Couple of Macarons

We are a couple of amateur macaron connoisseurs, whose quest is to seek and try out every macaron provider out there. Disclaimer: these posts are our own personal opinions. All readers are encouraged to embark on their own macaron adventure.

[coupleofmacarons-blog]

Sugar Tiers

Picture coming soon...

As amateur macaron connoisseurs, we try our best to visit different macaron shops each time we seek to satisfy our cravings. However, to be honest, there is one shop we have visited most frequently – Sugar Tiers in Markham, ON. Why keep returning to this particular shop you ask? Well, there isn’t anything really special about its clear plastic container packaging, nor the standard size of their macarons. In order to really understand what’s so special about them, you need to visit the store and marvel at their massive display case of the largest selection of macarons we’ve seen thus far (we’re talking rows on rows of macarons here). The macarons are very eye catching, skilfully designed to match each macaron to their unique flavours, making them easy to distinguish between one another. And their flavours…they’re something else. Some of them are, from our experience, 100% spot on. For example, their Black Forest Macaron will make you swear you’re eating the real thing. Did you ever think someone could capture the flavour of Skittles (ALL SKITTLES AT THE SAME TIME! Not just one or two!)? No? Well they accomplished it. While some of the macarons tend to be more aromatic than others, they all have the same light and crisp consistency. Even writing this post makes us tempted to go again. Honestly, you really have to try these out for yourself (and at $20/dozen, it’s not a bad deal at all!).

- Couple of Macarons http://sugartiers.ca/site/

[coupleofmacarons-blog]

Honeybake Shop

**We lost the phone that had the photos for this post.... promise we’ll try to get one up soon**

If you’ve ever been to downtown Waterloo, you may have noticed a curious store sign decorated with a colourful hexagonal pattern.  Occasionally, the colours are parted by a black hexagon that wears a single white bee upon it reminding passerbys of a bee in it’s beehive.  What makes this sign curious is that there in not a single word on it, giving no details as to what kind of store it is.  Thankfully, the windows give a hint to the mysteries of the shop – shelves of cakes and pastries with small tables that allow for intimate conversations between close friends having coffee or the solo student typing on the laptop with a snack on the side.  For those of you who have never been there, this little café is called the Honeybake Shop; a magnificent wonderland of cupcakes, cookies, custom cakes, and of course, macarons. We got a pack of 6 for $10, 6 different flavours of standard 2 inch diameter sized macarons, neatly packed in a sliding rectangular prism decorated with the signature hexagons and white bees – classy, colourful, and convenient. The macarons themselves, however, were of plain design, possibly to match the solid colours of the bakery’s hexagons. Every macaron had a chewy, almost fudgy consistency (which we at first mistook for the macarons being old….. we’re pretty sure that was their style though) with mild flavours except for the expresso. Unfortunately, their scent was as mild as their flavour. The two other notable flavours would be the strawberry – similar to those strawberry marshmellows that have the artificial flavour; and the salted caramel, which had real caramel as the filling rather than our preferred caramel flavoured butter cream. The upside to this store was that its service was good and the store seemed well kept. Do we recommend? Nope. Sorry Honeybake Shop. You’re a cute, colourful store but when it comes to macarons, you’d only win for packaging.

[coupleofmacarons-blog]

Metro is a grocer found in Canada's provinces, Ontario and Quebec. In a town called Oakville (in Ontario), we came across a Metro with a bakery that sold macarons which we *of course* had to try.  Each macaron costs $1.75 which is a small price to pay for their generous size (extra large, easily 4 inches in diameter).  At this location, there were only 2 choices of flavours (raspberry with a chocolate ganache filling and  pistachio), however we are unsure about whether this changes on a daily basis or if there are any other flavours offered in other Metros.  Though both were very light and fresh (even after a day in the fridge), the raspberry was the favourite for it's stronger aroma and flavour.  As you can see from the photo, they were rather plain in presentation and the packaging was simply a plastic case (but it did protect the macarons well).  The service was very quick and friendly.  We would definitely recommend these macarons for their excellent price, size, and taste.   

-Couple of Macarons 

http://www.metro.ca/home.en.html

[coupleofmacarons-blog]

My Daughter's Baker is a small business run by a mother and her daughter. A dozen macarons of your choosing costs $15. The consistency was light and the aroma was stronger for some flavours than others. The flavours are very diverse and exotic. Packaging for a pack of 12 is as you see above (plastic baggie with a sticker of their logo to seal it) - not the best packaging for delicate macarons. However, an adequate packaging to allow the customer to view the beautiful colours and designs appropriately chosen based on the flavour. (e.g. hearts on the Valentine's Day flavour or rose petals on the rose flavour). Size is standard 2 inch diameter with about a half inch height. Service is very friendly and timely as orders are done via Facebook messaging on their Facebook page. We would highly recommend!

- Couple of Macarons

https://www.facebook.com/MyDaughtersBaker