Ladurée, Pierre Hermé, Lenôtre, Dalloyau, Gérard Mulot… whisper just one of these magical names to any sweet tooth in the know and you will see eyes light up, lips twitch into a smile and the word macaron will roll gently off of the tongue, escape on a sigh. Delicate, tender and sweet, the French macaron is formed of the perfect union of a feminine froth of white meringue gently, lovingly folded into snowy powdered sugar and fine almond meal, then barely scented with whatever you choose, whatever your mood, whatever your desire. Piped out into beautiful shiny mounds, silky smooth, to puff up in the warmth of the oven and transform into perfectly domed, crisp yet tender shells, nutty and sweet. Light as air, each ethereal shell is paired with another and sandwiched around a smooth, luxurious ganache, cream or jam filling allowing for an imaginative pairing of flavors, colors, textures. Hold one tiny creation in the palm of your hand, admire the elegance, the shape and color, anticipate the taste sensation as you would a first kiss. Bring it up to your mouth, to your lips, hesitate, but only briefly, knowing that ecstasy is not far behind. Now bite down * crack * into the crisp barely there outside and find yourself pulled into a tender chewy center, a burst of flavor and you are utterly swept off your feet.
What is the fascination with these tiny treats? Macarons are all the rage these days; the food blogosphere is abuzz with recipes, information, tutorials and reviews. Everyone wants to make them, eat them. Both fanatics and the simply curious patiently stand in lines outside of pastry shops in Paris, New York, London, Toronto and cities in between; lines that wind around the block as the macaron crazed make their choice between an ever-growing number of flavors ranging from the simple (vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, cherry) to the impressive (saffron, olive oil, rose, fig, cotton candy) to the outrageous (truffle, wasabi, Foie gras, mushroom, tahini). For years the decadent, dark chocolate truffle was the perfect, romantic gift. Later, chocolatiers the world over were taking the simple, handmade chocolate and infusing cream and ganache fillings with an exotic twist by adding liqueurs, teas, flowers and spices such as pepper, fennel or ginger. Yet chocolate, no matter how we love it, is overpowering and ever-present, the added flavors simply a hint, a mere suggestion. The macaron is intriguing in its bareness: it is a pastry, a sweet, just slightly nutty confection that allows for an incredible artist's palette of creativity, a blank canvas for almost any combination of flavors, both sweet and savory or even a little of both. There is something so special, so sophisticated and elegant about the macaron that its makers have become legend and the mystique surrounding this friandise continues to grow.
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