Sweet Doctors Prescribed Macarons for Your Sweet Tooth

Reading “Macaron Madness $1 each!” flash onto your notifications is nothing short of magical for a macaron lover.  This was the absolute best opportunity to try Sweet Doctors and explore what they had to offer in terms of delicious French treats.  Once finally there, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was still a variety to choose from.  The gentleman behind the counter asked which one I would like and I am certain that I seemed crazy when replying that I would happily take “one of each.”

Sweet Doctors do not purely specialize in macarons, nor do they always have them available.  Be sure to call ahead if you are hoping to find this delectable treat at their location.  They do however accept specialty orders for events and have surprising flash sales!!

In general, each of the macarons had a great cookie to filling ratio, distinct feet on their cookies and that crackle of the shell you look for on the first, fresh bite. For the review, I will be focusing on the following flavors:  Watermelon, Fruity Pebbles & Cookie Butter

Watermelon:  This macaron had a very sweet cream that tasted like watermelon cotton candy. It really packed a candy watermelon punch! This is a great change of pace from a traditional flavor and a lot of fun.

Fruity Pebbles: This macaron was one of the best and most flavorful of the bunch. The cream was flavored with the cereal and topped with it, too. This had a clear and distinct flavor but was not overwhelming or too sweet. It was a fun throwback for adults and a great first time, flirty flavor to try if you are new to macarons.

Cookie Butter: I’m already a huge fan of cookie butter in general so this review comes with some bias.  The cookie was filled with a delicious sweet cream (that may have been a cookie butter cream) accompanied by a generous helping of cookie butter. It was just delicious. It was my first-time combining cookie butter with a macaron and I would love have this again. 

Who should go here: A person with a sweet tooth!  Call ahead to see if they have macarons though or order them.

I'll be stopping back to try: Cookie Butter again, unless they have lemon.

Sweet Doctors

7638 Lockwood Ridge Road,
Sarasota, Florida 34243

https://sweet-doctors.com/

Should You Try ofKors Bakery for French macarons? Of Course!!

I am a sucker for a great “Main St.” and Sarasota delivers one full of flavor, charm, shops and, luckily for me, French macarons!  While walking through, hoping to find a place to sit for a quiet dessert, I found ofKors Bakery. Tucked in between a slew of restaurants, ofKors stood out as not only a café but a full bakery, perfect for an evening sweet.  I was delightfully surprised to find a tray of colorful macarons atop their dessert display and I was eager to learn more. What I needed to know of course was, “do you make your own macarons?”  This question was met with a confirmation that all of their goods are baked in right in their kitchen.  Just then, I knew I would need to try them.

While small, these macarons were packed with a great punch of flavor.  I would categorize these as mini macarons, but were priced fairly at only $1.60 each. The flavors I tried were lemon, raspberry and vanilla. Each of the three macarons were very fresh, soft and had a perfect crackle on the shell as I bit into them.  They also had nice, distinct feet for such a small cookie.  It is often that I find such fresh macarons in a place that doesn’t primarily sell macarons.  This was a wonderful surprise and important to note. Below is just a bit more about their individual flavors and fillings.

Lemon: This cookie had a light lemon filling.  I loved that the lemon lingered after each smooth bite.

Raspberry:  This cookie had a generous amount of filling. It was a perfect proportion of filling to shells.  This was filled with raspberry preserves that were not too sweet and provided a nice amount of flavor to carry the treat.

Vanilla:  These were clearly vanilla bean shells with the speckles of bean throughout.  It was filled with a very buttery vanilla buttercream filling with subtle flavors throughout.

Who should go here: This is a great place for organic baked goods and treats. You should pop in and add a French macaron to your order for a fresh, sweet treat. It will not disappoint!

I’ll definitely be stopping back to try: Their chocolate macaron.  I am excited to see what their filling will consist of for this one. I would love to try some of their other desserts too!

ofKors Bakery

1359 Main Street

Sarasota, FL 34236 

http://ofkorsbakery.com/

Le Divin in Saint Martin- Their Macarons are Divine! (Near Sint Maarten)

Upon my second visit to the island of Sint Maarten-Saint Martin, I was pleased to find that so many more businesses were open!  Unknowingly, I had last gone during the off season when, apparently, very few bakeries actually make macarons.  I am pleased to report back that there were so many more opportunities for French macarons this time around!

