Behold, one of the reasons I love living in Paris. You can buy a pick and mix box* of macarons, go to the Café de la Mairie with a friend and share nibbles over coffee until you pass out. I also sometimes buy two or three (even just one--they don’t mind) at La Grande Epicerie and eat them in the park in front of The Bon Marché. (Or as I've started to call it--air quotes intentional--"Best Buy.")
*The flavors are not listed on the website; I am ruined.
Update: Thanks to Stefanie for listing the flavors in the comments!
Ahha Coquette, it is your lucky day! I just happen to have the catalogue Automne-Hiver sitting on my desk...
-chocolat au lait et praliné croustillant
-huile d'olive et vanille
-marron et thé vert matcha
-truffe blanche et noisette
-café
-caramel à la fleur de sel
-chocolat
-fruit de la passion et chocolat au lait (my personal favorite)
-rose
Posted by: Stefanie | 03 November 2005 at 02:02 PM
Those look so delicious!
Posted by: Amber | 03 November 2005 at 02:11 PM
Le café de la MARIE? Ooooh, how cute...
Posted by: Nan | 03 November 2005 at 02:22 PM
Incidentally, in NYC there is a truly French patisserie called La Bergamote with divine treats that will truly make you pass out. It was recommended by Mireille Guilano:
http://www.mireilleguiliano.com/recommends.htm
I wish I could recommend one for Chicago but I'm sure one of your readers will offer them up sooner or later.
Posted by: La Dauphine | 03 November 2005 at 03:05 PM
J'aime beaucoup les macarons framboises!
Very alluring picture, by the way...
Posted by: Kathleen | 03 November 2005 at 04:56 PM
Wow, those look great. Aesthetically, the pink w/ green (what flavor?) would be hard to eat.
Posted by: Reuben | 03 November 2005 at 04:57 PM
I would love to know of a place in Chicago that sells these. My favorites came from Laduree on the Champs d'Elysee and have not found anything like them here.
Posted by: mar | 03 November 2005 at 05:02 PM
Lordy, those look delicious! Aargh!
Posted by: R J Keefe | 03 November 2005 at 05:04 PM
Thank you for making me salivate this early in the day.
Posted by: Dagny | 03 November 2005 at 05:13 PM
oooh...LOVE these...might make a trip back to Paris next year for the honeymoon....
Posted by: Joy | 03 November 2005 at 05:40 PM
they're like little jewels. oh how i miss paris and the sweets and gaining 10 pounds but it was SOOO worth it. *sigh*
Posted by: sarai | 03 November 2005 at 06:25 PM
Stefanie: the passionfruit milk chocolate (far left) is SO my favorite too
Joy: Honeymoon in Paris YES!
La Dauphine: Thanks for the link, looks amazing.
Posted by: Coquette | 03 November 2005 at 07:40 PM
Holy crap, white truffle and hazelnut? *swoooooon*
Posted by: Kate | 03 November 2005 at 08:18 PM
oops, hit send before finishing my thought—for the Chicago denizen who misses Ladurée (ergh, that place always makes me so mad!) Martha Stewart was on the Today show yesterday plugging her new baking book, and she made french almond macaroons from the book. So...Maybe it's a good project?
Posted by: Kate | 03 November 2005 at 08:20 PM
YUUUUUUMMMMMYYYY !!!!!
Posted by: Alaska | 03 November 2005 at 08:28 PM
oh. my. gawd.
Not only are they so pretty, but they look so damn tasty...
Posted by: April | 03 November 2005 at 09:47 PM
Why don't you fill a suitcase with them and bring them to Chicago as a side business? Or eat them on the plane.
Posted by: Neil | 04 November 2005 at 12:11 AM
Tu m'as donné envie : j'irai demain m'en acheter ! Merci, grâce à toi, je vais m'engraisser ;-)
Posted by: Jen | 04 November 2005 at 01:06 AM
I love macarons, which I first had at Laduree. Thankfully, there are some rather good renditions in LA now - but ah, not the same atmosphere.
