Walnut Macarons

Another purchase that I have made at the local Farmer's Market are walnuts. There's an abundance of nuts here in the central valley so it's easy to find huge bags of unshelled nuts for a very very cheap price. I bought one of these huge bags and I'm the only one eating them at home.

I've always wanted to try my luck with the macaron. The Parisian Macaron. Now, I have never had any formal training in baking and pastry so I just go by recipes that I come across, tweak them, add/subtract ingredients to make them my own. Latley it has been hard for me to just go out and run to the store for things that I need and I really wanted to make macarons. I couldn't make them without almonds. But, I did have walnuts...

I wonder...

Yes, I shelled all of them. During my macaron research I learned you can make your own almond powder by processing the almonds with powdered sugar until they are of flour consistancy in a food processor. I don't have one of those so I used a blender and it worked. Maybe I can find one on sale this Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday.

These babies are tricky. Mix them too much, they crack, mix them too little, they crack. If you don't let them set long enough, they crack, but I managed to get them right the first time. They even developed those little feet on the bottom. Success!! Out of walnuts, too!!

I've decided to make these for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll try making pumpkin or gingerbread macarons. I know now they're not Parisian, they're one of Kell's Kreations!

Walnut macarons with banana cream cheese buttercream.

Packed some up for my boyfriend to take to work. They loved them. They don't believe I made them. haha