I can’t even begin to tell you how long this post has been sitting in my drafts, but I’m just finally getting to it. I was first introduced to Miam Miam Macaronerie a while back and stopped by their shop (before they moved to Quincy) while I was in the area.

So what are their fall 2018 flavors?

Lemon creme, pumpkin brûlée, rose petal, white chocolate raspberry, apple butter, chai latte, salted caramel, pistachio vanilla, espresso, chocolate beltway, vanilla bean and fun fete. Order a 6 piece box for $13.50 and a 12 piece box for $27.

Did you know that Miam Miam will come to your house and each you how to make French macarons? What do you need? A minimum of 4 people, at $65 per person. You’ll get three hours of prepping, baking and filling macarons, and all the ingredients are included. Such a fun idea for a girls night in!

Miam Miam Macaronerie

145 Water Street, Quincy, MA

www.miammiammac.com

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Leah introduced me to Praliné a while back, and I almost wished she hadn’t. The French bakery puts out some of the most amazing desserts I’ve had. It’s a good thing that it isn’t closer to me, otherwise I might be 50 pounds heavier and broke. The lemon tart is sweet and tart, a fresh clean citrus taste to it.

The chocolate caramel tart is decadent – made with sweet almond dough and chocolate custard filling.

The small bakery has pastries, cookies, macarons and delicious chocolates. If you’re not near the Belmont area you can also pick up their sweet treats at George Howell Coffee in Downtown Crossing in the Godfrey Hotel.

Where’s your favorite bakery?

Praliné

203 Belmont Street, Belmont, MA

http://www.pralineconfection.com

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Tamy’s baking started as a friendly competition with her mother. She would make an apple pie, and her mother would try to one up her and vice versa. So Tamy started making macarons, her mother begged her to teach her how, but she’s keeping this delicious recipe to herself! Her macarons are FRESH, as in when you bite into one it has a little crispness to the shell but it is soft (hint: if you bite into a macaron and it crumbles – it’s not fresh). She has a killer buttercream recipe that is not too sweet and works well with the wide range of flavors she uses.

Now you’ve all seen the unicorn Instagram sensations that you can’t get shipped to you from Georgia. Don’t sweat it, Tamy takes special orders! And how adorable are her unicorns?!?

Her pokemon macarons are quite popular and you can get them during the week at Cha Shu Bubble Tea & Coffee Shop in Malden. So what flavors did I get?

Pikachu (Milk Tea), Unicorn Face (Fruity Pebbles), Hello Kitty (Cookies n Creme), Pink Velvet Heart, Panda (Cookies n Creme), Purple Totoro (Chocolate Dulce De Leche), Snorlax (Cookies n Creme), Red Velvet, Choc PB, Simply Vanilla, Fruity Pebbles, and Cake Batter (gluten free).

Verdict: Some of the most delicious macarons I’ve had. I especially loved the vanilla and the cookies and creme flavors, but they were all pretty tasty. All the macarons are gluten free except for the cake batter and cookies and creme. Note that the gluten free cake batter macarons do have a different flavor to them, let’s just say it’s an acquired taste (they’re made with garbanzo bean flour).

Make sure to stop at one of the markets to see Tamy and try some of her delicious macarons – trust me you’ll be hooked!

https://macaboston.com

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Other interesting flavors include: lime, nougat lavender, mango licorice, cassis and apricot champagne. La Maison du Macaron has created over 150 different flavors of macarons, at least 20 flavors are in the case daily. These are delicious, light and airy, they melt in your mouth.

What is your go to flavor for macarons?

La Maison du Macaron

132 W 23rd St., New York, NY

http://www.nymacaron.com/

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I always make it a point to stop here when in New York – they have the best macarons. The shells are delicate and melt in your mouth and there is just enough ganache in each one.The pistachio is my favorite. 8 macarons cost $22.40.

In addition to macarons, Laduree has delicious pastries. Shown is the religieuse pistachio ($7). This was like a cream puff pastry filled with pistachio cream. Delicious and lovely to look at! These would make an excellent hostess gift!

Laduree

396 W. Broadway, New York, NY

https://www.laduree.com

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My next stop on my macaron tour was Bisous ciao. They have locations in the West Village and on the lower east side. With macarons, you should always store them in the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before you eat them. Sometimes I don’t have that much self control. We picked up six flavors ($17.20).

Pistachio: white chocolate pistachio ganache. With this one, I wished that the pistachio had a stronger flavor.

Gianduja: a classic mix of hazelbut and milk chocolate. The filling was dense, making it feel very decadent.

Almond: almond cream with toasted, chopped almonds. The flavoring was nice but the filling was a bit thick.

Caramel apple: cider, calvados and diced apple in caramel. This not a flavor that I would normally gravitate to, but it was delicious!

Lemon: lemon cream made with lemon juice and lemon zest. I loved the lemon, it was so tart!

What is your favorite macaron flavor?

Bisous Ciao Macarons

101 Stanton Street (bet. Ludlow and Orchard), New York, NY

https://www.bisousciao.com

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Follow the Honey was involved in the dinner I went to over the summer at Cuisine en Locale – see the recap here. I went to the shop on a hunt for Shira Melen’s special honey macarons – made exclusively for Follow the Honey. They did not disappoint – perfectly light and crisp with a hint of sweetness.. Check out my previous post on Shira’s macarons here.

Stop in today and pick up a jar of my favorite honey from Red Bee.

