Just Jared reports American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey was spotted in Paris, France. I guess there’s nothing out of the ordinary here … who doesn’t love visiting Paris?

The singer was there to enjoy fashion week, do some shopping and enjoy city life in Paris. Sounds like fun! Of course, you can’t visit the city of superb gourmet reputation without sampling one of their sweetest little treats - macarons.

So, did Lana Del Rey yield to the macaron temptation? How could she resist?? Apparently, she stopped at a bakery to pick up some macarons.

Congratulations Lana! We’d love to see you enjoy the macarons in public but they are not the kind of treats you eat in a hurry.

You need to tune out all distractions, set the right mood, close your eyes and let the flavours dance in your mouth!

You definitely want to do it in private.

Psst… Did you know that The Macaron Master brings the sweet confections from Paris right into your own kitchen? Click here to learn more.

On the weekend I went to Lindt for macarons! Well, so I thought. Lindt don’t call their macarons ‘macarons’ but delice!!! At, first I thought it was some kind of a mistake as they surely look like macarons and the majority people in the shop were ordering macarons but then I picked up a Lindt macaron brochure and to my surprise it was all about their Lindt Delice Collection!

So I ordered some and went in to my little macaron ritual thinking why is this little cookie called a delice? Have to confess: I still have no clue! They look like macarons to me. Here’s the three I ordered…

Champagne macaron, cocoa macaron and vanilla macaron - sorry delice! But you know what I mean :). I am just going to call them macarons from now on, ok? My favourite out of the three macarons? I have to say it was the Cocoa macaron! The cookie was full on the inside and smooth on the outside. The velvety filling was divine - it just melts in your mouth. The other two flavours were okay but there was something about the dark Lindt chocolate.

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Gillian Young is gorgeous and funny! She made this great video to help macaron lovers from around the world decide who really makes the best macarons. Who really sets the macaron standard? Some Parisian bakery for sure, right? But which one?

Pierre Hermé OR Ladurée?

Pierre Hermé macarons are characterized by exotic flavours, overgenerous fillings and melting, fluffy insides that just…well, melt in your mouth! Ladurée macarons are exquisite jewels that look sensational and taste amazing.

According to Wikipedia “[Pierre] prefers discreet pastry decors and “uses sugar like salt, in other words, as a seasoning to heighten other shades of flavor. He often makes daring use of savory ingredients in his desserts: traces of balsamic vinegar, Parmesan or olives in his cakes and layered dessert creams; he has even used grilled corn in a cake.” Ladurée, on the other hand, “is known as the inventor of the double-decker macaron, fifteen thousand of which are sold every day. They are still one of the best known makers of macarons in the world.”

But which one is the better macaron?

[drum rolls]

Just watch Gillian enjoy her macarons and decide for yourself…the video goes for just, oh, who cares?! Let’s watch it!

Looking for a recipe for macarons - [clue] the hyperlinked text on the left!

So you have finally decided to bake macarons - CONGRATULATIONS! Don’t worry that it’s one of the most difficult cookies to make so that chances of you failing at your first, second, third attempt is very likely.

Ok, macarons are not that hard to make - if you want to make bakery-quality macarons then yes, they aren’t easy. Macawrongs, on the other hand, are less challenging but there is no fun in making those! Not talking about the cups of wasted almond meal! That’s why I published The Macaron Master to help you create bakery-quality macarons that look amazing.

Many people focus on different variables when making macarons. What’s important is that everything about your macaron is smooth. Macaron filling should be firm but smooth and light. If the filling is grainy or you use too much filling then your macaron experience will be ruined!

With macaron filling a general idea is that the cookie-to-filling ratio should be between 1:1 and 2:1. Use too much filling and it will squeeze out when you take a bite.

If your macaron shells are uneven or have bumps then you’re probably not sieving the dry ingredients properly. I recommended that you sieve them twice if you want smooth macaron shells. You should also use a sieve with very fine holes - not easy to clean but produces finer macaron mixture.

The macaron shell should be thin and crisp producing a slight crack when you bite giving way to light, soft, moist, and slightly chewy interior. If it is too chewy then you have probably overworked the batter!

Macarons use a lot of sugar so be sure to add a pinch of salt if you find the sweetness a bit overwhelming.

Macarons are generally sweet…very sweet! I don’t mind sweet stuff as long as ‘sugar’ doesn’t really knock my taste buds out!

In fact, I am not a big fan of sugar. I stopped sweetening my tea in my early teens. So while I love my macarons I want to taste the different flavours and textures of the macaron, the velvety smoothness of fillings without any sweet aftertaste.

That’s why I pick French over Italian macarons any day of the week as the latter tend to be overly sweet.

Of course, you can tame the sweetness and by all means do not alter your macaron recipe by subtracting the sugar. The right way to make your macarons less sweet is to add a pinch of salt to the dry ingredients. Salt is used to tame the sweetness of sugar.

How can the two opposites (sugar and salt) work together - I have no Idea, but adding a pinch of salt makes a huge difference.

Give it a go!

The macaron is the greatest cookie in the world! It looks cute and tastes just divine. Magical.

It also brings people a lot of joy…and it’s great to see how creative people can get with this little French treat.

