Although the frenzy for macarons appears to have died down and most people have moved on to the next big thing in pastry (cronuts, anyone?), every visitor to Paris must still seek them out—it's just part of the experience. Even though Parisians wouldn't think to make their own macarons at home, as they can simply walk to one of the world famous or even local pastry shops to buy these tasty morsels, most of us don't have that luxury. Macarons are surprisingly easy to make at home once you get the hang of it. After a couple of not so successful attempts, I happened upon the Lékué Macaron Kit
in a kitchen store. Complete with Decomax pen, purpose built silicone baking mat, and small recipe book, this kit goes a long way in helping you achieve the perfect homemade macaron. The Decomax pen is basically a silicone pastry bag with a large opening that makes it simple to fill and clean. The pen comes with six different caps, so can be used not only for piping the shells, but for filling the macarons, creme puffs, decorating cakes, or other pastry items as well. The silicone baking mat saves you from wrestling with parchment paper that always wants to roll up on you, and tells you exactly how much batter to pipe in order to get uniform shells. There are millions of macaron recipes out there, in addition to tips and tricks for baking, so I will not include any of that here. But one of my favorite recipes is from the man, the pastry legend himself—Pierre Hermé.
