Ah, the French macaron.  Having a general aversion to eggs, I ignored these meringue-based cookies for quite some time.  Then, a few years ago, I came across a French bakery at a chocolate festival that was giving out samples.  I tried their coffee macaron, and my life was never the same again.  I have tried recreating them at home, with little success.  Now, I just grit my teeth and shell out the exorbitant price of each cookie.

So, never-ending search for delectable macarons brought me to Macaron by Patisse in Houston, TX.  After reading some fairly good reviews on Yelp, I decided to give them a shot.  Upon my arrival on this particular Sunday morning, I was greeted by a quaint, clean, modern storefront.

Standard macaron flavors (chocolate, coffee, raspberry, cassis) were all there, but so were some more unique combinations.  Her fig and goat cheese macarons, which she confessed is her best seller, was actually sold out when I went (only an hour and a half after she opened!).  Since the macarons were offered by the dozen, we agreed to split a box of 1 dozen 3 ways.  For myself, I took a salted caramel, chocolate, and cappuccino dark chocolate.  Funny, it’s only now that I write this that I realize that I was stiffed, and one of my co-conspirators got 5 (passion fruit, raspberry mascarpone, tiramisu, chocolate, and cappuccino dark chocolate).  Huh!

At the last minute, I grabbed an a la carte tiramisu macaron to eat on the way to the car.  After my first bite, I think my heart may have stopped for a split second.  The texture of these macarons is a little more crispy than the ones that I am accustomed to, but there is no denying the quality in their taste.  It was like I was sitting on the deck of an Italian bistro, slipping a forkful of the creamy Italian dessert into my waiting mouth.  The coffee mascarpone filling was a masterful interpretation of bringing the flavors of tiramisu into macaron form.  Of the other flavors that I tried, this was my favorite.  The others still stood strong in their own right.  The quality of the ingredients was instantly distinguishable .  This was no Hershey’s chocolate in these macarons.  There was no bitter coffee aftertaste in the cappuccino ones.  These were the real deal.

I am so glad that I found this place, and I wish the owner the best in her business venture.