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Sweet Cookies for Tough Times

2008_09_MACARONS.jpg Pichet Ong’s last name in print looks a bit like OMG, which is what you’ll probably say when you eat one of the macarons sold at the chef’s store, Batch. If you think of Pichet as a pastry curator and of Batch as an edible museum, then the macaron wing of the roughly 7-foot square West Village bakery is guest-curated by pastry chef Hsing Chen. Chen, formerly of Country, has started a mercenary macaron and dessert company called Sweet Chick. Special missions assignments, like OPERATION: Turn That Frown Upside Down are now being accepted through Sweet Chick’s website. Also, Chen makes cakes for weddings and other special events.

Anyway, notice macaron is spelled with one O here. This is because macaron purists will stop at nothing to delineate their beloved pastel, almond-flavored, UFO-shaped cookie from the shaggy coconut blobby kind that allegedly hail from Scotland. And make no mistake, my friend, it’s war out there: With the neutrality of the Wikipedia Macaron page disputed, and the Macaroon pages not citing any references or sources, rest assured that the macarons at Batch are good. They’re reassuring.

Modeled on the cookies found famously at Ladurée in Paris, new macaron flavors at Batch are released each season. For now, it’s caramel apple, pumpkin pie spice, cotton candy, coconut with passionfruit, and peanut butter with grape jelly. That last one is a peanut butter macaron sandwiched with organic p.b., and homemade Concord grape jelly.

Macarons are $2.50 each. A plastic tube of four, with a pretty ribbon, is $10 at Batch. Petit four sizes and custom flavors can be ordered here.

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Comments [rss]

  • sugar

    i tried the pb&j macarons ... omigod, so good! it's like laduree but with fun american flavors!

  • pumpkinrun

    kee's chocolates for the chocolate filling macarons. can't go wrong.

  • famdoc

    Since we've gone international, my vote is for Gerard Mulot in Paris.

    http://flickr.com/photos/46303442@N00/2941878991/

  • zodak

    cookies not anytime food.

  • ottoemezzo

    The absolute best version of a macaron is made and sold in Zurich at Sprüngli on Paradeplatz (Bahnhofstrasse and other locations). They're smaller, lighter, melt-in-your-mouth-to-die-for.

    So if you go to Switzerland.......

  • famdoc

    Financier (lower Manhattan, various locations)=best macarons by award-winning French patissiere.

  • littlepinkknife

    Tisserie (on the north side of union square) has pretty good macarons, and macaron cafe is supposed to be great too!

  • slyseekr

    Or, you can just go to MacarÒn on 36th and 7th where they've been making the delicious pretties for years now!

  • JH4285

    Excellent! I've been looking for a good macaron place aside from Bouchon, which actually disappointed me the other day with an overly sugary pistachio macaron.

  • Atomische

    The cupcakes there are my favorite food -- love the gooey centers. Can't wait to try the new cookies!

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