sweet things

Have you met Paulette?

Only the most glorious french macarons outside of France. To. die. for. In the most exotic flavors. Like passionfruit, sweet wedding almond, earl grey tea, and violet cassis. One of my ladies and I hit up their Beverly Hills store a while back and consumed half a dozen each. Quickly, yet still attempting to savor the light, yet chewy consistency unique to a macaron (not to be confused with the coconut macaroon, they are completely different!)

You should know I have been desperately seeking room in the budget to include these in our dessert table. A box of 24 puts you back $36. And that pretty little tiered display is $106 for 60. They do have a San Francisco shop and ship overnight for freshness... Maybe we'll save them for getting ready with the girls, or a bridal shower or something...

Do you have time for a story? I tried to make macarons last summer. Using a recipe by Martha, who else? I'm pretty handy in the kitchen and pretty good at following recipes. But these pretty little things are very complicated to make. I also wasn't quite prepared and had to make some substitutions (don't EVER try to make your own almond flour using only a rolling pin...dumb dumb dumb) which probably didn't help the situation. There's a part about having to leave the oven door ajar while these bake. um my oven door only stayed in the all-the-way-closed position or all-the-way-open. So I stood there and held the darn thing, and it was summer and hot outside. Long story, they were ugly, I neglected to flavor or color the cookie portion and they collapsed and cracked instead of staying round and fluffy. BUT they tasted exactly how they were supposed to, perfect texture. Which is really all that matters in my book. And I made peppermint, lemon and vanilla cinnamon fillings. YUM. Maybe I'll use this recipe next time (aka when I live in a place that has an oven. studio apartment fail.)