Macarons, part deux

Remember my first attempt ever at making these critters? Well I was invited to a little get together tomorrow evening with some gals for a little holiday knitting and spinning and thought I'd bring a little treat to share. I thought I'd take a jab at making macarons again, just to spice things up.This time however, I tried a different recipe and weighed the ingredients rather than using measuring cups. Some baking really is an exact science and macarons seem to indicate requiring some amount of precision, so I had more confidence heading into this round than the last time I attempted these. I had the crackling going on and no feet last time, but I look at the photo above - I see some feet!

I made the "eggnog" buttercream, which is basically a Swiss meringue buttercream (another new thing I attempted) with some cinnamon and nutmeg added. It wasn't too difficult, just a lot of mess to clean up afterwards. I think I prefer the ganache over a buttercream filling, but the true test will be tomorrow when I offer them to other people :)

This is just the beginning of my holiday baking, guess you can say. Hope to document some more in the coming weeks.