Well, well, well, macarons. We meet again. I took an almost two year hiatus from making you guys, but I am back and apparently, better than ever. These are my least hollow macarons to date. In fact, these weren't hollow at all.  But it's not always rainbows and butterflies. Baking macarons while simultaneously hoping your infant doesn't wake up as you are making the sugar syrup is pretty nerve-wracking to say the least. And sometimes, it makes you forget that the mixer needs to be on high while you're adding said sugar syrup so that you don't cook your egg whites.  So yeah, that happened. Surprisingly enough, a few strands of cooked egg white didn't affect my batter and my first batch of these wasn't half bad. The color was just off. I wanted to try to go completely food coloring-free, but unfortunately, when using freeze-dried strawberries without any added food coloring, it creates a sort of brownish-faintly pinkish color that's not very appealing. So...

Recently, I was having a bit of a writer's block and took to Instagram to see what you guys thought I should make next. Well, it was a close tie between macarons and ice cream but once I announced the flavor options, you guys overwhelmingly chose cake batter macs! I thought it was so befitting since July was my birthday month but of course, life got in the way and I couldn't get this post up until August! Sigh. But let's face it, cake batter macs are great all year round. And now you can have your cake, and eat it as a macaron too. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to achieve a cake batter mac that wasn't overly sweet, but my special addition of cream cheese to the frosting really balanced things out. Have I mentioned that I am officially obsessed with the Italian method? I honestly thought these wouldn't turn out that great due to the fact that my sugar mixture was taking too long to reach 248 degrees F and my egg whites were already at soft...

So, why didn't anybody tell me that baking with a pet is infinitely harder than baking without one? I mean, I seriously can't do anything these days without my cat as my shadow. She has even learned the sound a bag of shredded cheese makes when it's being opened and rushes to my side for some of that good stuff. I find myself having to schedule my baking around her cat naps because I would feel way too bad about locking her in a room; those precious meows get me all the time. Thankfully, she fell asleep just before I whipped these up. But unfortunately, after I baked all of my shells, Junie jumped on my table unexpectedly with no rhyme or reason and landed straight onto a tray of paired up shells. Yup. The joys of being a pet owner. I've decided having a pet is quite similar to having a toddler. Did I mention I had to purchase stove knob covers for fear of her turning on the stove...again? Yup, that happened. I'm hoping once she grows out of her ki...

Well, hello there! The last time we talked, I was posting popsicles. And now it's currently 40 degrees outside and I'm not even sure we are going to get an Autumn this year. But the weather isn't the only thing that has changed. I recently became a furbaby mom! Junie made her debut on my Instagram a few months ago and that picture looks nothing like her now because oh my goodness, cats grow so fast! We are trying to enjoy the most of her kitten days; she keeps us on our feet for sure. In other news, I moved! Technically, that sentence doesn't really deserve an exclamation point because moving is NOT fun or exciting, at all. But decorating a new place is, and the reason I haven't been posting is because I have been living in Home Goods. Of course that's an exaggeration but, I am pretty sure that's what the employees thought based on how often they saw me there. I was pretty much determined to have the place looking a certain way by a specific time...

The last time I made macarons , I told you guys about how I tried the Italian meringue method and instantly fell in love with it, right? Well, my feelings still stand true but the search is not over. The Italian method itself gives more successes than failures, but I have not settled on using it for good. My plan is to try as many different recipes as possible to see which one my oven produces the best results with. This weekend, I actually went back to the French method. Natasha of Cake Merchant posted her fail-proof recipe and obviously, I had to try it. She does things a little differently in terms of mixing the batter and beating the egg whites, and I think she's on to something. These were the fullest macarons I have ever made! You can literally see the difference. Since I've always had a problem with hollows, I was over the moon when I opened one of these babies up. And as you probably already know from the title of this post, they are gingerbread flavored! ...

So, I finally tried the Italian meringue macaron method and you guys, I don't think I am going to go back to my French ways. Not because I've found a way to get rid of hollows, that's certainly still a struggle. But, I like it. I like the extra step to ensure a stable meringue and I like that most macaron companies out there are using it. Yes, I've done my research. And I am confident that some day soon, I will be able to consistently make un-hollow macarons using this method. Now let's talk today's macaron flavor. I've heard caramel apples can be not so fun to bite into, so I'll tell you what is fun to bite into. A caramel apple macaron. More specifically, a salted caramel apple macaron. No mess, no fuss, and your teeth will be so grateful. Since macarons are already sweet, the saltiness of the caramel is the perfect touch. The buttercream, I flavored with apple butter, which I feel is truly the best way to get the taste of an apple. My taste-...

