For the Love of...: ...French Macarons

It was our second time in France last summer that I tried a macaroon, or as they are referred to by the French, macaron.  Not to be confused by the American coconut macaroons, the macaron in comparison is a light, melt in your mouth, not too sweet confectionary.  I instantly fell in love with the many colours and flavours offered at the pâtisseries, but I was worried they might be overly sweet.  So I held off until one afternoon in Lyon, after a lazy day of shopping and people watching, we walked to a patisserie near the Place Bellecour, called Pignol.




Afternoon snack from Pignol near Place Bellecour



The pistachio and raspberry macaroon.  Place Bellecour in the background.

No one is counting calories here.  Note the chocolate macaron.

We found a nice place to sit and enjoy these sugary confections just on the perimeter of Place Bellecour.  Both the pistachio and raspberry macarons were delicious, but the pistachio was my favourite.  I was surprised to find the fillings were not too sweet, and the texture was like that of meringue- crisp and fluffy at the same time.  They disappeared alittle too quickly, but it was on to the next.  We had what was like creme puffs with different fillings in the middle and a chocolate/custard pastry topped with a chocolate macaron. 


From the first time I bit into that pistachio macaron, I was hooked.  The next time would be in Paris, from Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki at the Galleries Lafayette Gourmet.  We bought a few and again our favourites were the pistachio and raspberry.  We enjoyed them on our picnic outside the science center (!!).

Since coming back from France, I have yet to encounter a French macaron in Calgary, but maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.  The search continues, in the meantime, any suggestions are most welcome! 

Next: ...Chinese Style Braised Short Ribs