Ham. Deviled eggs. Jelly beans. They’re a few of the staples of the typical American Easter celebration. But, if you’re looking to do something a little different, a little more sophisticated, a little ooh la la this year, perhaps it’s time to add a little French flair to your table.
Like any good Easter celebration, it’s really all about the sweets. And you can forget about the drug store chocolate marshmallow bunny. The French—and anyone who has ever had the pleasure of a taste—embrace Ladurée macarons. The signature French confection is a delight every day of the year, but, their Easter offerings can take your celebration in a whole new direction.
Homemade macarons for Easter are a new-ish holiday trend beloved by many for their festive egg shapes and pastel tints; Food & Wine showcased this recipe that they called “slightly more refined than a life-size bunny,” although they caution the recipe is challenging, even for “seasoned pastry buffs.”
Woodman’s of Essex, a staple of New England seafood, incorporated French macarons into one of their Easter menu ideas. They suggest rounding out the “menu full of upscale, stylish fare” with “an asparagus and cheese tart or a pea and asparagus soup…fresh vegetables and lots of greens.” For the entrée, “a leg of lamb with mint salsa verde. Lamb is the French go-to for “Pâques,” their version of Easter.
Or, they suggest, you can serve an upscale continental brunch, with a “goat cheese and leek quiche or mini artichoke cakes with remoulade.” Either way, it’s “French macarons for dessert.”
Regardless of the level of difficulty, there are those for whom at-home baking isn’t even a consideration when it comes to the notoriously finicky macarons, especially at Easter. And while it should be noted that you can find the cookies in assorted bakeries (and even in grocery store freezer cases) throughout the states, for macaron purists, nothing but the best will do. And that means Ladurée.
This French luxury bakery was founded in 1862 and is perhaps best-known for their double-decker macaron; they sell 15,000 of these confections every day. This year’s Easter macarons can be picked up in Ladurée stores in and around Paris, in the brand’s boutiques and tea salons around the world (stateside they’re located in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Miami) or shipped to the United States as well as certain countries in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
They include limited-edition boxes of 8 or 12 macarons in assorted flavors and limited-edition boxes of 12 chocolate-covered macarons in assorted flavors. Additional Easter offerings from Ladurée include:
• Limited-edition classic and colored chocolate figurines
• Limited-edition bag of filled eggs
• Limited-edition milk chocolate or dark chocolate Easter eggs
• Limited-edition pink, white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, green, or dulcey Easter bunny
• Limited-edition chocolate sakura matcha tartlet
Add one—or all!—to your Easter table this year, and your guests are sure to be saying, “Joyeuses Pâques!”