Happy Weekend! This weekend, I propose that you eat macarons all night! Treat yourself. Live a little.
This will probably be my last post about french macarons in a while because my cravings happen in phases and once they're over, I don't have them for a long time. For me, eating macarons has always been a texture x flavor thing.
Dorie Greenspan (who has worked at Pierre Herme herself) puts it best when she describes the ideal macaron: "The Mallomar-shaped cookie must have a 'foot,' a crackly ringlet that surrounds the flat side. The outer shell is thinner than an eggshell but has an eggshell-like quality. Poking through the shell gives way to soft, almost-meringue texture. The macaron is just a tiny little thing made of only sugar, egg white, and almonds, yet it has bunches of texture and flavor that you can play with ad infinitum."
I'm going to go ahead and do an excessive photo dump though since macarons are so fun to eat and very pretty to look at! More pictures under the cut.
Macarons! I am a glutton face so whenever I see a glass case of macarons, I just want to buy them all. Then again, flavors like ube and pandan make me reconsider. That and the fact that I am fat and the only thing worse than being fat is being poor and fat, which I always am. Boo. Universe, I would like to support bakers everywhere. Please change my luck!
Did you know that Sinfully makes their macarons fresh from scratch everyday? I wasn't even thinking about the baking process but the manager told us about it as we were paying. I replied with a firm "Very good." but shouldn't that be the case in every patisserie? Hmmm.
Did you know that Sinfully makes their macarons fresh from scratch everyday? I wasn't even thinking about the baking process but the manager told us about it as we were paying. I replied with a firm "Very good." but shouldn't that be the case in every patisserie? Hmmm.
What I like best about Sinfully is that they incorporate macarons in their other creations, like cakes! This one is the macaron cake I want, for no reason other than I want to eat it in my room.
That light brown stuff underneath the dark chocolate and right above the brown, milk chocolate mousse crust? I hope it's peanut butter. Or caramel. Oh my God, can you imagine the taste explosion if it IS peanut butter caramel?
A close-up of the macarons because I just can't get enough.
Oh, Sinfully also has a selection of other sweets like...
Chocolate truffles to coddle the Charlie/Willy Wonka in you.
A selection of artisanal cakes! The white one on the far left is a deluxe cheesecake. I initially thought the brown square on top looked a lot like vinyl flooring but that was just stupid. I wanted to try the cheesecake with berries on top but it was muy expensivo. Also, all the egg whites, almonds, and sugar in the macarons I just bought at the time were a total guilt trip.
This one is a really nice chocolate cake with gold leaves (!), berries and macaron cookies. I'm not really into chiffon-type cakes (because I like cheesecakes) but I like this. Who wouldn't? There are blackberries and raspberries and little cherries sitting so pretty in the middle of it all. Luuush.
Then, I will add even more pictures of macarons in this photo dump because I love you. I used my mini-Eiffel tower as a prop because my good friend Keish said macarons "are the pictures that get reblogged the most on Tumblr" and I was trying to make the pictures appear redundant (not so much "artsy", I already know I'm never going to be like that).
Caramel, raspberry and coffee. I had such high hopes for the caramel macaron. I know it's wrong to expect a majestic flavor from an Asian shop but I kind of wanted to taste something that will challenge the hegemon that is La Maison (because their caramel macarons are to die for). Like anybody who expects too much, I got punished by reality. It was dry and the ganache was not at all flavorful. :(
Life lesson learned from eating macarons: People who set expectations will most likely be disappointed. People who don't, remain blissful but ignorant. - While this sounds like a message from a future spinster, it is KIND OF true. (My blog posts almost always end up sad and angsty. Again, my issues, not yours.)
The blue one is mint-flavored, the yellow one is passion fruit. I really like mint macarons. A lot of people complain that mint and macarons should not mix because mint can overpower what should be a delicate piece of cookie, but I digress. I think they work really well together.
As far as macarons go, the beauty is all in the feet. It should be nice and poofy, not flat. As you can see above, the feet for the red, raspberry-flavored ones were on the flat side. Still good though. I really like raspberry-flavored macarons:
For better understanding of the parts of a macaron, please see the guide below:
Below: a series of pictures under different lighting conditions (because I had nothing better to do and I didn't want to eat my stash just yet. I do save them for Sunday afternoons because Sundays are always a little depressing.)
If you were to ask me, my favorite flavor (for Sinfully, at least) is still passion fruit (the yellow one) but there are not enough words in my head to describe the nice, tarty but sweet notes this macaron has so we'll just end with flavor here.
Lastly, I'm linking you to a recipe for chocolate macarons because chocolate has been and will always be a game-changer in the desserts department. It makes everything better and while no one in their right mind would try and make macarons at home (I mean, really, people? I think a full course meal would be easier. Also, you know what else is easier? Driving to a pattiserie!), I would like to open the doors for you. Enjoy. ;)
You might also like: My first macaron post! and sending a few macarons my way. :D Heh.
