The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Daunted, excited, and intimidated, I responded in my typical fashion of completely ignoring the call to arms until the absolute last minute. Yes, it was a foolish act, but with so many side projects and deadlines to meet, it was easy to prioritize everything else above it, and effectively forget about the challenge until last night. Luckily, this wasn’t the first time I had contemplated the construction of that oh-so trendy sandwich cookie. Having previously done some serious legwork on recipe formulation, I had the framework all set, and all was left were a few tweaks, and more than a few prayers to the baking gods to be made.

Midnight came, and my stand mixer roared to life, while the oven coils slowly grew warmer. I whipped. I folded. I piped. I waited.

I slid the sheets into the oven.

I held my breath.

…And did a little dance when those smooth cocoa shells emerged from the oven. They had FEET! Deliriously happy, I didn’t stop smiling for a solid hour afterward. I still can’t believe that it worked, and worked so perfectly!

Sandwiching a generous dollop of matcha “buttercream” between two delicate, crisp cookies, they were everything I could have dreamed of. My only regret was that I hadn’t made a double batch.

Now, before the deluge of emails comes, I’m not ready to share the recipe yet. I will say that it’s related to my meringue method, but I’m hoping to release it in a future book or ebook. Besides, I want to play around with more flavors and colors before signing off on this beauty!