 Macaroons from “le roi des macarons,” Ladurée of Paris. Here, Cherry Amaretto and Apricot Ginger macaroons. Deftly combining flavors and colors is a Ladurée signature.
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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / CookiesLadurée Macaroon RecipeIf You Can’t Get To Paris, Try To Reproduce Them
If you love macaroons, put a visit to Paris’s Ladurée on the "100 Things To Do Before You Die” list. Until then, try your hand at making the elaborate macaroons at home. This is Page 1 of a two-page article. Click on the black links below to visit Page 2.
OverviewNo one tells us they’re going to Paris anymore, because they know we’ll beg them to bring back two boxes of macaroons from Ladurée, Paris’s international temple of macaroon holiness. The great success of Ladurée’s macarons is threefold:
While the original macaroons were simple almond meringues (see The History Of Macaroons), French macarons can be spectacularly colored and flavored meringue “sandwiches.” This concept was invented by Pierre Desfontaines Ladurée, who, at the beginning of the 20th century, had the idea to join two meringues into a sandwich cookie filled with ganache. The concept expanded, and today, centers of ganache, buttercream, jam or salt caramel (and who knows what’s around the corner) offer a seemingly limitless combination of colors and flavors.
A precious box of Ladurée macarons, couriered And now, you can make your own! (Recipe on next page.) More Memorable Paris MacaroonsWhile you’re in Paris, also visit the “newcomer,” young pastry chef Pierre Hermé at 72, Pierre Hermé macarons from PierreHerme.com. Copyright 2005- 2009 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are copyright of their respective owners.
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Macaroon fans worldwide now make a pilgrimage to the Parisian bakery to gaze upon, buy and feast on dozens of exciting flavors. There are the basics, of course—Chocolate, Vanilla, Raspberry and Pistachio, the latter a customer favorite, along with Salted Butter Caramel and Raspberry. But attention must be paid to Blackcurrant Violet and special seasonal flavors like Anise, Chestnut, Basil Lime, Orange Blossom, Rose (heavenly!) and White Chocolate. This spring, Bergamot and Lily of the Valley made their debut. 
rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement. He also wows the town with his macarons. In addition to the “regular sandwich,” Hermé takes the Ladurée concept one step further, making some macaroons with double filling flavors layered together—for example, a vanilla macaroon with a passionfruit ganache and a milk chocolate ganache. His chocolate macaroon has a chocolate caramel Fleur de Sel center. The macaroon with a Campari and grapefruit ganache is called “Americano Pamplemousse”—did Americans invent grapefruit juice with Campari? And we can’t get enough of those pretty pink rose macaroons with rose petal ganache or jam (it’s easy to find rose petal jam or jelly at Middle Eastern markets). You’re tempted to buy two of everything, until you realize they’re two Euros apiece. 