MacaronsCute French Sandwich Pastries for the Skilled Baker

5stars

By Mindy Cone
Cedar Fort Publishing, $24.99, 262 pages

Your first question is what macarons are or did author Mindy Cone misspell the word. No, macarons are the French version of our macaroons, cute little filled sandwich cookie pastry. Cone did an excellent job on Macarons and the publisher did just as good on this pretty medium-sized hardback pastry book. If you are blessed with tremendous patience, have finger dexterity to produce showpiece pastries you may want to add this pastry book to your cookbook shelf. But most recipes, even those labeled easy, will tax your patience; they are in the milieu of pastry chefs.

“This beautiful, delicate, gooey, colorful sandwich cookie has captivated my attentions from the first bite…”

The first introductory twenty-one pages give you the background, techniques, equipment needed and the recipe for basic macarons. Instructions are superb, every step spelled out, and a full-page photo illustrates each. The layout is also good, placing nearly all recipes on single pages. For each recipe Cone clearly indicates level of difficulty, additional material needed and filling recommendation. They are divided into such sections as Holidays, Sports Macarons and so on. In the last section she provides dozens of fillings ideas. A CD with forty-five templates is attached that you can print as needed. For those having the skill, this is an excellent book.

Reviewed by George Erdosh

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