No, I’m sorry if I got you excited but these are different from French macarons.

I admit I’m ahead of time. I usually make these for Christmas presents but don’t think I would recommend that you make a Gateau Breton requiring 6 egg yolks and leave you stranded with 6 egg whites do you? Of course not Dear Reader. This is one of the standby recipes I use if I have a surplus of egg whites. However this only uses 3 of them, and if you are determinted to use all 6 egg whites, you’d do better making a pavlova (as long as they’re totally egg yolk free) but in this case I was using my sister’s kitchen and she doesn’t have a beater or mixer.

You can use milk or dark chocolate, I used white as I like the snow topped mountain look. And cachous are optional but obviously desirable, especially around Christmas time when things need a sparkle. I have to confess I went wild while in London at Tesco for their silver cachous. Priced at $6AUD at your local supermarket for 60grams, they were an incredible 9p-yes that’s right, a whole 20c for a 30g box of them. Which confirms what I’ve suspected for so long, that we’re completely rorted in Australia price wise. Which is of course why I bought 16 boxes of them

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Pierre Hermé needs no introduction to macaron lovers - I’ve yet to meet a food lover or blogger that doesn’t adore these delicate little sweet morsels from heaven. Interestingly, Pierre Hermé Paris stores began in Tokyo, where most things French will receive an appreciative audience. He has been called anything from “the Picasso of pastry ” (Vogue), “pastry provocateur” (Food & Wine), “an avant-garde pastry chef and a magician with tastes” (Paris-Match), “kitchen emperor” (New York Times), “The King of modern pâtisserie” (The Guardian). High praise indeed. So it was with curiousity and excitement that I visited the main store on the Rue de Bonaparte.

It seems that on the smallest and most inconspicuous of streets in Paris lies a treasure trove of fantastic artists or designers that specialise in food. Case in point, Pierre Hermé’s shop is on a smallish street, unannounced when you’d think they would be shouting it from the high rooftops of Paris. The only hint is the minimalist words “Pierre Hermé” and the crowd. And what a crowd it is, it’s a tight fit to get into this tiny little store, outfitted like a designer set from Ugly Betty where 5 men in designer black outfits behind the counter take your precious order. It’s a little extreme and makes me giggle, especially when I am served by a very serious young man with one of those Kylie Minogue stretch headbands. Even the staff at Louis Vuitton weren’t this serious.

Keeping in mind my splurge at Laduree the other day and for good measure, a parting reminder of it before he exits the crowded shop by my husband, I select comparatively few things. Just a Desire, a 2000 Feuilles and a selection of 7 macarons in a box. I could get them packed in a plastic bag but given that the counter guy has just tried to pick up three with his tongs only to have them crumble right in front of me, I ask for the box. It’s extra of course like all nice boxes here in Paris (grrr). I feel proud that I’ve only chosen a few things and my total is only €22.88.

2000 Feuilles €6.20

We don’t have long to go home and once we do I take them out of their boxes. As the weather was a warm 25 degrees today we have to act quickly, the 2000 Feuilles is on the verge of melting. In fact just seconds after the photos were taken, it collapsed. It doesn’t stop me from sticking my fork into it and plundering its many layers. It’s absolutely gorgeous, the pastry perfectly crispy despite the custard layers (how do they do this in Paris? Everywhere else it goes soggy) and the cream is a rich caramel cream with a chocolate crunch at the bottom. The bottom layer is brushed on the base with butter and sugar. The textures on this pastry are incredible and should you ever come face to face with this pastry, open your mouth and take a bite-I dare you to stop at just one forkful.

Desire €6.60

The Desire, a fitting name is a sponge filled with cream and raspberry jelly, a lovely light concoction but I have the feeling I should have chosen a more exotic offering.

