I HAVE THE BIGGEST MACARON BALLS OF ALL TIME

[ricevermicelli]

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<a href = "http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/how-the-french-macaron-became-american/381965/ >The Atlantic is incorrect about macarons</a>. They are not "becoming American", and they are certainly not the new cupcake. You can teach a <i>babboon</i> to make a cupcake. Good freaking luck getting most primates to construct a macaron. There's a professional bakery in town that sells hypothetically professional macarons that are Cake Wrecks levels of misbegotten. Or offers them for sale, anyway. I don't see why anyone who's looked at them would buy one.

It somewhat embarrasses me that I am in a position to critique this article so thoroughly, but it appears that I have read more widely on the subject than Megan Garber, who never even mentions Pierre Herme's seminal work on macarons. I own two more macaron-only texts than are mentioned in this article, and I have actually used all of them, with very mixed results. (Three-quarters of my attempts at macarons wind up as Eton Mess - a dessert that clearly has its genesis in panic, which is why it's a recipe that everyone needs to know). Herme's is the only macaron cookbook that the publisher didn't churn out in an eensy-cute size, as though some law required that books about tiny cookies be tiny themselves.

A four year-old can make a cupcake, which is why they will be with us forever. Know them, love them, invite them to all your parties.

Comments

[mizarchivist]

Now I want macaroons.

[athenasbanquet.livejournal.com]

I want to know which bakery, so I can point and laugh.

(Nah, I have no moral high ground, I avoid merengue like the plague.)

[blk]

The first time I had macarons, they were homemade by a baker friend for a wedding bridal party. I could not get enough of them; they were the best crack ever. I had them again later on at a party at her house.

The next time I had macarons was when a parisian patisserie opened up in my neighborhood with really, really beautiful desserts, featuring a dozen flavors of perfectly formed, delicious-looking, stupid expensive macarons. I bought a half dozen and shared them and found them all.... mediocre. It was so disappointing. I don't know what was different or where they went wrong, but I do know I am not going to trust that dessert anymore. I'm not even interested unless I know and trust the cook.

Yours, I would try, mess or no.

[drwex]

I spent all of my childhood and young adulthood confused between "macaron" and "macaroon". It wasn't until I had actual French macarons in Paris that I got the forehead-slap revelation. I've not found any good ones in the US to compare to those, sad to say.

[macthud]

Your macarons would bring all the kids to the yard!