Macaron Madness

Okay, I love to eat great food and Love making it, but I have to bow down to my mistress...My wife is a genius. I say it all the time. She recently became obsessed with the process of making the perfect macaron. This is science...you really need an oven you can monitor, you have to be able to control the humidity of your kitchen...there are so many variables and it is easy to understand why the perfect macaron could cost a small fortune. She recently became friends with a culinary blogger from the Loire named Crystal. Crystal guided her through the process in which there were moments when she was considering suicide. After a number of spectacular successes, I took the liberty of suggesting macarons made with Dulce con leche as the filling (we made the duce con leche...or confiture de lait by taking a can of sweetened condensed milk and boiling it unopened in a pot of water for 4 hours...when it cools, open it and well...you have opened a gateway to heaven!). Crystal thought it was a fabulous idea and suggested using ground hazelnuts in the macaron batter. Can I say it was a massive success? They were and are the best macarons I have ever had and we are the only people on the planet Earth who have them!
So today, Crystal published Janet's photo of her macarons on her blog Voyage Culinaire, which if you are interested in reading and interested in food, I would highly recommend.

Here is Crystale's piece....

Bonjour, bonjour, aujourd'hui pas de recette mais une nouvelle mise à l'honneur. C'est à nouveau Janet, qui m'a fait parvenir son nouvel essai de macarons. Avant de vous mettre la photo, il faut que je vous explique comment ceux-ci ont vu le jour. En début de semaine, Janet me contacte pour me demander mon avis. Elle venait juste de faire de la confiture de lait et elle me demandait comment elle pourrait " aromatiser " ses coques. Je lui ai répondu, en lui disant qu'elle peut remplacer une partie de la poudre d'amande par du praliné comme ici, ou de la poudre de spéculoos comme là mais qu'à mon avis, avec de la poudre de noisettes ça devrait être comment dire ????? Hyper méga gourmand 8D Et ben figurez-vous qu'elle m'a écouté et voici ses 

Macarons noisettes et Dulche con leche

Ils ne sont pas magnifiques !!! Encore une fois bravo Janet et comme je vous ai dit, dès que je rentre chez moi je les teste car ils m'ont donné trop envie 

I have to add, I eat all the time, but I think I have discovered a basic secret....never stop moving. I am 6 feet tall and weigh all of 140. And you can eat all the ice cream you want, never gain an ounce as long as you make it yourself....except for perhaps my wifes salted caramel gelati....I have never tasted anything like that before in my entire life!!!!!!!