The Girl Who Ate Everything

Even though I am a bit sick today (er, yesterday) for the first time in ages (as in I think there are massive amouts of mucus swimming around my brain), I made ice cream and macaroon cookies. This probably isn't going to make me any healthier but eh.

The ice cream came out GREAT for the first time out of the three times I've made ice cream at home. I don't know if it was the recipe but it may have been because I overcooked the ice cream mixture/custard. I mean, it was becoming quite custardy and lumpy while I was heating it. While using the "coat the back of the spoon" test my spoon was being coated in little lumps. Crying seemed like a good idea. I mashed it all through a china cap to break up those vicious clumps of coagulated egg proteins, ending up with a less lumpy but not completel smooth ice cream base. After I chilled it it was a bit gloppy and custardy (definitely not that liquidy) but after 20 minutes of running it through the ice cream maker it was SO GOOD. UH HUUUH. OH YEAH. I was very happy to eat the best frozen bits from the bottom.

Mm, the bottom of the ice cream machine. I've hit the jackpot!

Since the ice cream only called for egg yolks, I wanted to do something with the egg whites. In comes MACAROONS:

• 1 cup blanched almonds
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat ovent to 300F. Lin baking sheets with greased parchment paper.
2. Grind almonds finely in food processor (or anything else that will grind nuts. SQUIRRELS!)
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold in sugar, vanilla and almond extract, and ground almonds. The mixture should just hold its shape. If it's too soft, chill for 15 minutes.
4. Place heaped teaspoonfulls of the mixture, spaced well apart (THIS IS IMPORTANT), on the prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until just firm. Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool

You can make chocolate macaroons by adding 2 ounces of melted chocolate at step 3.

Splodgey cookies, oh yeaaah.

These didn't come out as I expected them to. Maybe I overwhipped the egg whites. The cookies were quite flat although some cookies had huge air pockets inside. Probably baked them too long also. But they're still good! Mm. That's what matters.