ROSE SCENTED & CHOCOLATE CARAMEL MACARONS

i spend a year of college at the virginia tech satellite architecture school in D.C.. which is where i met my friend wayne. he was unfortunate enough to share a tiny little room with me, a phish following guy (you see where i'm pointing to) and four large drafting tables. unfortunate because, well i tend to be a little "crafty" sometimes. by crafty i mean i come up with a half baked idea to create something, proceed to do zero research on how to make it happen, use my limited knowledge on material and just get to work - and usually when things go haywire i seem to think that if you just let it sit for a few hours by itself, when you come back it will be exactly how i planned it to be. hm. yeah that doesn't work - ever, unless its a relationship - then it works.

poor wayne constantly had precious desk space taken up by collaged chipboard models that were held together by much to delicate threads, or soaked in paint thinner, or covered in loose graphite - you name it i've tried it. he would come in at 3am to find me kneeling on my drafting table hovering over my drawings trying to figure out what line i just drew, messed up or needed to erase. not to mention i ate sardines for dinner almost every night at that time (it was college!) so inedibly i would come back to our little one room sweat shop smelling like dead fish. he was too well behaved to ever said anything, but i know he smelled me and my rotten sea.

his favorite recollection is when i emptied a gallon of elmer's glue that i found laying around the building (don't ask, its architecture) onto about 50 plastic coke rings ( yet another story) then laid a large sheet of cracked plexi on top of that. lets just pause for a moment and think about that - a gallon of elemer's glue on a drafting table - ok. so, like usual i left the premises and went to have a few drinks and maybe some dinner.

enter wayne after his lovely dinner, ready to get back to work on his thesis. the glue as you would image has spilled over the edges of the table onto the carpeted floor of our room. the plexi has slide off to some other location and the plastic coke rings, i don't know what they were doing but there were 50 of them. yeah, mind you my desk is in the doorway of this tiny room. one has to deal with whatever situation is happening on my desk to get to your own, there is no way around it.

enter the cleaning lady (who disliked me for obvious reasons). needles to say, wayne got the brunt of some serious spanish cursings. so being the good friend he is, he calls me, leaves a remarkably calm message - and what was my reply? i believe my exact words were "don't touch it, ill take care of it when i get back - it should be fine in a few hours" ha!! not fine, but he gave it an ok and somehow got to work next to the elemer's eruption.

i threw the whole thing in the trash when i finally did get back. surely the cleaning lady enjoyed emptying that bag.

so wayne's 30th birthday party is tonight and i figured i own him. so i made these macarons to bring to the party. i am a bit unhappy about the rose scented filling - it was way too thin. but i hate white chocolate - laothe it - so it doesn't surprise me that this little rondevou didn't work out exactly as i want it to. but otherwise these guys are delish.

ROSE SCENTED MACARONS

1c powdered sugar

1/2c almond flour

2 egg white - at room temp, aged a day or to in the frig

5 tbs sugar

* preheat oven to 375 F

* in a food processor pulse the powdered sugar and the almond flour a few times to make sure the texture is consistent

* with an electric mixer beat the egg white until they begin to hold shape.

* add the 5tbs sugar and continue to beat until shiny and stiff

* gently but thoroughly fold in the sugar/almond flour mixture

* put into your piper of choice and pipe out a 1" round only a parchment lined baking sheet.

* let the batter rest for about 30 minutes, then place in the oven.

* cook for 15-18 minutes.

ROSE SCENTED FILLING

4oz white chocolate, chopped

1/4c heavy cream

2 tsp rose syrup

1/2 tsp rose water

*heat the cream on stove until it begins to boil

* take off heat and add chocolate, let sit for a minute then stir to combine

* add the rose syrup and water, stiring to combine.

* keep in frig to set and use to fill the cookies

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL MACARONS

1c powdered sugar

1/2c almond flour

3 tbs dutch cocoa powder

2 egg whites, aged for a day or two in the frig

5 tbs sugar

*the process is the same as above but when you pulse the sugar and almond flour add in the cocoa

CARAMEL FILLING

2 tbs corn syrup

1 1/2c sugar

1/4c water

1/2c heavy cream

3 tbs unsalted butter

1/2 tsp ground sea salt

* add corn syrup, sugar and water to saucepan. stir to combine and turn the heat to medium-high.

*let the sugar mixture bowl - do not stir - until it reached a nice amber color. occasionally swirl the pot to make sure the coloring is even.

* meanwhile heat the cream and salt to almost boiling.

*once the sugar has reached the color you desire - take off heat and carefully pour in the cream.

* whisk to combine over low heat to make sure it is an even consistency.

* take off heat and whisk in the butter.

*set aside to cool completely before using as your filling.