Indira The Sweet

Treats April 7, 2008

I have been having some crappy days since my cousin left last Friday and today I decided to self medicate with a treat of a French macaroon from the bakery/cafe, Madeleine on west 23rd street. I met Jen (pictured savoring her coconut with dark chocolate ganache macaroon) for lunch at Monster Sushi and on my way there I passed this cafe that I keep forgetting about, called Madeleine. I came across it sometime last year and was really impressed with their selection of French macaroons and the look of their croissants and tarts. They were producing real French pastries, which always makes me happy. Jen was with me when I first found the place (I think), and I remember explaining the difference between the French macaroon that is made with almond flour and resembles more of a meringue cookie and the American (?) version made with flaked coconut. I was amazed when I read the recipe while in school that this was considered a macaroon. I was very excited to try it, and then was really disappointed when it came to actually make them. First off, it is a cookie that needs to be piped. Right away for me (at that point of my experience) pipping was HARD and MESSY! Second the baking was really precise and with 6 or 7 teams of 2 students trying to get in and out of the oven, it proved to be difficult. We were taught that “classically” the cookie is sandwiched with a jam. We were making VERY pink ones and therefore we had to sandwich them with raspberry jam. I am not sure, but at the time it was just a gross sweet mess. I did not like them much at ALL!

Then came my brief stint as an assistant to the (very French) Pastry Chef at Bouley Bakery. I was only there for a little over 2 months, but boy did I “mis en place” for A LOT of macaroons!!! “Mis en place” is French and means to measure out all the ingredients for a recipe before you start mixing. The chef had me measure out 1 kilo each of almond flour and confectioner’s sugar that both needed to be sifted. Have you ever tried to sift almond flour? It is not an easy task, it is not as fine as flour and neither is confectioner’s sugar. UGH! I grew to hate this process more and more each time I had to do it. I was happy to learn that jam was not the only thing used to put in between these sweet cookies. We made ganaches! YUM. A basic ganache is an emulsion of melted chocolate and cream, then you can add other flavorings, (like fruit purees, nut pastes,or spices), to fancy it up even more! These crazy French raise the fun factor up another notch by coloring the cookies various colors to indicate flavor. Green is usually pistachio (my fave), pink indicates that you will probably taste raspberry somewhere, brown= chocolate. Etc. You get it. So when you walk into a bakery in Paris you will most likely see a large selection of colorful macaroons. You have to be careful because like the coconut version of a macaroon, they are VERY SWEET! I like the ones at Madeleine’s because they are not too big. The ones we made at Bouley were really big. Too much!

Anyway, I was glad to have rediscovered this place and for my waistline’s sake, I hope to forget them soon and then have the chance to stumble across the place again in the future as opposed to making it a part of my weekly eating habits!

I need to mention briefly and then again in more detail later, I was lucky enough to have shared dinner with Jackie and Tom Sunday night. I need to share a picture of this beautiful plate that Tom created. Not only did this look good, it was delicious!

Thank you Tom, what a treat. And of course Jackie, thanks for ALL the help. You guys are great together as you are separately. Love yous.