If you read food blogs regularly, you're no doubt aware of the macaron craze. Could you respect me as a blogger if I didn't make my own attempt at these little confections? No? I didn't think so.
In that case, here they are: raspberry and cheese-filled macarons. I used a great recipe from Tartelette, skipping the pink food coloring and substituting cream cheese for the mascarpone. (Sorry, Tartelette. I know cream cheese isn't very French, but I've got a lot of it.)
And if the macaron trend has somehow caught you unawares, here are the quick facts: Puffy little meringue cookies made with ground almonds and aged egg whites. Tasty fillings, often chocolate. Piped batter, often messy. Fun to make, fun to eat. They kind of fall apart in your mouth.
If you're serious about macarons, you might want to invest in a scale -- flour and such can be kind of persnickety, so you'll get a much more consistent end-result if you weigh, rather than measure, your ingredients for baked goods. Food scales are cheap, and I'm sure you'll find all sorts of other uses for one, like figuring out whether that letter needs extra postage or if you really got your full 13.5 ounces of creamed corn like the Jolly Green Giant says you did.
The food: Macarons
The verdict: Ooh la la!