Macaron Parlour - my new East Village dessert go-to

First let me apologize to my readers; I've taken an unnecessary hiatus.  I am going to aim to get back to my once a month review, and I'll probably do two in February to make up for lost time!

Macaron Parlour was written up recently for taking the traditional macaron and incorporating unique flavors into our beloved treats.  There are of course the standard macaron flavors, as well as assorted other baked goods, but after a 3-month long hiatus this was my first stop.

Immediately upon entering the shop we were greeted by brightly multi-colored macarons in every flavor you can imagine.  Some of the more interesting ones include carrot cake, red velvet, earl grey, candied bacon with maple cream cheese, honey and cognac and Cheetos.  Cheetos?! Sold!  Other traditional flavors included dark chocolate, dulce de leche, strawberry and hazelnut.  The women working behind the counter was extremely helpful, and helped us select the best choices to try a little of each of their best items.

A sampling of everything we tried

Let's start with the Goodbit, a bar that was recently featured on Serious Eats (Serious Eats article that got me here).  The Goodbit has a base layer of a moist brownie, a layer of caramel, and a thick solid

piece of peanut butter mixed with white chocolate.  Now I'm not a huge peanut butter fan so I kind of cheated on this one and ate mostly the brownie and caramel part, so luckily my guest blogger of the day Todd was there, who is obsessed with peanut butter and was able to provide a subjective opinion. Todd said, "My range of interest in peanut butter is somewhere between unlimited and....wait. Can't finish comment.  Too good."  So there you have it folks.  Todd Cohen, peanut butter connoisseur gives approval of the Goodbit bar.

I was able to weigh in on the Cheetos macaron.  Now when it comes to traditional macarons, I'm a Lauderee girl through and through.  But I thoroughly enjoyed Macaron Parlour's macarons for being able to create unique and tasty spins on traditional treats.  The Cheetos macaron had Cheetos infused into white chocolate ganache, with a sprinkling of Cheetos powder on top.  It even had that neon orange flavor down pat.  It was a perfect blend of salt from the Frito-Lay snack we all grew up on, with the sweet from the ganache, and we were major fans.  We also tried the Elvis cupcake, which consisted of peanut butter and caramelized bananas.  Again due to my lack of love for peanut butter I was more impartial, but Todd ate it with no complaints so we're going to go with it was enjoyable as well.

We also tried the S'more doughnut, which is apparently what put them on the map, selling this amongst other items down at the Hester Street weekend market.  There was an abundance of soft, mushy marshmallow that oozed out immediately upon cutting into it.  Somewhere in the middle was dark chocolate ganache, surrounded by a yeast doughnut and sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs on top.  I learned this is only available on weekends, so I sure am glad we stumbled in there after Sunday brunch.  We also tried the hazelnut cookie, which I evidently forgot to photograph,  Compared to everything else it wasn't as exciting, but it was a solid cookie.

Sadly I forgot to jot down prices, but upon research I learned the doughnut was $3.  So knowing my total was around $13, I'm going to assume the macarons were $2 each, the Goodbit was $3 and the cookie was $2.  Mas o menos.

Posing next to the macaron display

Macaron Parlour is open Sunday & Monday 11AM-8PM, Tuesday & Wednesday 11AM-10PM, Thursday 11AM-11PM, and Friday & Saturday 11AM-Midnight.

They are located at 111 St. Mark's Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A.

(212) 387-9169

Macaron Parlour

A second location just opened up on the Upper West side, at 560 Columbus Avenue & W87th street.

Upon reviewing their website I discovered they also have macaron-making classes!  What a fun idea!