L&P Discuss Pastries with Momo and Mr. Momo Beginning with Macaroons

We have tried all kinds of pastries throughout Paris and after a while it seems like it would get monotonous. But it doesn't. L&P have helped share our adventures which explains their lack of waistline these days. Not ours, of course. We had no waists when we arrived.

First you have to understand that pastries are exactly like fashion is in Paris. They are edgy, yummy and usually made with excellent ingredients. You won't find anyone skimping on the buerre here. You may find less sugar in them, but that is on purpose. The big surprise is that pastries made with less sugar taste really great. You can taste everything else and your teeth don't hurt. I can't imagine dentists in this part of the world are getting rich.

First there is an abundance of pastry shops. Even the super market, or super marche will have a pastry section. In every shop there are colorful macaroons filling the cases with flavors like framboise, pistachio, cafe, chocolate, lemon, and other assortments. Some are so delicate that you can hardly feel them when you take a bite. They literally melt in your mouth. And if you are eating a pistachio macaroon, you will taste real pistachio. Same with raspberries. And the chocolate can make you swoon. No waxy taste to these chocolate treats.

Sometimes they offer little macaroons and then they also offer giant ones. Mr. Momo and Momo call those lunch-time macaroons because a whole one is an entire meal for a family of four. Some pastry shops make fancy macaroons filling them with custard and real live berries. You have to eat those right away, but that is hardly a chore.

People give one another boxes of macaroons as gifts. Many pastry shops have special boxes just for macaroons. Kind of like a box of chocolates, but with a whole lot less fat. Macaroons are flavored egg whites baked and then two cookies are put together with a filling and there you have a Parisian macaroon.

L&P love the macaroons and are especially partial to the raspberry ones, but in a pinch they will enjoy any other berry one. L&P rate Parisian macaroons a big 10. Momo and Mr. Momo love the macaroons too and will be sorry to leave them behind. That is why Momo is suffering through a French version of a baking book on making very fine macaroons so that we can pretend to duplicate them at home. Macaroons get a big 10+ from Momo and Mr. Momo.