Long term readers will know of my continued love for Macarons.

Those lovely crisp almondy flavoured shells filled with all the flavours. Not those minging coconut squishy things , usually with a glace cherry on the top.

My favourite of all time is the Ladurée Salted Caramel macaron which you can only get in Ladurée stores; the nearest being London and Birmingham, which in a lockdown is impossible!

I have been known to go to the Ladurée store in the Burlington Arcade, London and purchase 20 Salted Caramel Macarons which is literally bonkers but I cannot resist them.

Ladurée Salted Caramel Macaron

So… where am I going with this post?

Well you see last week I had a surprise delivery for a great friend of mine, Jane. She messaged me about 5 days before hand to say that a small gift was on its way to me in the post as a thank you for something I had sent to her and could I let her know when it arrived?

Of course I said I would let her know as soon as it turned up.

Monday the 22nd February was a pretty crappy day for me; I had a few medical issues going on and I was feeling a bit down in the dumps. A bit sorry for myself, if you will.

So, when I got home and found a box on the side waiting for me, I automatically assumed that it was the thing Jane had been talking about.

I assumed incorrectly that it would be some fashion item, possibly vintage or alternatively some new nails as Jane makes the most stunning glue on nail designs imaginable.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find a little card inside from the ‘Petit Pithivier’.

What a wonderful surprise

Not fashion or nails then!

Under the card was a beautifully tissue wrapped package.

Peeling the classy little sticker open, I was stunned to find 12 glorious little macarons in various shades of colour. There was also a sheet of paper telling you the different flavours that have been included in the package.

Exciting!

The sheet also gives you the full ingredient list so you know just what you are eating.

In my box I had the following, Banoffee, Salted Caramel, Raspberry Ripple, Cherry & Vanilla, Coffee, Rose & Pistachio, Chocolate Orange, Cardamom & Pistachio, White Chocolate, Lavender, Earl Grey and Praline.

Although they were a gift to me, I obviously chose to offer them to my family to share, after all Sharing is Caring!

Thankfully most of them didn’t want any, but Mum and Leslie did have a couple.

Of the ones I had (Salted Caramel, Cherry & Vanilla, Rose & Pistachio, Cardamom & Pistachio, Earl Grey and Praline) I have to admit that the Salted Caramel was my absolute favourite.

All the colours

In fact, it gave the Ladurée one a run for its money!

The Earl Grey was also blooming lovely and I have to admit to a bit of a penchant for the Cherry & Vanilla too.

I have to admit, the only one that I really didn’t like was the Rose & Pistachio. It was beautiful, with a great colour, chopped pistachios all round the outside and look great. But it was so heavily Rose flavoured that I just couldn’t finish it.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

Just Sublime

There was nothing actually wrong with the macaron. It was exactly as it was stated and promised. I am just not a great lover of rose flavoured products as I find them far too floral for my taste.

If you like that kind of thing, you will absolutely adore these are they are fabulously flavoured.

The actual Macarons were chewy yet crisp as they should be, great flavourings and colourings and much cheaper than a trip to London (and the £1.85 each price tag)

I do have one very tiny slight criticism (which was also quite fun) in that it was a little difficult to tell what some of the macarons were before eating.

For example, there were two pink ones; by process of elimination they must be raspberry ripple and cherry & vanilla, however until tasting them, I couldn’t have guessed which was which.

The flavours and ingredients

There was also cardamom & pistachio and a praline one, again from the look it was impossible to tell.

Lavender and Earl Grey were also quite alike, except for the little bits of tea on the outside of one. Luckily, I got the Earl Grey and Mum, the Lavender.

Sumptuously Filled

It was great fun tasting them though and guessing what they were, so it was not all bad!

I think to make it easier, on the list of flavours/ingredients it would help to have a colour ‘chart’,  or it could be quite cute to have a little coloured macaron next to the information of each.

Either way, it didn’t detract from them and as I said, it almost became a little game to guess them.

Look at those colours!

The Macarons can last for up to 10 days in the fridge. Sadly to say, mine didn’t last 10 hours! They were just too good and I wanted to try as many as possible.

So, what was my final opinion?

Name that Macaron!

I absolutely highly recommend the Petit Pithivier and I am sure I will be ordering some more soon on her website. I think there are other flavours available so I would quite like to try them too.

Or I could just order a large batch of the Salted Caramel…..

Till next time

SPSG xxx