Macaron: where to taste it at Christmas markets

The macaron is a small round cake of ground almonds, sugar and egg whites. At Christmas markets, each town sells its own: a regional macaron, older and more rustic than the filled Parisian macaron, with no filling in Boulay or Montmorillon, and one that keeps well enough to go home in a box in the bag.

Amiens, Nancy, Saint-Jean-de-Luz macarons: one macaron per town

The Nancy macaron is cracked on the outside, crunchy and slightly meringue-like, all almond. The Saint-Jean-de-Luz one is soft, golden and smooth, cracked only around the edges. The Montmorillon macaron, sold in Poitiers, has a plumper, more compact shape. In Boulay, in Moselle, the macarons are shaped one by one, with almonds, sugar and egg whites. The Amiens macaron, for its part, is a small almond macaron.

None of these towns has the same macaron, and that is what makes buying them interesting: a bag picked up in Metz has nothing in common with one from Nancy, though they are in the same region.

Where to buy macarons at a Christmas market

The town’s macaron is sold at the town’s market, by the box or the bag, to take away. Amiens offers its almond macarons and Nancy its own macaron. Boulay macarons are found in Metz and Thionville. Those of Montmorillon are in Poitiers, and Niort sells macarons from the Poitou. Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Saint-Quentin and Bergerac each have their own macaron at the market.

In the Basque Country, the macaron shares the stall with Basque cake and turrón, in Bayonne as in Biarritz. In the Paris region, macarons are sold next to chocolates and pastries, in Rueil-Malmaison, Chantilly, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Boulogne-Billancourt.