Follow the Honey

1132 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA (Harvard Square)

http://www.followthehoney.com/

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The space is open and bright, designed by EMBARC studios, the same architecture firm that designed Liquid Art House. I had the pleasure of sitting next to (and chatting with) Dartagnan Brown, at the Christofle dinner at Liquid Art House. He couldn’t have been nicer and more down to earth. EMBARC does primarily residential projects but has some great commercial property work under their belt. Cafe Madeleine has large windows and counter seats for 6.

Cafe Madeleine serves high end pastries at neighborhood prices.

Customers can look through the large glass window and see the chefs making each and every dessert.

Owner Frederic Robert is a 2007 James Beard award winner for his book Grand Livre de Cuisine: Alain Ducasse’s Deserts and Pastries, which he co-authored with Alain Ducasse, whom he partnered with for over 25 years. Fred and Alaian’s partnership began in 1987 at the 3 Michelin Star Louis XV Monaco at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco and included the 3 Michelin Star Plaza Athenee, Paris; 3 Michelin Star 59 Avenue Poincare, Paris; The Essex House in New York; Mix, New York; 1 Michelin Star Spoon, Paris; Spoon Byblos, St. Tropez; Spoon Tokyo; Spoon London; 1 Michelin Star Abbaye de la Celle, Provence; and 1 Michelin Star Auberge de Moustiers, Provence. From 2004 to 2011, Fred was Executive Pastry Chef at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. From 2011-1012, he was Executive Pastry Chef at PB Boulangerie & Bistro.

In addition to mouthwatering sweets, Cafe Madeleine also offers a variety of savory items: Croque Monsieur ($9.50), Quiche Lorraine (slice) –( $4.50) or ($5.50) with Salad, Vegetable Crudite Tart – ($4.50) to name a few.

In addition to their house made coffee, Cafe Madeleine offers La Colombe coffee, which is a real treat!

For cold beverages, they offer French nectars and juices, which look AMAZING ($7).

The girls prepping some coffees.

Pastry Chef Hana Quon. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Hana changed careers from working with the National Endowment for the Humanities to pastry cook at the National Harbor convention center. She later transitioned to working as sous chef to Chef Frederic Robert at PB Boulangerie & Bistro, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Hana received her certification in Paris, France in classic French pastry, doughs, gateau de voyage, petit fours and macarons at the Ecole Gastronomique Bellouet Conseil, where she studied under M.O.F. Jean Michel Perruchon. Hana talked to me about the great mentor/protege relationship that she and Frederic have. She raved about how talented he is and how rare it is to have an Executive chef that is so hands on.

The croissants ($2.75) are light with a buttery flavor.

They carry fresh baked bread  from Clear Flour Bakery: French Baguette, Rustic Italian, and Pain de Mie.

The fruit tart ($5.50) is almond cream baked in a sweet pastry crust, topped with vanilla pastry cream, fresh local fruits.

The vegetable crudite tart ($4.50) was a work of art.

The large berry tart.

Cafe Madeleine is open from 6:30am to 7pm, 7 days a week. Stop in for a delicious treat!

Cafe Madeleine

517 Columbus Ave. Boston, MA

http://cafemadeleineboston.com

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Nina debuted two new flavors this particular evening!

Moochie’s macarons come in these amazing flavors: pistachio, lavender honey, toasted coconut, Belgian dark chocolate, fig preserves and espresso. Limited edition flavors include: creamed honey cinnamon, maple pecan and picnic in Paris.

This was my first time in the new shop – Sofi, owner of Olives and Grace, moved from her previous location in the South End onto Tremont Street.

The store is so lovely, lots of wonderful products – it’s the kind of place where you go in for one thing and walk out with 10.

The new picnic in Paris flavor is made with  Doves & Figs preserves: strawberry conserve with orange and lavender.

The maple pecan flavor is bold, and just the  right amount of sweetness – such great flavors. It is made with local maple syrup from Campton, NH. These are mixed with the chocolate hazelnut macarons (pink).

And my favorite, the pistachio, mixed in with the Belgian chocolate ganache.

Check out Olives and Grace frequently as they have some great tasting events. The next event is Big Spoon Roasters on 6/24 from 4:30-7:30pm.

Moochies Macarons

http://moochiesmacarons.com/

Olives and Grace

623 Tremont Street, Boston, MA (South End)

http://www.olivesandgrace.com/

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Mei Mei Street Kitchen may be one of my favorite food trucks. Their dumplings made Boston Magazine’s Best Dumpling List. And in even better news, they are getting a brick and mortar location (see the blog post here). We are hoping that they are going in to the space that was formerly My Brothers Pizza, but it is kind of hard to tell from the star on the map.

Really I love any kind of dumpling that the mei mei truck is making, but I think I like the pan fried version over the deep fried version. And the kimchi fried rice can’t be beat, I dream of that stuff.

I love the double awesome, but one day decided to try the bahn mei: Scallion pancake filled with house made liver pate, cured ham, pickled white carrot and cabbage ($8.50). Really nice flavors, a little smokey, a little sweet. A close second to the double awesome!

I love any of their desserts, pictured above was the chocolate beer cake with chipotle nutella frosting and candied peanuts. The cake was dense and delicious and the frosting left your lips tingling.

And the macarons (not to be confused with the macaroon-a heap of coconut held together by egg whites) are to die for. We heard from the truck that mei is perfecting the recipe for the big oven, so there will be more macarons soon! Yum!

Mei Mei Street Kitchen

http://meimeiboston.com

Check out their website to see the daily menu and where they are going to be!

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