Soul Trippers: Sweet Surrender

After all the stress of living abroad, my husband and I finally started storming at each other. He left with the boys and I sat alone in a dark house sulking. The kids tell me that I stress-bake, and I'm pretty sure that's true. Within a few minutes I was rummaging through the refrigerator in search of inspiration. The only thing I found was a Tupperware container with 6 egg whites in it (I'd made sable for a party earlier in the week).

A couple of hours later, Tim called to say they were headed for home. By that time, my entire mood had shifted—I'd baked! We rented a movie, invited a friend and settled in to a truly delicious evening together.

Here's an awesome recipe for French Chocolate Macarons:

Cookies:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup powdered almonds (don't know if you can get this in the US, but you can grind your own in a food processor)
3 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 large egg whites
5 tablespoons castor sugar (fine white sugar)

Filling:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon butter

Run powdered sugar, almond powder and cocoa through a sifter.
Beat egg whites until they begin to form peaks. Slowly add granulated sugar until stiff and firm.
Slowly fold dry ingredients into egg whites, begin carful not to over-mix them. You should end up with a brown sticky batter.
Spoon batter into pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let your unbaked cookies sit for 1 to 2 hours before baking at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare filling:

Heat cream in small saucepan.
Add corn syrup.
When cream begins to form bubbles, remove from head and add chocolate chips.
Add butter as it begins to cool.
Put the filling in the refrigerator until the cookies are ready. If it is too runny when you fill the cookies, add a teaspoon of powdered sugar.