Posted by: Gloria | 04 November 2005 at 01:47 AM
I am hungryyyy
Posted by: Miss Pink | 04 November 2005 at 04:33 AM
Hmmm... La Coquette -- Not to get too off topic here, but are you okay? The way these riots have hit the American press, you'd think there are looters on the Eiffel Tower. You are pretty much the only person I "know" in Paris, so I hope you are doing well and things soon get under control.
Cheers!
K
Posted by: africankelli | 04 November 2005 at 04:17 PM
Just to let you know... a recipe for French Almond Macaroons is in this month's (or is it next month's?) issue of Martha Stewart Living. They look just about as delicious as the ones you have pictured! Perhaps that will prove a solution while in Chicago.
Posted by: Kay | 05 November 2005 at 12:15 AM
Africankelli, you're sweet. I'm fine and it's big news here too, but this blog has never exactely been where people come for current events, so...
Posted by: Coquette | 05 November 2005 at 03:39 PM
Wait a second! No current events? HA! Where else do I turn for the latest in pastries and fashion?
Glad to hear you are okay.
Posted by: K | 05 November 2005 at 11:11 PM
Two words, Coquette: chocolate. handbags.
http://www.deandeluca.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/store/framescat.d2w/report
Posted by: La Dauphine | 06 November 2005 at 03:57 AM
oh coquette, i'm so happy to see you are eating yummy macarons. sadly,mine are long gone..you know, the ones that a very kind and generous french american fashion writer ordered for me when i had lost my voice?
Posted by: petiteschoses | 06 November 2005 at 06:53 AM
Pierre Hermé , pure genius. My favorite Pierre Hermé macaroon of all times was one I tried a long time ago, it was coconut mango I think,absolute perfection! I have his cookbook but my macaroons never seem to develop the the perfect feet like his :( I really like Ladurée's macaroons for their simplicity of flavor.
A very good friend of mine- while studying the culinary traditions of France -had the privilege of dining with Pierre Hermé and the most facinating thing he said about him (other than he has no ego whatsoever in person ,is down to earth ,and the most meticulous man he'd ever met)is he enjoys pigging out (my words ,obviously notMr. Hermés ) at McDo's every now and then. You just gotta love the man.
Posted by: Gwen | 06 November 2005 at 11:02 AM
Dammit, now you are really making me jealous.
Sheffield may be looking fab in the sunshine and autumn colours, but I'm afraid that while they do a mean custard tart, the patissiery hereabouts doesn't quite stretch to macaroons which are possibly the finest accompaniment to coffee known to man!
Personally I say forget spring - Paris in the Autumn is somewhere I'd love to be.
Posted by: Pete B | 07 November 2005 at 10:49 AM
Macarons are the best thing ever to be found in a French patisserie. They look kind of dry on the outside, so I shunned them for years. But once you bite into a good one, you will cry tears of joy. It is the texture that makes them a chef d'oeuvre of gustatory delight.
Posted by: Francofile | 07 November 2005 at 02:30 PM
let me know which flavors to put in your little care package when you are having a French craving in the U.S.
bon voyage ma cherie!
Posted by: alex | 08 November 2005 at 03:07 PM
Those macarons would be a reson to miss Paris!
Posted by: Andrea | 09 November 2005 at 03:52 PM
Yum yum yum.
Here's a link : http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676974119&view=printexcerpt
It's a Nigella Lawson recipe for Pistachio Macaroons (just like Pierre's in looks).
Ignore the recipe for capuccino cupcakes and just go 1/2 way down and there you go!
Very easy and quite divine. I also have a Nick Malgieri recipe for macaroons that I shall have to look up now. Yum.
Enjoy!
loulou
Posted by: luscious loulou | 18 November 2005 at 04:29 AM
oooh...thanks for this! i'm going to paris next week and now I know where I'm going to be stuffing my face all day! Love your blog btw!
Posted by: maybebabe | 09 October 2007 at 10:35 PM