Les Mesdames wish all of our friends a very happy 2022 holiday season.
We are still accepting orders for the holidays. However, any orders placed on or after December 15th 2022 are not guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas.
Mesdames des Macarons are currently accepting orders! See our Order Macarons page for details.
Mesdames des Macarons are taking a little break after a busy summer. We’ll be back to baking in October! You can still place orders, but those orders will not be filled for you until the start of October 2021.
Mesdames des Macarons is now accepting orders for weekend pick up at Gustare Oils & Vinegars in Chatham, MA. Visit our Current Flavors page for the current offering of flavors, and then begin your order on our Order Macarons page.
We’re starting this year off with some unique fan favorites. Viennese Truffle macarons and Ginger Marmalade macarons make up our January Seasonal selection.
Viennese Truffle is inspired by a Thorton’s Chocolate truffle of the same name. How could anyone deny the delicious combination of dark and white chocolate with a crunchy sugar coating? We certainly couldn’t! And since it’s rather tricky to get these truffles outside of England, star baker Katy took to her kitchen. It didn’t take too many experiments to get the right ratio of dark to white chocolate to create the moreish ganache that holds two cocoa shells together.
Ginger Marmalade was the brilliant imaginings of a bride-to-be. We love to work with wedding parties to create flavors and color combinations that match their vision. We can’t take any credit for the color purple this flavor is, nor the combination of tongue-tingling flavors. We loved how it came out for this particular wedding so much that we have kept it in our rotation of flavors. Ginger Marmalade has made an impression at several weddings over the years. So I guess this is our wedding special macaron flavor.
Order these flavors and more by completing our order form here.
On June 17, 2020, the psychologist K. Anders Ericsson passed away. He was noted for
his work on how people who excel achieve their ability to excel.
In 2019, I approached Katy Acheson about learning how to make macarons, and she
was willing to teach me. The process is difficult. There are a lot of variables that need
to be controlled in pretty specific ways. And there is a lot of trial and error required in
order to understand those variables, before you can control them. That is: you have to
be willing to make a lot of frustrating mistakes in order to get it right.
This is the essence of Ericsson’s conclusions. People who are really good at what they
do put in a lot of time doing things that are fundamentally frustrating and difficult. And
they fail a lot along the way.
Because of some changes in my situation, I haven’t made any macarons for Katy this
year. But learning from her did inspire me to try something new – and something at
which I failed, spectacularly.
I have a thing for marzipan. I then had an idea to try to make my own Bachwürfel,
originally invented by Fürst of Salzburg. And as I said, I failed spectacularly.
I’m not at all surprised. I had never tried it before, and I was trying this in a just-for-fun
kind of way. But working with Katy had given me the confidence to try something new,
something that was difficult, and enjoy the process even though I was probably going to
fail.
I will probably never make anything close to proper Bachwürfel. But my flop was still
delicious, and I was able to modify my process to make Bachwürfel-inspired cupcakes.
They’re not nearly as classy as I would have liked, so they’re still in the realm of failure –
but overall, this little experiment of mine was a fun failure.
It was great working with Katy last year, and I hope to work with her again in the future.
She is one of those people who excels by having done the difficult work. She
understands the role of failure and has the determination to push through it. She is
willing to teach others and offer fair criticism while respecting the effort made. And at
the end of the day, she keeps it fun, and encourages people to try new things.
Happy Holidays!
Val
Macaron Lady, Baker & Blog Contributor
Every one of our flavors has a little story. This little story is about our Gingerbread Ladies.
I, Katy, try to create a new flavor every year to introduce to our line-up. It keeps me (the baker) and Mesdames’ friends happy and excited.
Gingerbread cookies are a holiday favorite, and friends of Mesdames had been asking year-after-year if we had a gingerbread macarons. We didn’t yet.
So what was the hold up?
It was me. Katy. Owner, star baker, etc. of Mesdames des Macarons. See, I have a favorite gingerbread cookie. It’s soft, it’s sweet, it’s thick enough to really sink your teeth into, and it’s made by my dear friend Erin.
You know how certain things are just that extra bit better tasting because someone else made it for you? Sandwiches are notorious for this. Well, part of my love for these cookies is Erin. I didn’t think I could make a gingerbread macaron that would satisfy the same way Erin’s homemade gingerbread cookies could.
But there was a desire for them. Gingerbread cookie macarons were on everyone’s wish list.
So the work began.
I love to deconstruct a recipe. I love to figure out what makes the flavor and the texture unique. I asked Erin for her recipe. Four ingredients became obvious keys to the flavor that I needed to make the best possible gingerbread macarons: ginger, cinnamon, clove and molasses.
If you know how French macarons are made, you might have a pretty good idea how these ingredients have been incorporated into our Gingerbread Ladies. The spices were mixed in the exact ratio to match Erin’s recipe and then mixed in with the sugar, almond, and meringue that makes the iconic macaron shells. The fourth ingredient, molasses, is then mixed in with butter and sugar to make a sticky, sweet filling for the macarons.
The first night I made them, all I could smell and taste was the molasses. I was disappointed, but I have had a fair few experiences where the flavor of the macaron doesn’t really come to life until the next day. So the gingerbread macarons waited.
Next day, they tasted… they tasted like Erin’s cookies! The chewiness was there, the spices were there. The only thing they were missing were faces!
I am not artist, so the design had to be simple and repeatable. There were five or six or maybe seven different faces in the first batch until I fell upon the charming little smile that you see on our Gingerbread Ladies today. They still all come out looking a little different. They’re sisters. They’ve got a lot in common, but they all have their own attitude!
A bientôt,
Katy
It’s our birthday!
Back in 2010, star baker Katy had been mastering the macaron at home for most of the year. She’d gone from terrible to okay to pretty darn good in a short amount of time. She even learned a little French to help her figure out the perfect ratio of ingredients for her own recipe.
In November of that year, a dear friend asked to buy some macarons for a party.
Then that same friend suggested selling the macarons at a Christmas market. So, Mesdames was born. Katy, Michelle, and Liz came up with the company name, email, grabbed all the social media handles they could, URLs, and threw together a temporary logo until Mike could create Mademoiselle.
Ten years later, the team of Ladies has grown quite a lot. Meanwhile, Katy remains the owner and primary baker. She continues to invent new flavors whenever she has the chance.
We’re so grateful for everyone who’s joined us along our journey! Thank you. Merci! And joyeux anniversaire to us!
We’re excited to get started on our December Macaron of the Month Club orders. Complete the order form linked here: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfYNHeNYjs9iT…/viewform.
Something you want but it isn’t on the form? Don’t worry. There’s a space at the bottom for notes. We’ll contact you for clarification if needed.
All December orders will ship on the 14th so make sure your order is in by then!!
Bonjour, Friends!
Our selection of October flavors are no longer available, but our November flavor selections are some of our favs! Seasonal flavors for November include Maple Brown Sugar & Salted Caramel Popcorn. Yum and yum!!
To order, visit our online order form (just click here).
For Macaron of the Month Club Members who have already placed their orders, invoices will go out soon and orders will be filled shortly after. If you’re saving your macarons for Thanksgiving celebrations, just place your macarons in the freezer (in the box & bag they arrive in) and remove on the same day you plan to enjoy them.
Mesdames des Macarons 