Hazelnut Macarons

This past summer I had the opportunity to go to France. My mom and I were so excited about the food culture, so we decided to do some research over the different meals and pastries served. One dessert, macrons, caught my eye and I was really fascinated by it. Macarons are kind of like little cookie sandwiches and are not to be confused with macaroons. It's basically two meringues with a flavored filling in between. There are so many different flavors that you can make, but I decided to make hazelnut macarons.

Just an example of what they're supposed to look like!

Making macarons is a little difficult because it requires your measurements to be super precise, otherwise the end result will be super disappointing! In order to make macarons you'll need:

1/4 cup of ground almonds
1/3 cup of finely ground hazelnuts, plus 1 tbsp if you want to decorate
1 cup of confectioners' sugar
2 extra large egg whites
1/4 super fine sugar
1/4 cup of hazelnut and chocolate spread
Baking Sheets
Sifter
Food Processor
Whisk or Electric Mixer
Pastry bag or Ziploc bag
Nonstick Foil

First you'll need to put the almonds, hazelnuts, and confectioners' sugar into a food processor, until throughly mixed...roughly 20 seconds. Sift the mixture into a big bowl. In a separate bowl, put the egg whites in and whisk or mix until a meringue is formed with soft peaks. If you are using an electric mixer, start by mixing the eggs on the lowest speed until bubbles start to form. As soon as bubbles form, switch the speed of the mixer to medium/high speed. The egg whites will turn white and foamy. When meringue has formed soft peaks (the meringue will "melt" back down if formed into a peak), gradually whisk in the fine sugar so that the meringue has fine peaks and is glossy. Next, fold in a third of the almond mixture into the egg whites. Gradually fold the rest of the almond mixture in. Put the batter into a pastry or ziploc bag for piping. *For the baking sheets, the recipe that I found recommended using parchment paper, but I found that nonstick foil works a lot better because it doesn't stick to the macron when it is done baking.*  Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets. Once finished, take the baking sheet and hit it against the counter to get rid of any air bubbles in the batter. You'll have to leave the macarons sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325. After thirty minutes, place the baking sheets in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and then begin putting the filling on!

I used Nutella for the filling and garnished half of the macarons with hazelnuts. I think they tasted okay, a little too sweet in my opinion, but I'm really happy with the final results!