The Laduree or Laduree-type macarons are little sandwich cookies; the recipe given by Graziela is not for that type.

A few years ago Gourmet magazine had an article with recipes, but I can't find it on Epicurious. Someone may still have the issue.

Dorie Greenspan in her Paris Sweets book says," If, when you hear the French word macarons, you think of all-American macaroons, the hefty mounds of sweet, chewy coconut that are sold more often in boxes off supermarket shelves than piece by piece in fine bakeries, then you might have a problem understanding why Parisians are almost cultish about these cookies."

We now have a Laduree in Lausanne too

I can't help you with San Francisco, but there's a bakery in Sacramento that does macarons. I'll have to hunt up the name.

As Grazielle said, they are VERY easy to make. This is the recipe that I sort of follow:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/63201/la...macaroons.html

Here is a recipe from David Lebovitz's blog. It's very good.

Johanna

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archive..._chocolat.html

Hello, I do not wish to iniciate a discussion about Macarons, but it happens that in return for a gift of macarons a friend sent me :" Un amour de macaron by Stephane Glacier", and also I have eaten a few macarons in Paris.
I guess we are all correct in way because although we all know that usually in Laduree macarons are like small sandwiches of different flavors, it is ok to call those that are ( one piece) not like a sandwich a macaron. Of course because I make them with two spoons in a very amateurish way they do not come out perfectly shaped like in Laduree or other commercial shops. Actually what I like the most of my macarons is the amateurish shape. If you do not believe me you can google for "Un amour de Macaron" the book I mentioned and you will see that in the cover there is a picture of 5 macarons , four are the sandwich type in different colors and the other one looks like the home made type.
Certainly I did not give swisshiker the recipe for coconut cookies...please...
Having said this BON Apppétit.yk thank you for saying there is a confusion with the name depending if one uses English or French.

Graziella and Grazie, both of those recipes call for parchment paper on the cookie sheets. Do you know if that's just to keep them from sticking (in which case, can I use Silpat sheets instead) or do they help with the "drying"?

My favourite kind (it's not in the recipes I've listed) is caramel with fleur de sel. So decadent!

sf7307, you know, I am a totally amateur cook. I do not even know what Silpat is...I buy the parchment paper in the super market .
.Sorry.

I hope you are like me
doing something with my hands for a change gives me a great pleasure.The no-sandwich macarons or macaroons
are delicious and a lovely gift, I only wished to share the recipe with others. I am glad it seems you are going to give it a try. Good luck.

Travel 2live2,

I also love fleur de sel, but I am sure everybody will be relieved ... I have no clue how to make it.

Yes - you can certainly use Silpat. I have used both Silpat and parchment paper. I used to use brown paper bags when I made them as a kid! :)

Graziella, thank you for the recipe. I think I'll try them out this weekend.

Interesting thread about <i>macarons</i> vs. macaroons.

I still like coconut macaroons, tho. No, they're not the sandwich variety, but nonetheless they're quite delicious.

YK:

In NYC, try Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center, or Madeline French bakery on West 23rd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. Not as good as Laduree,but very good just the same.

http://tinyurl.com/bgfonv

Graziella, I'm a totally amateur (and amateur-ish, too) cook also, but I found and love these for baking cookies - no cleanup required:

http://www.silpat.com/

I actually don't use this brand -- Mine are Matfer Exopat and i got them on Amazon.

Sorry for the diversion elcon, but since you CAN'T get them in the US, I figure we should all try to MAKE them!!

Escrunchy-

We sampled the madelines and other things at Madeline Bakery and it was fully disappointing.

you don't make fleur de sel, you buy it :)

My favorite caremals with fleur de sel are by Jaques Genin. He sold out of his home but several months ago opened a shop in Paris.

A: I agree that Madeline is not nearly as good as Laduree.
But that, along with Bouchon which I liked much better, appears to be the place that people here recommend. Madeleine has lots of fans on Chowhound. I did not try the one mentioned by the editor above, Macaron Cafe--have you tried that one, in the West 30s?

I just read in Vanity Fair that the plan to open Laduree at the Plaza broke down..

No I have not tried the Macaron Cafe but next time I am in the area I will do so.

The other disappointing bake shop is the one on the northwest corner of Union Square, I think it is called Tisserie. While everything looks appetizing, the pastries and breads are a shade above mediocre.

cigale chanta, Is your posting an innocent remark regarding fleur de sel, or a tiny lecture?.... in any case I thought it was obvious I was making refernce to fleur de sel caramels which are universally known and
obviously they are MADE and can be made at home too.
Fleur de sel is included among the ingredients....they are indeed delicious.