Close up with focus on the Jasmin silver dusted macaron

Macarons 7 boxed for €10.00

The macarons are what made him famous so the flavours I tried were: Eden (Peach, saffron and apricot), Jasmin, Rose, caramel a la Fleur de Sel, Mosaic (Pistachio, cinnamon and griottines aka french morello cherries), grapefruit, Mogador (chocolate and passionfruit). The Eden with apricot is my definite favourite, it is so definitely apricot-ey followed by the delicate Jasmine and Mogador (chocolate and passionfruit). The trends for these gorgeous little things are edible metallic dusts, seen most distinctly on the Jasmin macaron.

I hate to be one of those people who always has a suggestion or always harks back to something “back home” but in Tokyo, one isn’t charged for getting something in a lovely box, and this box is also functional in that it preserves your goodies perfectly so that they can be consumed with both visual and palatable pleasure. There’s nothing worse than reaching home and finding that your food has been smashed to smithereens. It upsets me in fact, that I’ve paid a premium for something that looks perfect only to eat something that looks like it’s through the spin dryer. Another thing that they will also do in Tokyo, if you’ve got a long trip home, is put in a packet of dry ice which would have helped save the 2000 Feuilles should I have wanted to bring them to someone else’s house for dinner.

In any case, my husband, my very own Louis XIV, the man whose mantra is “quantity over quality” finds himself enraptured by the macarons. When someone brings up Pierre Hermé, he startles awake and says in a very impressed tone “that Pierre guy, he makes really good biscuits”.

Pierre Hermé

72 rue de Bonaparte, 6th arrondisement 75006 PARIS
Tel : +33 (1) 43 54 47 77
Open 7 days 10:00-19:00 (Saturdays open until 19:30)
http://www.pierreherme.com

Macaron. A single word to strike fear and lust into the hearts of baking enthusiasts, myself included. These small desirous goodies are temperamental and prone to inducing obsessive like behaviour in otherwise normal people. I’ve made these a couple of times, based on a Martha Stewart recipe but they were never brilliant and were ridiculously hard to remove from the parchment. So like an abused baking enthusiast, I would curl into a foetal position whenever someone suggested I make them again.

I did find this recipe, one of the many, many post it noted, in How to be a Domestic Goddess and with a bounty of beauteous green and pink hued pistachios set about breaking the curse. I did experience some bad luck while making these. Indeed there was a pistachio shell amongst the shelled pistachios which found its way to the bottom of the piping bag rendering it stuck. And can I tell you something you probably already knew, reaching your hand into the rough, stickily sweet raw macaron mixture is not at all pleasuresome. I think sticking my hand in it ruined the beautiful lightness of the mix too and the best looking ones were the ones that I piped before the shell blocked the pipe.

The ones that I placed on the top tray of the oven were beautiful-and joy to behold, with the frilly foot! But they were also more caramel shaded than green. I had turned down my fan forced oven to 160c. The ones in the middle oven tray were a light green but they also cracked in the middle but also with the frilly foot! Sorry to go on about the frilly foot but I was terribly happy to see them, particularly since the ones in Domestic Goddess didn’t really have any. Also the recipe was supposed to make 40 single macarons (20 welded together) but mine only produced 15 single macarons. Perhaps mine were a lot bigger at 6cms diameter which is not huge by any means but perhaps Nigella means mini macarons. In any case I halved the buttercream quantities and came out with the correct amount of buttercream for my macarons.

I also took the advice of macaron obsessive David Lebovitz who amusingly documents his macaron baking adventures here. He suggests “rapping the baking sheet hard on the countertop to flatten the batter before baking” which I did. I can only presume that it helped with the frilly foot as Nigella didn’t suggest this and her pictured ones didn’t have them. He found that leaving them to develop a shell didn’t help his cause but Nigella’s recipe only required waiting for 10 minutes so I figured I may as well do that while preheating the oven.

On the left hand side, paler green but cracked macarons baked on the middle tray, on the right hand side, the darker macrons not cracked baked on the top oven tray

So whilst the colour might be slightly off, I can say that I do consider these a success. They are incredibly sweet so I would toy with the idea of reducing the amount of sugar or changing it to a flavour like lemon for the next batch.

The next batch? Did I actually say that?

