Monday, October 11, 2010

Andy's Salted Caramel Macarons at Pix Patisserie

Okay, so these macarons don't necessarily belong to Andy, but being that he recommended I try them, I figured I'd give him the credit.  I had the salted caramel macarons from Pix Patisserie on my "must" list since Andy posted a comment on my blog. I had planned a mom-daughter date with my 7-year-old girl, and since she'd never been to Pix, I thought it was a great opportunity.  We parked right in front, and I saw her eyes go BIG when she glanced at the storefront and caught a glimpse of the desserts in the window case.  She looked over at me and I nodded slowly......"oh yeah." (Think back to the old Twix commercials).

The Royale
We walked in and took our time looking at all the options in the dessert case.  She read the titles of the desserts to me and I read off the descriptions.  I knew what I was having - two (because 1 is TOTALLY not enough) Salted Caramel Macarons, but Sasha took her time choosing hers. She finally settled on the Royale (a mound of chocolate mousse that blankets chunks of hazelnut praline on a thin pastry base and covered in a smooth chocolate shell).  My girl, being very generous, offered me a taste.  I couldn't believe my mouth - the silky texture of the mousse countered the crispiness of the hazelnut praline just perfectly.  It was rich and decadent like only Pix can pull off.

I ordered the macarons, which are technically called "Fleur de Sel Macarons" and an espresso.  Now, call me traditional, but I was expecting something like a mound of sweet coconut.  What I got was totally different and blew my mind.  (I later learned that traditional French macaroons such as these are made with ground almond instead of coconut). The macarons were silver-dollar shaped discs of a meringue-like cookie (studded with French sea salt according to Pix's Web site), joined together in the middle by a dollop of something insane that had the consistency of a cross between whipped whole cream and mousse (it is actually salted caramel buttercream).  The textures and flavors are almost indescribable, and I was left almost dizzy with delight at the discovery of these.  I let Sasha taste one, then polished them off.  I decided that we needed to get a couple more to take home so Rob could taste them.  Unfortunately, only one made it home safely to him. Better luck next time.