It’s been barely two days since Britain voted for Brexit, but it’s left us with what feels like a week’s worth of news to face up to.

David Cameron has stood down as Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn is dealing with resignations from Labour Shadow Cabinet ministers (nine have left so far today) and Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon is busy leading a country which, unlike England and Wales, voted to stay in the European Union.

News websites are updating every minute as we find out what will happen to Britain and its position in the EU over the coming days, weeks and months. Will we leave? Will we stay?

There’s plenty of speculation from all sides about the future, but for now, it’s very hard to predict exactly what the outcome will be.

On Friday, when the news came that Britain had voted to leave the EU, many people – Leave and Remain supporters – were in shock.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my family put the kettle on, and we sat down with a cup of tea to watch the news.

When the post came later that morning, we were feeling a bit deflated, but I did cheer up when I saw a box addressed to me and bearing the words: ‘keep contents refrigerated.’  Hallelujah.

The parcel turned out to be macarons that I’d ordered from Mademoiselle Macaron, a macaron shop based in Scotland who also do postal deliveries.

You can check out their Twitter here, and their Instagram page here.

I’ll be looking at where to find the best macarons in Britain over the next few weeks, and these guys in Edinburgh were my first port of call.

The macarons arrived securely packed, in a huge brown box. Once I’d rummaged through the packing chips, I found a small purple box with the macarons carefully arranged inside.

I then had to negotiate a couple of layers of hard plastic before, finally, I broke through to the macarons and victory was mine.

Macaron Taste Test

1. Chocolate Macaron

• First up for the taste test was the chocolate macaron, an oldie and a goodie.
• Its matte brown shell was crunchy and brittle.
• The filling was a rich dark chocolate ganache, which was beautifully light and moussey.

 

2. Pistachio Macaron

• Next came the pistachio, with its bright green shell.
• The outside was pleasantly crispy,  with a good nutty taste.
• I thought the sweetness brought out by the filling, which was a summery pinkish colour, was slightly lost among the flavour from the nutty shell.

 

3. Chocolate and Peanut Butter Macaron

• Classic flavour combinations here (I can’t find a description to link to on the website, so may just be a limited edition one sadly!) 😦
• Light brown matte shell.
• The filling was mixture of smooth dark chocolate ganache and comforting peanut butter.
• The sweetness of the peanut butter slightly overpowered the chocolate ganache in the filling, but it was a tasty combination that worked very well.

 

4. Lavender Macaron

• One of the limited edition macarons currently available from Mademoiselle Macaron, this was definitely a winner!
• Dark bluish-purple shell with delicate hints of lavender.
• Deliciously fragrant, with beautifully floral and slightly spicy smell.
• White chocolate filling, which was a lovely and inventive combination to go with the aromatic lavender.

 

5. Chocolate and Passionfruit Macaron

• This one had a gorgeously fruity smell, which was also slightly sharp.
• Between the two halves of the bright pink shell was a layer of dark pink passionfruit purée and a layer of dark chocolate ganache.
• The passionfruit was incredible – it was deep and intense, with a very powerful aftertaste that was almost alcoholic. As it was so refreshing, it went brilliantly with the chocolate, balancing out the strong and sweet cocoa with a deliciously tropical flavour.

 

 

6. Salted Caramel Macaron

• Last but not least, we come to the salted caramel macaron, a traditional flavour and definitely an old favourite of mine! It’s not hard to see why it won a Great Taste Award last year.
• Beautifully soft, it had a crispy shell with a slight caramel flavour.
• The filling was very moreish – buttery, sugary and with a decisive salty tang to cut through the sweet velvety texture and taste of the cream and butter.
• Together with the chocolate-passionfruit and the lavender, this one’s in my top three.

 

Have you visited Mademoiselle Macaron before?

Or if you’ve been to other places selling macarons around Britain, which one’s your favourite? 

If you’re also a macaron fan, you can get in touch by leaving a comment here – I’d love to hear from you!! 🙂

A bientôt, et bon appétit !