Is it just me or do macarons have the ability to ruin a person's entire day instantly?  I'm talking, total mood change. 100 to 0, real quick. I feel like I should honestly give my poor husband a heads up before I decide to get in the kitchen to make some roons (as he refers to them) because it really determines how the rest of his day is going to be. But then again, why am I blaming the macarons? It's my fault. Why fix something that ain't broke right? Well, I just couldn't handle all the extra egg yolks. I thought I could find a way around it. And from what I read online, a few people had already found a way around it....by using egg whites from a carton. I was mind-blown and super pumped to try it. Why oh why did I have to try it? I kid you not, I made 6 different batches. First I tried under beating the egg whites, then I beat them a little more, then I under mixed the batter, then I mixed it a little more. I even played around with various oven ...

So, I'm probably the only person on the face of the Earth who DIDN'T post a pie recipe yesterday. Woops! It seems like every year, Pi Day just comes and goes and I'm never prepared for it! And I literally have this conversation with myself every time it happens, like, Meriem, you HAVE to do something next year. And then my memory loss gets the best of me. And being in the midst of wedding planning doesn't help since planning basically takes over your brain. You might notice me missing a few more holidays until June. But one holiday I'm definitely not missing is Easter! I've got so many delicious recipes coming your way for Easter! Today, we're starting things off with my least favorite dessert to make--macarons! ...Brought to you by Bob's Red Mill almond flour. I LOVE Bob's almond flour guys. Bob totally gets me. He understands that my almonds need to be grinded super fine, so my macarons can be super awesome. And super awesome...

Ummmm...why didn't anyone tell me that you could put sprinkles on macarons before you bake them and they still come out SO cute? Seriously! Here I was, for months thinking that you are not by any means to mess with the macaron shell. Pipe and pray, that was my routine. This changes everything. For starters, I made these adorable Valentine's Day macarons for you guys! Can you even? I can't even. In true Valentine's Day fashion, I paired together raspberries and chocolate to flavor these beauties. I used freeze-dried raspberries for the shell, and then filled them with a dark chocolate ganache. I also sprinkled additional ground freeze dried raspberries over the ganache to add an extra oomph of tartness! Let me tell you, you will never go wrong with this flavor combination. It is absolutely delectable. Now I'm off to buy more sprinkles for my macarons. If you have any flavor suggestions you'd like me to try, leave them in the comments below!

Oh dear, where do I even begin to explain the whirlwind that was my life this past month. I guess I should start with the fact that... So..this just happened 🙊🙊🙊😍😍😍 A video posted by Meriem K (@culinaryc0uture) on Nov 19, 2015 at 11:57pm PST I got engaged!!!!! If you're on Instagram, you probably already heard the news. I shared this totally cliche video of me flashing my ring. Yup, I'm one of those people now. Although I will try my best to refrain from sharing any lovey dovey posts on Instagram, I can't make any promises. So yeah, I'm engaged. But that part was easy. Planning the party was not. Hence why I was MIA. I spent the first half of November party planning and the second half, recovering from the party planning. And now I'm here, sharing a recipe you all probably could have benefited from before Thanksgiving but of course, life got in the way again last week and this post is late. Forgive me? I made you apple pie m...

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to say to start this post but all I can really think of is how badly I need coffee right now. It is currently 15 minutes to midnight and I am baking up a storm for multiple orders this weekend. Fall is typically a slow occasion season, but every now and then you get hit with a weekend where everyone and their mother decides to have a party. #bakerproblems #overbooked #teamnosleep But since we're on the topic of coffee, let's talk these pumpkin spice latte macarons. (See what I did there?) I like these macarons, a latte. (See what I did there, again?) I think my lack of sleep is making me delirious and actually not as funny as I think I am right now. But really, we need to discuss these macarons. They are my newest favorite macaron, and yes I say that about every macaron I make. Honestly though, these are amazing. And definitely the best way to say goodbye to pumpkin recipes for the rest of this year. I guess you coul...