Have you ever thought of making little macaron mirrors? Me neither!

Watch this video - it shows you how. All you need is a small piece of clay and simply use your hands to form it into dome shape. Use a blade to create “feet” … oops, sorry! I am giving the secret away - ok, you really need to watch it!

Macaron tower or macaron croquembouche looks magnificent at weddings, anniversaries and special occasions. It can make your event even more memorable and special.

To create your own macaron tower you will need:

• a good macarons recipe
• a Styrofoam cone
• and some inspiration (many great ideas below!)

At the end of this post you will find a handful of links and places where you can buy your macaron tower supplies. Here I also show some amazing macaron tower photos that I have collected - they are a great source of inspiration!

My personal macaron tower collection - I call it the ‘ultimate collection’ since it’s probably the biggest one that you’ll ever come across…at least it’s big!

If you want to make your own macaron tower then you probably need some inspi-macaron-ation. Hopefully what you see here will inspire you to make your own macaron tower some day! Here’s a great macaron tower I found on Oprah.com - who says one-colour towers don’t work!

Macaron tower by Snowfern…

The following few images come from the bronzebudgetbride.com website - beautiful!

Simple and elegant…

This though not a macaron tower is still a work of art…

Lots of colours here!

I think here they offer to make a macaron tower for you. Looks beautiful, I’d probably have the toothpicks hidden.

Here’s a Lemon Cake and French Macaron Tower made by someone who says is not a Pastry Chef - he just likes fancy desserts!

This is interesting…

This one certainly looks different. Are those macarons all packaged individually?

Here’s a macaron tower created by Adriano Zumbo…

Here’s a simple small macaron tower that still looks gorgeous!

I found this on FlickRiver.com…

Here’s on from Pistachio Laura’s Photostream…

I found this massive macaron tower on this blog - my fridge wouldn’t house this one!

Small image but interesting concept…

Eiffel tower macarons…

Here’s a wedding macaron tower:

And here’s an idea for Styrofoam balls - from Love My Foods And Sugar

So much for inspiration!

Time for you to make your own macaron tower and if you don’t have a reliable macarons recipe then check out our great guide below!

How to make a macaron tower - useful tips…

You’ll need to make lots of macarons for this exercise. Yes, your hands will hurt from all the piping! As to how many macs you need… Basically, the bigger the macaron tower the more macarons you will need! Now, I am sure that you have figured that out already. As a rough guide you will need about 60 macarons to decorate a 35 centimeter cone. Make sure that you use a template so that they all come the same size.

A macaron recipe

I’m assuming that you have a reliable recipe. A good macarons recipe should help you create smooth, melt-in-your mouth macarons that look delicious. I would go for Swiss macs - not as delicious but they are actually ‘tougher’ which is what you need. When it comes to choosing the right colour for your shells… Just let your imagination guide you how colourful you want your macaron tower to be.

You can use one colour, two or just like in the pics above, as many colours as you like!

Filling macarons for your macaron tower

With your macarons be sure not to overfill them otherwise they will get really heavy and possibly slide down - ruining your macaron tower project! My preferred filling for this is chocolate ganache filling. Somehow dark chocolate works best, you can also try using more chocolate and less cream when making the ganache to make the filling ‘tougher’.

Also, you need to make your macarons all the same size as gaps and size variations probably won’t look good. You can download The Macaron Template - it makes piping round shells so much easier!

The Styrofoam

You will also need a Styrofoam cone, and you can do a quick Google search for those or get it from the following online shops:

Amazon.com is a good place to start. It’s probably best if you visit the site and use their search functionality to see what Styrofoam brands and sizes they have available. I did a quick search and here’s what I was served:

Amazon’s Styrofoam cone + Styrofoam ball on Amazon. There is more!

Keep in mind that if you’re outside of the U.S. then it may take some time before Amazon stuff arrives on your front porch, while a great service they need to work on their delivery times a little. Then again, your experience may be different!

Here’s another one The Styrofoam cone - it’s a HUGE cone (30″ tall x 15″ bottom diameter!)

You can also get it from Walmart.

Michaels.com also stocks them but I prefer them in white, not green.

Building your macaron tower

So, at this stage you need to have your macarons and the Styrofoam cone ready. You’re probably wondering how to attach them to the cone and you can use melted chocolate or royal icing, however I recommend using toothpicks to attach the macarons. You can also try wooden skewers (thicker than toothpicks). First, pin the skewers to the cone and then attach the macarons to the skewers. Be gentle!

A word of caution, be careful so that you don’t handle the macarons too much! It’s a delicate cookie. 😉

If you’re wondering where to start with your macaron tower… Simply start at the bottom and work your way up. Once you get to the top, you can drizzle the macaron tower with melted white chocolate. Sprinkle it with sparkling sugar or cake sparkles. This little detail will give it a little touch but you can skip this step if you like - this is your macaron tower!

Storing your macaron tower

The biggest issue comes with storing your macaron tower… you need to put it in a refrigerator so that it sets. Is your fridge big enough …? You may have to take out some of the shelves to makes some room!

Plan ahead

Be sure to start couple of days before the macaron tower needs to be ready - don’t leave this exercise to the last minute!