Macarons on a Monday, or Paris at Home

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

We spent a week in Paris back in April 2019. With everything that has happened since, that truly seems like a lifetime ago and a galaxy far away. If you think a week in Paris is enough time to see everything on a standard first-timer’s list, think again. Check out an overview of what we did do in our Paris Overview post.

We didn’t make it to Musée d'Orsay or the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t make it out of the city to tour Fontainebleau or Monet’s house and waterlily pond in Giverny. We did make it out of the city one day to tour the opulent Versailles (read about that day here).

We drank full-bodied French wines over late night meals (check out our three favorite restaurants here). We ate fresh, still-warm croissants every morning.

But.

We didn’t have any macarons. Did I plan to try macarons while in Paris? Not particularly. The colorful, perfectly circular confectionary wonders have always intrigued me when I see images of them in magazines. I have wondered what they taste like. Did their perfect visages belie an appalling flavor like marzipan? (Yeah, some people claim to enjoy marzipan. I don’t believe them.)

And then a couple of weeks ago I started thinking about the fact that I should have tried Parisian macarons while I was there. This might be a symptom of travel withdrawal a year and a half into this endless pandemic.

At random times over several days I wondered: Are macarons soft? Crunchy? Gross sugary sweet or more balanced in their sweetness?

And then I decided it was surely time to use the internet for its best purpose: bringing the outside world into my home! So, I researched what makes for a good tasting macaron. Some complain that macarons, when made by less qualified bakers, are prone to be overly sugary. The old adage: If you can’t make something good, just add as much sugar as you can stand! Okay, that’s not officially an adage, but we all know it should be.

You can’t redo your first experience with a food you have wondered about, so I decided to go big. Laduree is one of the acclaimed makers of macarons and finds itself on many a ‘best of Paris’ list. Luckily, they have opened up shop in New York City and make shipments from that location to homes across the US.

Twelve macarons arrived on a Monday in a beautiful, high quality pink display box ensconced in a brown shipping box. The macarons sat separated from each other in a plastic tray with a matching top to prevent any shifting during transport. They were as beautiful and perfect close up as I had imagined. An accompanying pamphlet showed images of the different colors and flavors, though there is enough of an overlap in the color palate that I wasn’t able to always completely predict what flavor I would bite into.

The particular box I ordered includes a variable selection of 12 classic flavors and 7 seasonal varieties. While my preference would have been for each of the 12 macarons to be different flavors, I did have two of several. My box contained: salted caramel, vanilla, strawberry candy, raspberry, lavender, and lemon, among others. Their colors seemed a bit more dim than I was expecting so either they matured into less bright colors during the couple of days from their creation to my kitchen or these flavors are just not particularly bright.

And the verdict? I was pleasantly surprised! Are they my top choice of all time for a sweet treat? No, but I would gladly eat macarons again in the future - ideally in Paris. I really enjoyed the soft, gooey, sweet center surrounded by the crusted, cake-like sides. I really can’t do the texture justice in describing it; it’s unlike anything I have had. The best part of these is that they were not overly sweet. Only the cream in the center was sugary but in a balanced, not over-bearing way. And a word on the lavender flavor. Some people find the floral macarons (in addition to lavender, rose is a common flavor) to be too perfume-like. I found the lavender to be pleasant, and it did not taste like potpourri.

Macarons by mail are not exactly a cost-conscious decision. Macarons from Laduree purchased physically in New York City work out to be about $3.41 each for a box of 12. With shipping, mine came out to $5 each, which seems about the right mark-up for perishable items. Still, that is a small price when compared to all of the trips we haven’t taken since March 2020! And now, this mystery at least, is resolved for me.

Click the image below to save this review to Pinterest for later!