Nigella Lawson - Pistachio Macarons from How to be a Domestic Goddess

These are the world’s most elegant macaroons. The color alone, that waxy pale jade, perfectly matches the aromatic delicacy of their taste; and their nutty chewiness melts into the fragrant, soft paste with which they’re paired. Of all the recipes in this book, this is the one of which I think I’m most proud: biscuit bliss.

These are perfect at the end of dinner alongside some confectioner’s-sugar-dusted raspberries; or alone with coffee, gracefully piled on a plate or cake stand.

Ingredients
For the macaroons:

• 75 grams pistachios
• 125 grams icing sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 15grams caster sugar

For the buttercream:

• 55 grams pistachios
• 250 grams confectioners’ sugar
• 125 grams unsalted butter, softened

Preparation

• 2 baking sheets, lined with parchment paper

1. Grind the pistachios in a food processor along with the icing sugar (this stops them turning into an oily mess), until as fine as dust (I didn’t grind them that finely as you can see). Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the sugar over and whisk until very stiff. Fold the whites into the pistachio-sugar dust, and combine gently.

2. Pipe small rounds onto your lined baking sheet, using a plain 1 cm nozzle. Let them sit for about 10 minutes to form a skin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4

3. Rap the baking sheet hard on the countertop to flatten the batter before baking, then put in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes: they should be set, but not dried out.

4. Remove from the oven and let cool, still on their sheets, while you get on with the filling. This is simple work: grind the nuts and confectioners’ sugar in the processor as before; then cream the butter and continue creaming as you add the nut dust. Make sure you have a well-combined soft buttercream. Then simply sandwich the macaroons together.

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Planning a trip to Europe next year is certainly fun and whilst I have already visited London and Paris, my husband hasn’t. One of the highlights in Paris was Ladurée, a gorgeous tea salon on the Champs Elysées and I knew that I was due for a return visit. So in order to get myself excited about it, I dug up some old pictures taken of the cakes and wrote about my first visit there a while back.

At Ladurée, they have a “no photographs” policy so whilst I would’ve loved to have shown you gorgeous photos its a policy they do enforce. Other customers tried using their mobile phones and they were asked politely but firmly to put them away. So you’ll have to take my word for it that the selection of cakes available for take away is breathtaking. The picture is from the Ladurée website and does look somewhat like it is except without the swarm of people in front of the display.

The system of ordering cakes to take away is somewhat chaotic, you stand in a line firmly pressed against the display several people deep and order with someone behind the counter and when you get to the end you pay with someone else. But it also means that choosing a cake and seeing what’s available is hard as everyone is pressed against the display and if you’re a point and babble-in-badly-accented-French kind of person like me, you may have to point to the item that you want from quite far away.

We decide based on personal preferences, my sister loves chocolate and nuts so the “Praliné” seems the perfect choice. its a dome of chocolate studded with nuts and crunchy praline inside. I choose the “Religieuse de la Rose” (€4.30) which is Choux pastry with rose petal flavoured confectioner’s custard.

Despite the fact that I have a rotten cold, both are so sumptuously rich in flavour and texture, I enjoy every bite. The Praliné is a harmonious mix of chocolate, nuts and shards of praline toffee and the perfect combination of textures. The Religieuse de la Rose choux pastry is perfection, not the soggy, leaky mess you often find here. The custard is delicately rose flavoured and explodes in the mouth against the dry choux pastry and the sweet tang of rose icing. I finally understand why people go on about eclairs, profiteroles and other choux pastry goodies. I wonder if it is named so as its a religious experience but apparently not, its shape resembles a nun thus the name!

There are also pastries (Pain au Chocolat €1.70, Pain au Chocolat Pistache €2.20, Brioche plain or sugared €2.00) as well as their famous mini macarons in a myriad of flavours (6 for €12, larger quantities of 45 are €84.50 or you can buy these per kg with 50-60 pieces per kg @ €69). Cakes are between €3 and €5 which is incredibly well priced for the amount of work put into them.

