But the French Macaron! With it’s crunchy outside shell, soft, chewy center, and deliciously-flavored filling! is. . . irresistible.
The history of the French macaron adds to the intrigue of this delicate sandwich sweet. According to CAKE WORKS’s Pastry Chef, Abi Langlas, the cookie portion of the macaron--made of meringue and ground almond meal--has been around since at least the 1800s. It was in the early 1900s (according to Ladurée that Pierre Defontaines, a cousin of the Ladurée family (think old French family, fancy tea salon in turn-of-the-century Paris, and modern-day purveyors of the macaron) “first thought of taking two macaron shells and joining them with a delicious ganache filling.”
A Ladurée shop in Paris, France
On Chef Abi’s most recent trip to Paris this past February, she attended the La Coupe du Monde de Patisserie--the World Cup of pastry, if you will--where she saw that “French macarons were everywhere!
Chef Abi Langlas and her fellow chef friends at an event
during the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie in Paris, France
In the last few years, macarons have been on fire: one can find them now in almost every patisserie in Paris, they are wildly popular in San Francisco and California, and are increasingly featured as favors or in dessert bars at parties and weddings. Chef Abi began making them here at CAKE WORKS when she returned from Paris this spring. Our current offering of flavors include Chocolate with chocolate ganache, Green Tea, Strawberry Guava, Lilikoi, and the all-time favorite: Caramel with a dreamy caramel sea salt filling (taste buds salivate).
Now, for you die-hard foodies, Chef Abi will get a bit into the mechanics of the macaron. She learned how to make them years ago when she was attending culinary school at Westminster College in London. The macaron is a French sandwich cookie available in a plethora of colors and flavors. The cookie is made out of a meringue, which is a whipped egg white and sugar concoction, along with almond meal. The fillings are versatile, and usually are a fine matching of flavors between the filling and cookie; they can consist of jam, buttercream, or chocolate ganache. Macarons are the result of a sophisticated process--Chef Abi starts with an Italian meringue, which is different than a simple meringue in that it is cooked. In an Italian meringue, the eggwhites and sugar mixtures must be added at the exact moment when they are just the right consistency and temperature. No sooner. No later. Otherwise you risk cookies that are too flat, or bumpy. The mixture is then hand-piped, requiring the same amount of exactness (you don’t want to eat a mis-matched macaron right?). They are baked and cooled. And then are filled with just the right amount of creamy goodness; sometimes you will find an added treat inside, as in the case of the Strawberry Guava--a chunk of guava gel, or in the Lilikoi--a dollop of lilikoi curd, hiding beneath all that the buttercream goodness. But, not too much, says our chef. A good macaron is crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and has just enough filling to give everything a good flavor. Chef Abi adorns our macarons with dark chocolate, white chocolate, or powdered sugar. They are great with tea or coffee, or dessert wine. Or a sip of enough lemon-infused water so you can clear your palette for the next flavor. Come in to the shop to have one. Or a few. Or if you have a potluck gathering, take a box, your coworkers will love you for it. If you have a larger party, be sure to call us in advance for bigger orders. Custom build-your-own (within reason) flavors or mini macarons can be ordered with a minimum of 3 dozen. They are stylishly sweet as a wedding favor, or you can create a rainbow of them for a dessert bar.
CAKE WORKS French Macarons are the perfect mignardise--a French term for little sweets and desserts, typically served at the end of a meal. Or, be decadent like the rest of us and have them whenever you want, as many times as you want, all throughout the day ;-).
