H.M.S. Fanciful French Macaroons

There's a new power cookie in town. While it's yet to eclipse the cupcake's sovereignty as the sweet snack of choice for a nation obsessed, those in the know have long known that the ethereal pastel treats from Paris's Ladurée and other like-minded institutions are, well, just better. I speak, of course, of the French Macaroon.

Pundits profess it's near-impossible to create these at home. Get this: the current issue of Rachel Ray's magazine devotes an entire page to explaining why a single macaroon is worth $4. The aged egg whites… the pressing of the nut and sugar flour through fine sieves… the steady and practiced hands needed to pipe the perfect circle. No wonder then that The Rach, the self-proclaimed anti-Martha, offers no recipe nor guide to where a reader might find one.

Imagine then my thrill in learning you can create your own versions of these wonders in the recipe for Fanciful French Macaroons found in a little advertising booklet in the December House Beautiful. I dove in immediately. Visually, my chubby little morsels will not be mistaken for a Ladurée jewel, but the taste, the texture, the same delicate crunch giving way to a gently chewy interior and smattering of sweet jam filling was just as pleasurable.

This is not just my humble opinion, the worldly tasting panel back at the office concurs. They know of what they speak, too, for the pale green Ladurée boxes show up at work more often than one might expect.

Yes these were right on the money — and I don't mean $4 a pop. Still, if you'd rather mimic than blaze your own trail, click here to buy Laduree: The Sweet Recipes ($199, yes, one hundred and ninety-nine dollars) from Amazon. There are also other fine recipe books on Amazon if this tome is a bit dear.

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I chose a combination of maple and vanilla extract to flavor the almond and confectioner's sugar flour. Half were filled with garnet hued Beach Plum Jelly, the others with the radiant melange of Golden Raspberry and Pear Jam. Homemade, of course; I am proudly on Team Martha. My advice for irresistible bites bearing the stamp of your creativity is to dream up unusual combos.

Fanciful French Macaroons aren't hard at all, especially within the greater context of French patisserie. Still, why disabuse people of their admiration? Let them be awed — it's really the more compassionate course of action.

And what of the H.M.S. in the title? While it may bear an echo of Her Majesty's Ship (they are regal) or Harvard Medial School (and essentially fat-free), this recipes comes from the good people at Home Made Simple, a division of Procter & Gamble.

Home Made Simple is the umbrella name for P&G's up-market collection of home-care stalwarts like Swiffer, Dawn, Cascade and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Note: This is not a paid endorsement; Spectacularly Delicious did not recieve any compensation from P&G for this post.

Click here for the recipe for Fanciful French Macaroons.

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