English recipe to help us along when needed. The results were stunning and delicious, and surprisingly easy! They are perfectly crisp on the outside, tender on the inside - just a bit of sour raspberry filling...yummy. Jesse took a plate of them to school today, and I really must get on the treadmill this morning to negate the thousand calories I ate of them.