You say macaroon

I say macaron! I always equated “macaroon” with coconut, so I stayed away from them. I recently learned, however, that the French macaron has nothing to do with coconut. It’s made of meringue, almond flour, and powdered sugar, and the resulting cookie is light but chewy with a hint of nuttiness. Yummy goodness! Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to try making some macarons. Here they are, piped onto the baking sheet, before baking:
macarons prebake.JPG
Macarons usually, as far as I know, have a filling sandwiched between them. I attempted to make a coffee buttercream for the filling. Here are some of the completed macarons!
macaons.JPG
Since I have only had about one macaron before, I don’t really know if mine taste authentic. I gave some to my French teacher, who is French, so maybe she can give me some feedback. I think they are quite tasty and cute! I used this basic recipe from this incredible blog. For the filling, I used Gale Gand’s recipe for Easy Buttercream, which you can find here. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to make buttercream to save my life, so it wasn’t so easy for me!
If you have any macaron anecdotes, please share them!

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14 Responses to You say macaroon

  1. ann says:

    i love the French Macarons. The best that I’ve tasted are from Bay Bread in SF. You must go there. They have many varieties. The ones u made look just as good as Bay Bread.

  2. Jenn says:

    Oh, my word, those look amazing. I love anything made with almond paste. The sweetest, most yummiest thing on the planet.

  3. k1rk says:

    My first macaron was at what turned out to be the mothership for macarons: Laduree in Paris.
    It was the late morning and we were beat already. Probably just got done with a slice of the Louvre. “The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” (essential travel material) said Laduree was worth a looksy. Good old Patricia Wells knows what she’s talking about. Do not cross her!
    Funny thing is, I’ve tried tons since then and it must be hard to screw them up because most of them are just as good as the ones at Laduree.
    Can’t wait to make up a batch.

  4. Mary-Heather says:

    Wow, those look incredible. I even love the coconut macaroons.

  5. Celia says:

    Yum! I could eat those macarons. I think I’ll try those recipes this weekend. Thanks for sharing, Mariko!

  6. kim says:

    I tried some macaroons the other day (first time, surprisingly, but when I go to the boulangerie I am always more tempted by the pastries), and the chocolate ones taste quite a bit like brownies. They were delicious!

  7. carolyn says:

    i usually make the pistachio macaroons from the nigella book. with pistachio buttercream. yum.

  8. stinkerbell says:

    I live here and once I found out about La Duree (as K1rk says tehr mothership of all macaroons)I fell over and died.
    They have them in divine cassis, the worlds best caramel, and sour cherry amaretto. TO.DIE.FOR!!!
    It’s also a pretty good patisserie too, but the macaroons… (the one by St. Germain is the least touristy and packed, it is my favorite and dear god was it TOO close to classes!!)
    And fyi the coconut things that americans call macaroons, they are called congolais here (makes me sing- congolais-o… congolais-a…., yeah I am weird what of it?? 🙂

  9. Nathania says:

    In a word: yum. I’m drooling on my keyboard again.

  10. J Strizzy says:

    I don’t much like the coconut ones either, but these look great! And they seem like a perfect Passover dessert…

  11. Heidi says:

    Haven’t made them yet, but I have a recipe for chai macarons if you want it.

  12. sara says:

    i adore these macaroons. one year i had a jewish roomate who made them at passover and we would eat them ALL THE TIME. she liked them with some sprinkles and a hint of mexican vanilla. i make mine small and sandwiched with a schnaffen-berger (however you spell that) ganache. mmmmm.

  13. Melanie says:

    alright. it is official. I love you and your blog too! crips. You cook, sew and knit and you are just so crafty! You win my personal award.

  14. amy says:

    had my first macaron experience today! i was at essential baking here in seattle and they have what they call paris cookies (macarons). I had shared a raspberry and a pistachio with my mom. they color the batter somehow so one was all pink and one was all light green, so pretty too! yum! they were perfect! their pastry chef is competing in the world cup of baking so he must know what he is doing. our snb group meets there each week, so it is a dangerous discovery.

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