To be honest, we once thought the only difference between a macaroon and macaron was that the French like to spell things fancier than we do. Little did we know that the French also disdain the use of coconut, instead stuffing thin cookie wedges with a yummy filling in order to stake the claim that it's not a cookie at all, but a pastry. Go figure. Whatever you call it, this delectable edible is now edging out the cupcake as the sweet treat of the moment, so it's only a matter of time before there's a truck peddling them outside of our office.
Macaron Day: Sure, macarons have been on foodies' radars for a few years, but only recently has this petite pastry entered the mainstream dessert lexicon. You can now buy them at Trader Joe's or, if you happen to be in Paris, at McDonald's. But you know a pastry has really made it big when a group of incredibly busy New Yorkers get together to celebrate it for a whole day. Last month François Payard, chef and owner of
François Chocolate Bar, organized the first annual
Macaron Day. Bakeries across the city joined together to educate the public about the pastry and to treat attendees to the many wild varieties of the tiny indulgence. Those who splurged beyond the free samples gave more than just fodder for their dentists, as a portion of the day's macaron sales went to
City Harvest.
Online Macarons: The endearing confection has become a favorite topic on food porn blogs, such as
Macaronage, a Tumblr dedicated to the scrumptious art of macarons that makes us want to ditch our afternoon meetings and host a tea party in the garden. Since that's pretty much impossible, we'll have to make do with perusing more blogs, like
MacTweets, which issues themed (e.g., spring, flowers, etc.) macaron competitions. Participants are given two weeks to create their macarons, post a photo of the seasonal treats on their own blogs with a description of how they were made and, finally, tweet about it. MacTweets then compiles the images via the tweets and posts them for us to salivate over.
Macaron Style: Even though macarons have yet to inspire cupcake level fanaticism (a macaron tattoo craze has yet to hit), they are serving as an inspiration for designers. Nike has introduced
Sportswear Air Royalty Macaron sneakers, which are being sold at Parisian trend emporium
colette. Though not made of almonds and flour, the high-tops do reflect the French sweet by playing off the pastel palette with which they are typically colored. Though it seems like a bit of a conceptual stretch, the sneaks are so cute, it's alright by us. Speaking of the hip Parisian boutique, colette must be obsessed because it's also hawking
macaron stationery designed by pastry shop
Ladurée in collaboration with Japanese brand
Mark's. You won't catch us hidden beneath our desks licking the pages. Really, you won't.