But onto the the salon upstairs, we join a queue of mostly French people (always a good sign!) and wait for a table for two. Most people in the queue want a non smoking table (as we do) so the wait is longer, about 20 minutes. We are ushered into the Salon de Paéva which is a furnished with dark chocolate and vanilla stripes with the requisite gilt and marble.

To eat in upstairs at the salon, cakes range from €4.50-€7 and there are also light meals to be had e.g. duck foie gras served with grenadine macaron and kugelhopf €22, lobster carpaccio served with raw ginger €23, Taramosalata cream puff served with rose petals €14, Truffle cream omelette €19, a range of salads from €19-€33 and a staggering array of cakes. As we’ve had lunch we order cakes. I order the Carre Chocolat €6.40, a black chocolate macaron biscuit, thin black chocolate crispy leaves, smooth black chocolate cream, smooth black chocolate biscuit and chocolate zabaglione mousse. Its an indulgent celebration of dark chocolate but it never verges into being “too much”.

My sister orders a selection of four mini macarons which include a caramel with super fine salt, pistachio, violet blackcurrant and coffee. The caramel with super fine salt is intriguing where salt brings out the flavour of the caramel but never overpowers it. The other flavours available are: violet blackcurrant, licorice, coffee, coconut, chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, raspberry, dark chocolate, rose petal, orange blossom, morello cherry and caramel with superfine salt.

There are also special flavours e.g. Seasonal flavours : Lemon, Praline, Ice mint, Coconut, Chestnut, Grenadine as well as Special & temporary creations: Java Pepper - Apricot Ginger - Muscovado - Candyfloss - Havana - White amber - Indian Rose - Aniseed - Champagne - Orange Saffron - Lily-of-the-valley - Strawberry Poppy - Gingerbread - Rosanis and new for Autumn is Macaroon “Ruby Kiss” aroma of chocolate, berries and spices (with each new season, Ladurée pays tribute to this its most famous creation by creating a new flavour).

An interesting tidbit for those that have tried to make these babies (including me), apparently once cooked and filled, the macaroons are put to one side for 2 days before going on sale, the time it takes to achieve a perfect balance between texture and flavour!

You can also partake of some champagne from the Ladurée rose or Ladurée Brut for €63, Moet et Chandon for €93.50, Dom Perignon €220 or Billecart Salmon Brut €77 as well as a range of cocktails for €11, wines, teas, coffees, spirits and soft drinks.

The English menu is here with prices and a brief description of each mouthwatering dish. Ladurée Salon de Thé - Champs Elysées menu

We can’t leave without buying a bottle of their Violet perfume called Paéva (€35 for a 100ml bottle). Its a beautiful true single note scent in a fairly simple bottle resplendently packaged in a lovely purple box with a tasseled perfume pump. Unfortunately there is a design flaw where the bottle leaks and 3/4 is gone before I even know it. It happened to both our bottles independently so sadly it doesn’t appear to be just a one off problem.

For a brief history lesson, if you are interested, “Ladurée was founded in 1862, when Louis Ernest Ladurée, a miller from France’s southwest, created a bakery at 16 rue Royale in Paris.Under the Second Empire, cafes developed and became more and more luxurious and attracted Parisian high society. Along with the chic restaurants around the Madeleine, they became the showcases of the capital. The beginning of this century found Paris wrapped up in a frenzy of distraction and going out in public. Parisians flocked to the Exposition Universal, women were also changing and they wanted to make new acquaintances. Literary salons and « les circles » were outmoded. Ernest Ladurée’s wife, Jeanne Souchard, daughter of a well-known hotelier in Rouen, had the idea of mixing styles: thus the Parisian café and pastry shop gave birth to one of the first tea salons in town. The ‘‘salon de thé’’ had a definite advantage over the cafés of the pooch: they permitted ladies to gather in freedom.”

I actually bought a Coffee version of the Religieuse de la Rose at David Joness Bondi Junction from a cranky older lady behind the pastry counter and it was the soggy, leaky kind of pastry. For starters, she hadn’t boxed it, instead they’d simply chucked it in a paper bag so that it was a choux and custard explosion a short 20 minute car trip home (I shudder to think what would happen if you caught public transport with one!). I was thoroughly annoyed and the pastry was horrible and leaky I wanted to throw it away.

