Les Macarons- not to be confused with Macaroons

Pronounciation differences have been the brunt of many jokes and the source of much amusement- potato/potato/tomato/tomato.  However, there is one pronounciation difference that I would like to clear up for event entertaining and design purposes- the difference between macaron and macaroons.  Macaron and macaroon are not the same thing.

Macaroon: North American coconut macaroons are dense, moist, sweet, and often dipped in chocolate. They are piped out onto a baking sheet with a star tip to create a Hershey Kiss type shape.  Today, coconut macaroons are most commonly associated with the Jewish holiday, Passover, and has convoluted multi-cultural roots (Italian/French) dating back to the 16th century. Very yummy, sweet, good with tea and I limit myself to eating them once a year.

Here is a picture of a Macaroon: 

Macaron:  Traditional french pastry made of egg whites, ground almonds and icing sugar dating back to the 18th century France.  Macaon are colourful, round, sandwich pastries often filled with chocolate ganache, flavoured buttercream or fruit puree.  They are delicious, creative, little treats that can beatifully enhance an event.

Here are a few pictures of macaron:

Now for the creative element- whether you are hosting an afternoon tea, bridal shower, product launch, wedding or any themed event, macaron can be flavoured or coloured to accentuate any party.  Think of accessorizing a room with pillows to give a certain feel/warmth to a space, macaron can do the same for a party.  Only, they are tastier than pillows.

Here are some beautiful event usages and ideas for macaron.

from Martha Stewart Weddings magazine

Where to find macaron around the world (some of my favourites):

Le Gouter Bernardaud (Hong Kong), Paulette (Beverley Hills), Miette (San Francisco), Pierre Herme (Paris), Laduree (Paris), La Bamboche Patisserie (Toronto)

Cocoa Room Dragees Revisited

What on earth is a dragee?” a friend recently asked while walking into a home accessory and gift store on a recent outing in Toronto. 

She was referring to the colourful box of Cocoa Room dragees resting on the checkout counter. 

If you are not familiar with dragees, they are a a type of candy that can be used as decoration, hold symbolic meaning (fertility/abundance) at an event or for pure eating pleasure.   Dragees have taken on many forms over the centuries including almonds coated in honey, sugar to the more recent Smarties-like candy coating.  

The dragee downside is that they used to taste sickeningly sweet and were not very attractive.  The pastel looking almonds came with a matte finish, looked like an almond (not very imaginative) and overall, were in need of a makeover.  Exit stage left!

Enter stage right, the Cocoa Room (no drama).  This Chicago based company quietly crept onto the scene a couple years ago, glamed up the dragee colours (from matte to gloss), changed the product mix, the expanded the flavours, revamped the packaging and gave other dragee makers a run for their money.  This fabulous brand offers both monochromatic and colourful blends of chocolate covered almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, pistachios, dried cherries just to name a few, got the ‘O-List’ endorsement from Oprah are incredibly addictive to eat.   

For more information on how to gift, buy, taste or decorate Cocoa Room dragees, check out their website. 

Happy celebrating.

Dessert Tables

There is nothing I enjoy more at an event than a creative dessert table.  Often times, people elect to have dessert passed out by servers or use a banal, unimaginative arrangement to display sweets.  Instead, up your ‘end of evening’ entertainment to the next level by incorporating your colour or event theme into the dessert course and it will tempt your guests to indulge.   Take a look at some of my favourite selections below. 

Chic white dessert tableMulti-level/texture outdoor tableBlue and chocolate brown themed table