Ah, Valentine’s Day. The perfect day to treat your partner to a romantic dinner — but very far from the perfect day to visit a restaurant.
For many kitchens, Valentine’s Day is the busiest night of the year, as half the city goes on dates. Expectations run high. Cooks and waiters put their heads down and try to serve as many happy couples as possible.
If there’s a restaurant you’ve been meaning to try on a special occasion, maybe wait a week or two and enjoy date night on a random Wednesday. In the meantime, why not cook together — or at least bring home a gorgeous sampler box of macarons?
The tiny treats, two feather-light cookies sandwiched around a flavorful cream, are colorful, festive, delicious and daintily sized. Plus, they’re from France, which automatically makes them romantic.
This January, I hit the road, driving around Dallas and sampling macarons from 11 local bakeries to see how they compare. Due to time and waistline constraints, I included only brick-and-mortar stores with regular hours, excluding order-online operations Sucrer and We the Birds, and pop-ups like super-creative SneakerBaby.
At each spot, I tested my two favorite flavors — lemon and pistachio — if they had them, along with one or two wild cards, usually chosen by asking employees for their personal favorites. Like a judge on The Great British Baking Show, I looked for both flavor and consistency: whether the cookie is light and airy (good) or dense and chewy (bad); whether there’s a delicate outer shell and if the amount of cream filling is just right. One indicator of the baking quality is the “feet,” the thin, ribbon-like air bubbles around the edges. An absence of feet suggests the dough was thick, wet and goopy. Macarons are fickle and hard to bake in humid conditions, so consistency is especially important.
Here are my recommended — and not so recommended — local macaron makers.
The top three
Haute Sweets Patisserie
Dallas’ macaron champion offers technically perfect bakes — a light ribbon of cream, equal amounts of fluffy cookie on both sides, crisp edges — in flavors that range from classy (pistachio) to playful (an open-faced chocolate macaron with the cream piped into a poop emoji). I fell madly in love with the lemon flavor, which is as tart and rich as a lemon bar, clearly made with real juice. Forget Dallas: Haute Sweets would have fans in Paris.
10230 E. Northwest Highway and 6959 Arapaho Road. hautesweetspatisserie.com.
Bisous Bisous Patisserie
Dallas’ most Parisian spot offers perfectly structured bakes — you can see the layers even from the outside, and feel the crispness of the shell on your teeth — and delicate flavors that don’t go overboard. We loved all three macarons in our sample pack, with not-too-tart lemon, lovely pistachio and a mild hazelnut flavor that, unlike most hazelnut desserts in town, doesn’t try to be Nutella.
3700 McKinney Ave., #150. bisous-bisous.com.
Ecclesia Bakery and Cafe
This indie spot in Carrollton’s Koreatown is the biggest surprise of my journey. Spot-on bakes and spot-on flavors mark Ecclesia’s menu, including both tea- and coffee-flavored macarons. All are satisfyingly tall, colorful and flavorful, and if you live anywhere in the northern suburbs, Ecclesia should be your top choice.
2625 Old Denton Road, #820, Carrollton. ecclesiabakery.com.
More recommendations
Cafe Mozart Bakery
This chain with Dallas and Atlanta locations specializes in cakes, rolls, buns and other goods, but the macarons we tried were technically flawless: fluffy light cookies with rich cream and nice crisp exteriors. They didn’t have either of my favorite flavors, but the substitutes I tried were terrific, especially a bold Earl Grey that’s clearly made with a hearty dose of tea.
Locations in Carrollton, Dallas and Plano. cafemozartbakery.com.
Paris Baguette
This brand-new opening in Carrollton’s Koreatown is fully loaded with savory and sweet bakes. The macarons are fully loaded with cream filling, too, so if you love a rich creamy center, this should absolutely be your place. (If not, reconsider.) Bakes are properly done and flavors come through brightly. This location of the nationwide chain opened last summer; there’s another store in Lewisville.
Locations in Carrollton and Lewisville. parisbaguette.com.
Isabelly’s Chocolates and Sweet Treats
This spot in downtown Richardson offers an unusual twist: Your macarons are assembled to order, so if you’re in a rush or preparing a Valentine’s Day surprise gift box, call ahead. This approach leaves the balance between dough and filling up to the staff on duty when you visit (ours were very creamy). Overall, recommendable. Plus: They have cat-shaped cake balls.
200 E. Main St., Richardson. isabellys.com.
Not quite there
Joy Macarons
From this cute, fabulous-smelling shop in Oak Cliff, I picked up a trio of cookies and got a trio of textures, from flawless Italian cream with walnuts and coconut to a thick, chewy pistachio variety. Hard to say what to expect next time, but Joy’s other big innovation is macaron ice cream sandwiches, made with the store’s own ice cream. Can’t complain about that.
Locations in Dallas and Fort Worth. joymacarons.com.
Chelles Macarons
This Dallas Farmers Market stall served me a trio of macarons that were inconsistent not just in baking but in size: Some were bigger than others. Cream squished out the sides of our pistachio macaron, pushed out by the cookie’s density, and we wondered if the batch had been made on a humid day. But the lemon variety, with a dollop of curd hidden in the center, held up fine.
Locations in Dallas and Plano. chellesmacarons.com.
Nine Rabbits Bakery and Boba House
The macarons we sampled here were very dense and chewy; we didn’t finish any. Luckily, the pastries are just a sideline for a superb tea, boba and drinks shop. If you’re in the neighborhood, bring your partner a pistachio white chocolate smoothie.
2546 Royal Lane. 9rabbitsbakery.com.
Savor Patisserie
Oof. I don’t know what happened. Macarons are Savor’s only product, but the trio I bought — lemon, pistachio and champagne — were all so dry that they cracked into crumbs. My napkin was a war zone of cookie shards. Something went terribly wrong with these bakes.
Locations in Dallas, Fort Worth and McKinney. savorpatisserie.com.
Vegan option
Reverie Bakeshop
I goofed. I forgot Reverie’s hours and showed up after they closed, and couldn’t get back by deadline. But there’s one thing you need to know about this shop: It’s all vegan. If you’re buying macarons for a vegan friend or partner (or to treat your vegan self), this is your best option.
980 N. Coit Road, #2850, Richardson. reveriebakeshop.com.
On hiatus
Kate Weiser Chocolate
The nationally acclaimed chocolate shop is currently running a reduced line of macarons — in fact, just a gooey brownie-like flavor. It’s a temporary change as Weiser’s team moves into a new production facility and hooks up new baking equipment. Look for macarons to return soon.
Locations in Dallas and Fort Worth. kateweiserchocolate.com.
