The Macaroon, and How It's the Best Thing to Eat

It's sort of a grey day and we're somewhat lamenting the impending end of summer, so forgive us while drift towards the lighter, fluffier end of the spectrum. We're going to take a moment to talk about macaroons (or 'macarons', if you will.)

These ones:


(Not those over-sugared stringy coconut things.)

Macaroons are the best. They're a hybrid cookie/pastry - much fancier than a biscuit, but you can still use your fingers. They have a paper-thin layer of delicate crispiness on the outside, through which you bite down into dense, moist, flavoured-almond deliciousness, until your top teeth meet the bottom ones in a thick, velvety layer of pastry cream. And they come in the most ridiculous colours. Ridiculous colour is important, if you want to create a truly fancy pastry. AND, they come in two sizes: regular, and mini. There's an inverse relationship between relative size and general amazingness. Anything done in miniature is automatically exponentially better than the regular-size version. And regular-size macarons are pretty incredible. So.

If you can't hop across the pond just to satisfy a sweet-tooth, Murchie's makes some pretty authentically Parisian ones that do very well in a pinch.

And if you're inclined to try your hand, Paris-based internationally trained pastry chef David Lebowitz, has put together some great resources.