Macarons from Miette in San Francisco

This weekend in SF I made sure to stop by the historic Ferry Building to to visit Miette, a little bakery that Conde Naste deemed to be one of the top ten pastry shops in the world. While I had an incredible experience with their caramel panna cotta and coconut cake, I'd like to discuss their macarons.

As a refresher, macarons are meringue based, almond cookies that sandwich delicious ganache or jam fillings.  Traditionally, macarons appear in festive and delightful settings ranging from intimate tea parties to elegant weddings.  Additionally, they make wonderful little gifts.  Half the charm of macarons is the range of playful colors and flavors in which they come.  This trait is where Miette's macaron's fall short. Their cookies only come in natural shades of rugged almond, or perhaps chocolate, depending on the flavor. While I love natural and organic ingredients for my goodies, the macaron is not the cookie to downgrade the fun.  

Furthermore, these cookies are extra chewy, thus lacking the melt-in-your-mouth quality that the best macarons possess.  Two and a half cherries for these natural yet drab and chewy cookies.

 

For more information on Miette, click here. 

Comments

[lequan]

I absolutely love macarons! You're definitely right about half the charm of macarons being playful colors and flavors. That's what attracted me to these little delights in the first place. I'm such an easy sell sometimes :-). Hope your next macarons experience is much much better.

[Casey]

Wait,I've been there and had delicious raspberry and pistachio macaroons that were in fun colors. I love their macaroons! So sad your experience wasn't better.

[Maggie @ Flour Child]

Hello Darling! Thanks for the blog love. Giving some right back -- you and your blog are divine! Blog stalking to commence shortly.

We stopped by Miette last year, and although we didn't try their macarons (we were stuffed!), I completely agree about macarons needing a hefty dose of lightness and whimsy. Nothing comes close to Pierre Herme in Paris (I died and went to heaven that day), but Bottega Louie's are pretty fab. But I haven't tried Paulette's, which are now on my list.

Re: the Buzz Buzz cookies, if you're inclined, shoot me an email (flourchildblog at gmail dot com), and I'll get some to you...

[Tricia]

Hi!
It was great meeting you at blogHer Food.

I'm glad you posted about the macarons. I wonder if our wet climate would be a problem keeping the dry melt-in-your-mouth quality from happening. Being at the Ferry building right AT the water can't help either.

[Dessert Darling]

Hi Tricia! Perhaps the climate plays a role in the macarons consistency, but also I think the shape didn't help the cause. These cookies were relatively small and tall, versus more disc-like and flat. The flavors were great, but consistency and fun? Not so much...

Casey! They did have some with raspberry fillings, which added some color, but they didn't have any greens macarons when I was there, so I used an image that represented my experience.

Thanks for your comments ladies! :)