What's with French Macarons?

        Macarons have been a thing of not only pastry shops but as well as social networking sites especially those catering in photo sharing such as instagram and tumblr. The cute look and vast array of colors of this cookie like confectionery will surely catch your attention. 

        I've been hearing the word Macarons from my food lover classmates, way back we were still in school and they would share how they really loved them, so I said to myself to try it. They would also emphasize how this Macaron (French almond flour version) is different from the familiar chewy Macaroons (with shredded dried coconut). I would also like to mention that my sister influenced me on trying out different Macarons, she was more on to tasting them while I am more on to taking pictures of them (just a little on tasting them) because they're so cute. Plus, I find them quite expensive so I also am thankful to her for sharing them with me.     

Let us first familiarize ourselves with the so-called Macarons. 

         According to Wikipedia, Macaron is a sweet meringue-based confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder, and food colouring. It is commonly filled with ganache, jam or buttercream sandwiched between two cookies (they call foot). It is derived from the Italian word, maccarone or mascherone.

After I read that, I thought that I have a different and wrong concept of a meringue. In my mind, it's the icing like confectionery we would usually eat. 

FROM: seriouseats.com 

      And then I saw this picture and it got me more confused. It's really weird that it's not what the macarons I have eaten look like. The meringue part really looks like the meringue I know, but in those that I have ate they are more like the texture of coconut macaroons. (see the third french baker macarons picture, different right?) Maybe it depends on the consistency. This really got me confused, please enlighten me. 

Calling calling a Macaron Specialist!

     To continue, i'm not this Macaron lover (or not yet), or food/pastry critique, so I'd just say if I liked it or not, good or bad or weird. And if inedible would taste like something I would definitely say it's one of these, because some would really taste weird. Sorry for being mean. It actually depends on the person, so I suggest you try it for yourself. 

FRENCH BAKER

       My first try of Macarons was that of the French Baker. I love french baker when it comes to their croissants and danish pastries, but their Macarons are something that I am not that fond of, but I should at least try their Chocolate one, maybe that will do. These were the only Macarons that I actually bought for myself, since after trying them I told myself that I would not buy another Macaron unless I'm sure I liked the taste of it and also I'm a bit mean saying, why would people like to eat these stuff, the only thing that I liked (though not totally)  was the somewhat crispy crust. 

These are the Mocha, Pistachio and Raspberry.

If I remember it right, they costs ₱36 each.

BIZU Patisserie

        

        

   Their macarons are the ones my classmates would usually buy. I told my sister about it, but their stores are a little bit far from our house so it took us a long time to finally took a stroll and visit Bizu in Greenbelt 2. It was a long stroll, by the way, since we are not that familiar of the place. But it was really worth the travel, I love the ambiance of their place, with their mix of bright and pastel colors. They also have very comfy sofas. Aside from their famous macarons, they also have a variety of gourmet meals, salads, pasta and sandwiches, breads and mouth-watering desserts. I hope I could try them some time. 

I and my sister. 

Little segway.

    We also tried their Fresh Mango Chiboust since it looks really beautiful. I was really amazed how they manage to make the mango slices upright like that.  It did not only looked good but it was really delicious, the mango slices were really sweet and the cheese part  was just right, smooth and dense but not too sweet. Though I was not very happy with the crust/base, (which is usually the only part that I love about other cheescakes), because it was a bit soft, without the crunch/chewiness of graham biscuit that I'm looking for. (Maybe it's not their style)

Back to the Macarons.

They're lovely, aren't they?!

         My sister bought two box of 8. She was planning to give the other as a gift but we ended up eating them also so that we could try all the different flavors. 

How much?

Per piece: ₱45

Box of 8: ₱355

Box of 14: ₱615

Box of 28: ₱1,175 

Blue Cheese: really tastes like cheese, which I liked but there is something in it that doesn't taste right. 

Lemon: tastes like Sunflower crackers (Do you know that?) 

These two would have been included in my shortlist as well. 

Rose: not that good, but not that bad. 

Pistachio: I was disappointed with this one because it really looks delicious. 

I love pistachios but not this one.

Butterscotch: weird

Coffee: You'll love this if you're really into something coffee-tasting.

Raspberry: weird especially the texture

Blueberry: weird for me, my sister liked it. 

My top three flavors

 3rd: Chocolate Mint
I learn to love anything (but most especially ice creams) Chocolate Mint flavored because of my sister. 
I really liked this one.

2nd: Mango
Tastes like real mangoes with fresh bits. Loved this!

1st: Valrhona Chocolate Ganache

This is also my sister's top choice

My first ever macaron that I would definitely buy next time.  

I could eat this all day. 

♥♥♥

TOUS les JOURS

       

   

    I first read about Tous les Jours in a blog, where the blogger shared a cake she bought there. I really find their cakes appealing to the eye, I bet they're really delicious. I searched in the internet where their stores are located and luckily they have one in SM North Edsa. Oh oh, if you're also a Dream High fan, you'll definitely know about this. I think it's the only pastry shop, rather the only shop located inside their school. Though in the series they would usually eat their breads.

   Just FYI, Tous les Jours is a French-Asian bakery which originated in South Korea and its name actually means "Everyday" since their products are always made fresh everyday. I'd compare their variety of breads with that of Bread Talk's. So instead of having to wait for a long line in Bread talk, why not try Tous les Jours' breads and other baked goods. They do have more varieties to choose from and I think much cheaper. 

    The first time we tried their breads, we already saw the sign that they have macarons, plus you'll see some of their cakes having a macaron topping, so we asked if they're available, but unfortunately, they were out of stock. But just yesterday after buying something in the grocery we saw that they already have in display their french macarons. My sister bought them for us to try. 

     The Strawberry is my sister's favorite, I kind of like them too but not as much as she liked it.  Mango tastes like flavoring mango and not the real thing (You know when you drink shakes, you'll know if it's fresh mangoes or the powder one). I would still go for Bizu's. Green Tea tastes like green tea. I tasted a bit from the crust that fell while I was taking pictures of it, I could not stand it. But I really do not like green tea in the first place, so I guess I would not really have liked it. My three year old nephew took a bite from it and he did this very weird expression of "Eww, what did I just ate?!" My nephew would always try the macarons with us. He's much more excited than us, he really can't wait, complaining every now and then when will we eat them already. I did like the Vanilla one, not too sweet nor bland, just right.  Their Chocolate is nothing like that of Bizu's, so no! 

      This would cost you ₱140 for the whole set with the pretty packaging, but you could also buy it by piece for ₱28 each.

That's about it!

If you have any suggestions where we could try a really good Macaron, don't hesitate to comment. 

Visit the following site for more of them!

frenchbaker  bizupatisserie  touslesjoursusa  touslesjourskorea  touslesjoursphilippines

♥  Au Revoir!  ♥

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