According to the Ladurée story, macarons might actually have been created within the Ladurée family. It is said that, Pierre Desfontaines who was a cousin of Louis Ernest Ladurée, took two crisp macarons and joined them together using a ganache filling.

 The results of this little experiment created a virtual obsession with these dainty pastel cookies bursting with flavor.

In New York City one can find macarons everywhere but are any as fine as the ones served at Ladurée – the highly acclaimed French patisserie which has now set up shop in the city?

The macarons are flown in from Paris three times a week and they are made with all natural ingredients. The space is an upscale parlor for pampered macarons replete with white glove service.

 It is hard to determine the best macarons without doing a taste-off – I think I’ll leave that to Serious Eats  but I will say that the macarons that I have tried at Ladurée are really quite superb.

Here is some of what we tried: