The Luxury for your Taste Buds

They are known and enjoyed especially in Europe and outside the old continent, especially in cosmopolitan cities. New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto, Tokyo...all love it and buy it! But the one we know today originates from Paris (altough historians still fight about its origin).

Traced back to 1533, they were served 1830 two by to next to jam, liqueurs or spices. But the Macarons as we know them today came from Pierre Desfontaines creation. At that time he was working in the French patisserie Laduree. They were composed of two meringue disks with a layer of buttercream, jam or ganache filling. Making the little flavour miracles takes a lot of discipline, exactitude, technique and a top equipment. It is hence a difficult recipe to master and well trained patissiers can have succes.


I remember sitting on a bench in Monaco and enjoying them like a small kid who had just discovered some misteries of life. They are crunchy on the outside but when you get to the cream inside, that just melts on your tongue into an explosion for the taste buds, an explosion of flavour. And they are also attractive for the eye. They lure you with those fresh colours until you go home with a packet (if you manage to get till home and don't eat them already on the way).

The Laduree Macarons are the ideal balance between flavour and texture. For them to be ready, they have to "age" 48hours before being sold and eaten. Apparently it takes that much time for the flavour to develop to that heavenly taste.

Each season there is a new flavour which comes out (parfum). The novelty is based on the existing perfumes and colour palette. It seems that they consider the colour the essential to seduction.

And they do seduce. Here a few examples:
Italian luxury brand Marni teems up with Laduree for a limited edition of Macarons.



Louboutin brand partners with Laduree for a series of cobranded boxes.



Boucheron creates mouth-watering jewelery.


Have you seen enough? Hungry? Or should I say, greedy?
Here are the flavours Laduree offers:

The New 2010 Collection
Cherry Macaron
Apple Macaron
The Collection of Macarons:
Permanent perfumes
Chocolate - Bitter Chocolate - Vanilla - Coffee - Rose Petals - Pistachio - Raspberry - Violet Blackcurrant - Caramel with salted butter - Red Fruit - Orange Blossom - Licorice - Lemon
Summer Scents: Coconut - Icy Mint - Almonds - Citron
The scents of winter: Spices & soft fruits - Chestnuts - Praline - The macaron Fig and Dates

P.S. This Blog entry has been written for and is dedicated to the most wonderful reader of my blog, my mother!