Ugly Macarons

As a part of my baking challenge I have created the ugliest macarons. I asked Lilo which colors I should use for them, since I love making them crazy colors. He said black, so I put black coloring in them and they ended up gray. They were so ugly that I didn't even put coloring on the filling, I had given up on making them pretty. They ended up being gray and yellow. Terrible! But I took them to a birthday potluck, and the birthday guy said that they looked like Zombie macarons (and he looooves zombies). I made 80 of them, and the 20 or so people at the potluck ate them all and loved them. So I guess in the end they were a success.

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Sadly, I have discovered that I will have problems with my baking challenge. At an altitude of 7000 feet, baking in Santa Fe can be a big problem. I have been having problems with my macarons turning out slightly hollow, and I believe that the altitude is to blame. I have also talked to plenty of people that claim that they stopped baking when they moved here, because nothing would turn out like it was supposed to. Because of this I will most likely just try to troubleshoot my macarons and to make cookies for the next couple of months.

Look at these uglies!