All posts in Macaroons

>Circle City Sweets – Indianapolis

by Mark on July 3, 2010 in Circle City Sweets, french macaron, indianapolis, Macaroons with 8 Comments

>Indianapolis, Indiana

“HELLO…MY NAME IS MARK AND I’M A MACARON ADDICT”

Anyone who knows me knows I’ll sell my soul for a French Macaron. I’ve chased them down in Paris, London, Rome, Zurich, LA, New York, Chicago and any chance I can find them I scarf them down (See earlier posts on this blog from Pierre Hermé in Paris and Paulette’s in Los Angeles). As special gifts I even have friends make them for me (please keep them coming) and when in a new city one of the first searches I do on my iphone map is for “French Macarons.”

A few months ago my iphone told me there was a cache of French Macarons just a few miles from me in the City Market. I went berserk, told everybody, went to the market and voila…nothing! Just the same old cookie dealer with a few tired American coconut macaroons. hmmph!

Then guess what happened? Technology WAS in fact faster than life and there WERE French Macarons hiding at the City Market after all, under a new vendor “Circle City Sweets.” I pounced on the place, scanned the display cases full of tarts, cakes, cookies…did I just see a financier in Indianapolis? …and something almost the shape of a Canelé…my GOD…they have Beignets on Thursday mornings once a month!?! But…alas…where were the colorful mounds of macarons stacked to perfection?

They were, as it turns out, in the freezer…[car tires screeching to a halt]…and only in three different flavors…[sound of bomb destroying planet].

I kept my head up, ordered a stack along with a few chef recommended house favorites and went on my way trying to figure out exactly how long frozen almond flour takes to defrost. It turns out it takes about 20 minutes…which also turned out to be the perfect amount of time for the clear plastic tube they were stacked in to collect their frozen condensation and damage the cargo. COME ON!

Chocolate – Good bite and chew, full flavored, not as rich as it could be but finished round in the mouth. I’ll buy again.
Raspberry – Bad color, terrible chew (wet from the tube), good strong flavor punch but finished overly sweet. No thanks.
Pistachio – Horrid color, great bite and chew, nice flavor, finished soft with a nice nut meat after taste. I’ll take two please.

I’m happy enough to have a local fix and the rest of what I tried from baker/owner Cindy Hawkins was far superior to anything else in the general area…but French Macarons are not something to take lightly. They can’t be made in ugly colors (there is a story that Ladurée took 115 batches to get the color right for their jasmine mango macaroon) nor frozen fresh … and they can’t be sold in plastic tubes like an impulse item at the grocery store. They need delicate attention and should be elevated as the best example of what a classic baker can do.

I’ll keep showing up at Circle City Sweets whenever my addiction rears its ugly head and ignore some of the artistry I have in my head for comparison. It just doesn’t feel good to have to do so.

Circle City Sweets on Urbanspoon

>Pierre Hermé Macaroons – Paris

by Mark on August 18, 2009 in Macaroons, Paris, Pierre Hermé, St Sulpice with No comments

>Paris, France


MACARONS…BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

If you haven’t had a french macaron before you’re in luck…you’ll be ever chasing your first macaron high. First of all you have to get rid of the coconut stack idea of a macaroon most people associate with the name and think of a soft chewy meringue type cake cookie on either side of a confiseur filling. In essence they are tiny flat almond cakes filled with ganache. Light and delicate but bursting with flavor. The have a chew to hold onto but start melting as soon as they touch the tongue. They are the quintessential Parisian pastry and they take them very seriously.

We woke up early and made a bee-line to the St Germain de Près boutique of the French macaron master Pierre Hermé. The “jewelery shop” boutique as its referred to at 72 Rue Bonaparte is in almost direct opposition to the soft pop and candy colored decor of the rue de Vaugirard store. The small, rich, walnut paneled boutique (wait…was I just buzzed in?, no) exudes elegance and even a little Swiss restraint in design. The brilliant colors of the tartes and petite gateau, macarons and petits-fours pop like culinary gems underneath the long showcase.

The service is polite and professional. You must declare your intentions first or at least tell them which size of brightly colored box you’ll need….not being shy I of course went big. Each macaron selected was delicately pinched with silver tongs and whisked away to the staging area for packaging. Escorted to the cashier, my wrapped ribbon box was presented to me with a little apprehension and a large feeling of responsibility. So French…Gawd [rolling eyes].

Running out of the boutique with glee we settled down on the steps of St. Sulpice and delicately shared each others catches. The Arabesque of pistachio with apricot filling was so beautiful, the l’Huile d’Olive macaron started me down a future path of loving olive oil cakes, the Plentitude was a chocolate and caramel wonder and the Fleur de Sel and caramel macaron was chewy, stiff, light and gooey. My favorite was the simple one of chocolate and coffee.

I’ve heard that real Pierre Hermé fans should go to Tokyo where his macarons are all the rage and he supports them with a chocolate boutique bar, a gourmet convenience store and the largest of his four retail outlets. As they say in Japanese “Mou ii kai” – “here I come!”