Coconut and Jam Hearts The Novice Housewife #recipe #cookies #christmas #coconut #jam

I know today is Tuesday and I should have a recipe for Garam Masala Tuesdays but then today is also Christmas eve here in the US and Christmas back in India, so I wanted a Christmas related recipe to be up today. And these Coconut and Jam Hearts recipe from Donna Hay Magazine fit the bill perfectly.

Now I am not a Christian but even so, when I was in India we always celebrated Christmas. Since India has a good share of Christians, Christmas is a national holiday in India. To those who wonder whether Indians celebrate Christmas, well, my Facebook feed is full of my Indian friends wishing each other Merry christmas- so yes we do.

Coconut and Jam Hearts The Novice Housewife #recipe #cookies #christmas #coconut #jam

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daisy sugar cookies-6

balloon sugar cookie-1

Trouble comes in threes. Caught a cold and with that a sore throat, fever and body ache (and the reason why I am up late at this hour since I was out the whole day sleeping under the effect of the cough syrup). Then my foot has been aching for a while and have no idea why, making standing a pain. Also, mother nature planned to visit me with its monthly gift at the exact same time while all this was happening.

And if all that wasn’t enough I have to start packing! Those of you who know me or have read this blog post would know that I absolutely hate (with a capital H) packing. Its right next to washing a pressure cooker and lizards on the “Things I Hate” list.

But then I had to get this post out before I leave and announce the winner of the giveaway I hosted. I used random.org to generate a number and the winning comment is Carolsue Anderson’s. Congratulation Carolsue- I will be contacting you soon.

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Hazelnut Macarons with Hazelnut Chocolate Ganache by The Novice Housewife #macarons

When I was in Canada, I took a macaron making class from the Bonnie Gordon College, the same place where I was doing my cake decorating course, and thought I will share my learnings from that class today. I have seen videos and had read many tutorials before I attempted my first macarons, but to see and feel in person how exactly the macaronage should look was why I took the class and am glad that I did.

I have only once before posted (in passing) about macarons and well another time, if you count my post on my failed attempt at making macarons (both posts were before I took the class). The last few times I have tried my hand at macarons, I have been having a fair amount of success and even though I am still not an expert on it, and hope to practice as much as I can and get better, I thought I will share the recipe, tips, resources and sites that have helped to get me a successful batch of macarons.

As mentioned before since I am still fairly new at making macarons, I still feel I am inexperienced to write a post on successful macaron making and thought I will leave it to the experts to help you out. If you are new at making macarons, or have had trouble I suggest you go through the following two posts that I am sure will be helpful to you.

These two people have summed up in quite a lot of detail the ins and outs of making macarons at home. Please do check them out before you make your own batch.

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