During my travels, I happened upon this great bakery.  Le Divin is a French Bakery located in the Port de Marigot, on the French side of the island.  They have a lot of open space with seating, a lovely view of the port, view of the market, and most importantly, French macarons! The staff was delightful and I enjoyed the macarons and look forward to visiting again!

The flavors of macarons that I tried were strawberry and vanilla.

Strawberry: This macaron was sweet with a nice soft cookie.  I was filled with a with a delicious buttercream filling. I liked that it was delicate but didn't fall apart. The macarons were not as smooth visually as I am used to seeing, but they sure were tasty.

Vanilla: This macaron had a soft shell, yummy buttercream and was very buttery. I really felt there was a great filling-to-cookie ratio. 

Who should go there: If you are visiting the island, then you will surely also be visiting Marigot.  In this case, you should go there!  It's spacious, full of delicious French pastries and a variety of French macarons for an extremely good price.

I'll definitely be stopping back to try: Pistachio and chocolate

Le Divin

35 Bd De France Front De Mer, Marigot, St. Maarten-St. Martin

Phone Number: 069014953

https://www.facebook.com/brasserie.lestoques.9

Dana's Bakery- A Gift That Keeps on Giving

I was delighted to find that my husband, in support of my new macaron blog, had gifted me an incredibly thoughtful gift, a 3 month subscription to Dana's macarons of the month club.  So what did this include?  The membership was 3 monthly shipments of 12 macarons, including their current flavor of the month.  As one would presume, it can be difficult to eat that many macarons while they are still fresh.  With the arrival of that first delivery, I very quickly placed the whole box in the freezer as I formulated a plan of action.

Each shipment came in a refrigerated bag with an accompanying ice pack.  For extra protection, I wrapped my box in foil.  This many have been unnecessary but I was happy to take the extra precaution.  When the desire came, I would take out a number of macarons, place them in an airtight container for about 20-30 minutes as they defrosted and prepared for my treats!

One flavor was better than the next as I enjoyed all three months of the club.  While nearly impossible to choose, I did come away with some personal favorites.  The flavors shipped in each box were S'mores, Thin Mint, Molten Chocolate Mac!, Orange Creamsicle, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Red Velvet, Cookie Dough, Birthday Cake, Cup of Joe, Fruity Cereal and Key Lime Pie.  It was a lot of fun trying all of the different flavors!

Overall, every single macaron was deliciously soft with a delicate smooth shell.  Not one single flavor disappointed when it came to texture and amount filling.  Their cookie is consistently delicate with a smooth finish and soft chewy inside. Each one gave me the same feeling that moment when your teeth crunch through the shell and you reach the soft, pillow-like cookie!  Below are descriptions of some of the flavors and presentations of my favorites.

Chocolate Molten Mac!:  Right now, this is my favorite chocolate macaron! Drizzled with chocolate on the top, the milk chocolate cookie had a thick chocolate ganache filling. It was dense and extremely flavorful. I often tell people who love chocolate and are trying macarons for the first time to steer clear of chocolate flavor ones.  I feel like they have an expectation that it will be a very chocolaty cookie.  However, this is so chocolaty that a even chocolate lover will be more than satisfied!

Fruity Cereal: This macaron had flakes of fruity pebbles throughout the cookie and the cream! This one is a must try!! It's a flashback to your childhood. It had a great texture. Fruity pebble is really the only flavor that shines through and consistently with each bite. It had a good amount of filling as to not make it overly sweet. 

Red Velvet:  This macaron was amazing!  I loved the red cookie and how beautiful it looked inside.  It didn't taste chocolaty but the cream cheese filling and cookie were the perfect compliment.  This was sweet, but not overly so.

Cookie dough: This macaron had a vanilla cookie with dusting of chocolate power.  It's sweet filling, doesn't really taste like cookie dough but does kind of taste like a cookie. It had a natural flavor with slivers of chocolate pieces in the filling.

Candy corn:  This macaron was a flavor of the month.  It was so pretty and festive for the fall. It was orange on one side and yellow on the other with a orange butter cream filling. There was a delightful surprise of a candy corn hiding on the inside.

S'mores:  This macaron had a chocolate ganache filling with a dollop of marshmallow fluff accompanying it.  The cookie, one chocolate and the other white, had perfect shells.  The macaron had the flavor of what seems like a toasted marshmallow, giving that authentic campfire moment.  I really liked it!

