Macaron Fail -- True Beauty is in the Taste

I knew it was too good to be true. My first attempt at French Macarons made these, beautiful little masterpieces:

My second attempt? ... Not so much.

It was probably my own fault for waiting until 10 pm to make, then rushing so as not to make noise in the kitchen. The poor little Macarons had so much potential! Pink, strawberry flavored cookies sandwiched with milk chocolate ganache. Sadly, it was not to be. They came out cracked, brittle, and with no foot.

But they tasted okay, so I decided not to trash them.

I brought them into work and set out on a plate for people to pick over. "Ugly But Tasty!" said the post-it I placed next to them. I expected a brave soul or two to take a bite, but not the empty plate that I met when I went to take that picture up there--that little strawberry monster was the only one left!

Two days later people are still telling me how good they were. "Mouth-gasm" and "like crack" were choice phrases.

With all the emphasis I'm putting on teaching myself plating aesthetics and saving up my pennies for a DSLR, I forget that looks are only about 10% of the judges final decision*, it's the taste that matters.

*Top Chef reference of course.