Tuesday Top Five - Macarons

Macarons are delicious French almond based cookie sandwiches that have all different kinds of gourmet fillings. They are becoming increasingly popular and are popping up in bakeshops all over the city. Due to the price of their ingredients and the labor it takes to make them, macarons can start at $2 a cookie. Despite the price, I think these pastry shops deserve a visit and that’s why we’re counting down our top 5 favorite macaron cafes.

5. Almondine Bakery – This Brooklyn bakery has a variety of great French desserts, but their pistachio macaron is among my favorite there. Check out the tiny bakery on a quaint little street in DUMBO.

4. Bouchon Bakery – Thomas Keller’s famous bakery offers seasonally flavored macarons and are filled with smooth buttercream. Order a cashew butter and jelly and a few macarons for a perfect meal!

3. J’Chanceux Macaron – I recently had the pleasure of trying their tiny macarons with gelato filling and was delighted and refreshed. The fig macaron was my favorite. Try a scoop of gelato with your order of macarons on your visit.

2. Macaron Café – this café is conveniently located near Penn Station and offers an assortment of macaron flavors. I can’t even recommend a flavor because they’re all excellent!

1. Madeleine Patisserie – I discovered this shop when I was in culinary school and frequently popped in for croissants and macarons. The salted caramel is one of my absolute favorite desserts.

These are bite sized gelato macaron sandwiches from our #3 pick, J’Chanceux Macaron.