Who Should Go There/Order:  These macarons are great as a gift (especially the macaron of the month club).  They are fun to try if you are looking for “not your ordinary macaron.” 

I'll definitely be stopping back to try:  I’d love to try the Seat Salt Caramel and I’ll keep a look out for a their take on the classic lemon macarons.

Dana's Bakery

http://www.danasbakery.com/

New Store Location:

52 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014

Macarons in St. Maarten- Worth the search?

During a recent trip to St. Maarten, I was staying on the Dutch side of the island.  I had read a review before heading there indicating that the French side, St. Martin, had the absolute best French macarons, second to only Paris!  You can imagine my absolute delight upon hearing this.  I was determined to stop in French bakeries along my travels on the French side.  However, with each hop out the car and each march up to the counter I was told, "We don't have them today."  WHAT??  Every single bakery I stopped in had picture of French macarons drawing me to them, but none for sale.  A few croissants and almond cookies later I had just about completely given up.  There are no French macarons in St. Martin in August.

Back on the Dutch side, only blocks from our resort, there was this modern looking bakery called The Taste Factory.  After passing it for days, I realized that its logo was in the shape of an Eiffel tower.  I was not optimistic but figured I would try one last bakery for the delectable treasures before leaving the island.  Voila!  At last I had found them!  

These were unlike any I had seen before; they were enormous! Stored in the refrigerator, they were pretty cold.  They each had a very generous amount of filling and appeared to be malted.  The cookie top was not smooth, like the macarons I have grown used to seeing.  But after the long, hard search, I knew I had to try them. The flavors I tried were vanilla, chocolate and lemon.  Overall the flavors were very good and satisfying.

Vanilla had a soft shell.  Inside it was airy and a bit chewy.  The generous filled was a butter cream vanilla filling.

Chocolate was also chewy, however it was also crunchy.  The filling was dense and very chocolaty.  While eating it, it felt like a crunchy cookie.

Lemon had crunchy thick shell with a moist inside that I found to be delicious. The lemon ganache was absolutely refreshing and a perfect way to end my sampling.

In the end, I never did get to try the French side's macarons, but the Dutch side had macarons that were worth trying for the experience.  It was nice to see so much filling while not being overly sweet.  If I ever return to St. Martin, I will continue my search, but at least I know there is at least one place I can find these treats!

The Taste Factory

120 Welfare Road, Simpson Bay

St. Maarten / St. Martin.

http://www.taste-factory.com/

Voyage Bakery & Cafe at LaGuardia Airport - Worth the Trip?

You check in, take off your shoes to pass through security and walk, what seems like endlessly, to your gate.  If you have traveled by plane, you know the drill.  Sometimes along your trek you're greeted with a welcomed surprise in the terminal.  For me that was Voyage Bakery & Cafe in LaGuardia Airport in New York.

As I approached the bakery, the rainbow of colors reflected in my eyes and I just knew macarons were straight ahead.  On this day, the iZone, or area lined with iPads and places to sit, was not especially crowded.  I found a place to sit off to the right of the cafe and browsed through the menu and added two macarons to my cart:  Nutella and lemon. When they arrived, I was informed that they were all out of lemon and I received passion fruit instead.  Excited and enjoying the experience, I agreed to the swap.  The macarons were $3 each but were actually fairly large in size, so the price was not unreasonable.

Nutella:  This macaron was filled with a nutty ganache.  It's shell was not bumpy, but the cookie part had a thickness to it.  I was so excited for these during my travels that I ate the macaron before remembering to take a picture out it! 

Passion Fruit: (pictured below) This macaron was filled with a passion fruit ganache and was actually extremely sweet.  The filling had a nice smooth texture.  Additionally, it had the right amount of filling for these larger cookies, especially because of how sweet it was.

Overall these macarons were okay.  Like many bakeries selling multiple treats, there's no guarantee that your macarons will be as fresh as you'd hope. It's a gamble but I enjoyed the novelty of the order and its convenience.  

Who should go here: This bakery is good for traveler looking to sit for a bit, charge their device and take a chance on a French treat.  Just browse the case first to make sure they have what you are ordering.  

Voyage Bakery Cafe

LGA - LaGuardia Airport

New York, NY 11371

Terminal C