I’ve been blogging for a year! Can you believe it? I almost averaged 1 per week, which is pretty good!

This is my first holiday-ish cookie of the year. There are some weird ones coming up, but first, these!

What is the difference between “macaron” and “macaroon”? When I hear mac-a-roon, I assume those little brightly-colored sandwich cookies. Hmm…

Step 1: Gather ingredients: sugar, slivered almonds, egg whites, semi-sweet chocolate (chopped), cloves, water, cinnamon.

Whoa, this is super simple and will probably be easy!

Step 2: Process almonds, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves in a food processor just until nuts are finely ground.

I hate when Martha warns me like that. JUST UNTIL THE NUTS ARE FINELY GROUND OR ELSE ALL IS RUINED AND YOU ARE A FAILURE. What are the real consequences anyway? It would be nice for that to be included after your demands.

I think this is probably fine. There are some chunks, but I’m afraid of over-processing now.

Step 3: Add chocolate and process until chocolate is finely grated, BUT NOT MELTED.

Okay, that looks a little better overall. If it melts, it’s too far. But then what does that mean? Melty cookies?

Step 4: Add egg whites and the water, and process JUST UNTIL DOUGH CLINGS TOGETHER.

This is okay, right?

Step 5: Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar.

So sticky.

Step 6: With the bottom of a glass, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness.

Step 7: Bake until tops are set, but centers remain moist.

How am I supposed to determine that?! Ugh, these do not look like the picture. They look glazed and bigger than they’re supposed to be.

They taste great, but I want them to look right, dammit!

Link to original recipe (This one was a McCormick-sponsored recipe)

Yields: 48
I got: 48

Start time: 8:30
End time: 9:50 (1 hour, 20 mins)
Martha’s estimated time: 45 mins

What did I learn? 

• I’m needy. I knew that.
• Mixing cookies in a food processor is not as exciting and elitist as using the KitchenAid mixer.

What do I need to learn?

• Did I over-process? Is that why mine don’t look like hers?

These were pretty easy to make and they’ve been very popular despite their appearance not being like Martha’s.

Happy 1 year blog anniversary to me! My goal for the next year is to get on TV. I need to be on the Today Show during one of Martha’s bi-weekly segments. Anybody know somebody?