Ladurée Champs Elysées

75, avenue des Champs Elysées - 75008 Paris
Tel : 01.40.75.08.75 - Fax : 01.40.75.06.75
The Restaurant is open daily from 7.30am to 12.30am - The shop is open daily from 7.30am to 11pm except on Saturday 8.30am to midnight and on Sunday 8.30am to 10.00pm
Website: http://www.laduree.com (warning, viewing this website may result in an insatiable urge to hop on a plane to Paris)

P.S. I leave you with a pic of this adorable Fish bag that was in a display cabinet in a Paris Metro station and of course the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Élysées

Pictured at left are Paul’s macarons-coffee, praline, chocolate and pistachio. My sister got me hooked onto Macarons while visiting her in London. They’re different to coconut macaroons that you get in Australia and they’ve only really taken off within the last year or two in Australia with a couple of places selling them (Lindt cafe and Laurent). They’re crispy, chewy, cool and delicious all in one and if that sounds confusing, try one and see what I mean!

Having been lucky enough to visit Laduree Paris, I compared the two macarons and I found that Paul’s is generally superior for the ratio of filling to macaroon biscuit, hwoever Lauree has more adventuresome flavours (caramel and salt being a favourite but pistachio being my absolutely consistent favourite) whereas Paul’s generally has 4 flavours. Also if you happen to get a Paul’s macaron that doesn’t have enough filling, then its not as good.

As far as the Australian versions go, the Laurent cafe ones do not do the word macaron justice, they don’t have nearly enough filling with only a smear so the luxurious texture suffers. Lindt ones are very pretty and make a lovely gift and they are decent but just not as good as Paul’s or Laduree.

I’ve tried making these from Martha Stewart’s recipe and I wasn’t too impressed with the recipe. Only 1/3 of them survived and considering how pricey pistachios are here I was not a happy camper. Next time she should provide the tips that you need to ensure that they come out well and you don’t get a lot of wastage (maybe that’s how she remains so smug while others flounder following her recipes!). Here are some tips that I wholeheartedly agree with as I remade them with a slightly different recipe and 2/3 to 3/4 turned out well. Nigella Lawson has a recipe for Pistachio macaroons in How to be a Domestic Goddess that I will try next. After that, I may have to go to MA (Macarooners Anonymous).

Pistachio Macaroons

By Nigella Lawson from How To Be a Domestic Goddess

These are the world’s most elegant macaroons. The color alone, that waxy pale jade, perfectly matches the aromatic delicacy of their taste; and their nutty chewiness melts into the fragrant, soft paste with which they’re paired. Of all the recipes in this book, this is the one of which I think I’m most proud: biscuit bliss.

These are perfect at the end of dinner alongside some confectioner’s-sugar-dusted raspberries; or alone with coffee, gracefully piled on a plate or cake stand.

Ingredients
For the macaroons:

• 75 grams pistachios
• 125 grams icing sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 15grams caster sugar

For the buttercream:

• 55 grams pistachios
• 250 grams confectioners’ sugar
• 125 grams unsalted butter, softened
• 2 baking sheets, lined with parchment paper

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4

1. Grind the pistachios in a food processor along with the icing sugar (this stops them turning into an oily mess), until as fine as dust. Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the sugar over and whisk until very stiff. Fold the whites into the pistachio-sugar dust, and combine gently. Pipe small rounds onto your lined baking sheet, using a plain 1 cm nozzle. Let them sit for about 10 minutes to form a skin. Then put in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes: they should be set, but not dried out.
2. Remove from the oven and let cool, still on their sheets, while you get on with the filling. This is simple work: grind the nuts and confectioners’ sugar in the processoor as before; then cream the butter and continue creaming as you add the nut dust. Make sure you have a well-combined soft buttercream. Then simply sandwich the macaroons together.