Financier Patisserie is amazing because it really manages to produce good quality (if not super high…) French pastries at affordable prices. The difference between Financier and, say, Bouchon, is less in the variety or execution and perhaps much more in the quality of ingredients — the edge, the margin that separates the great from the good.
The Time Warner Center is strategically located about 16 blocks away frommy house in New York. Too close to take the subway, but too far for me to go there everyday. Had it been closer, I would get a macaron a day at Bouchon Bakery.
Peanut Butter and Jam Macaron
The macarons at Bouchon Bakery are exactly as they should be. The cookies have this thin, crunchy crust that give way to a nothingness of almond-flavored meringue. They collapse as you bite into them and somewhere in the middle your tongue finds the grace of the filling, contrasting not only intexture, but sometimes also in flavor.
In addition to four regular flavors Bouchon Bakery offers two rotating flavors. My favorite ever was a Kir Royale — champagne filling encased in cassis cookies — but lately they impressed me with a peanut butter and jam macaron. The cookie was chocolate, and the peanut filling was topped by a layer of raspberry jam.
