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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Macarons Have Come To Howard County -- Spotted At The New Linda's Bakery In Columbia

Macarons from Linda's Bakery
We're getting on trend now in Howard County with French-style macarons offered up in Columbia even as these bakeries pop in places like DC and Bethesda.

The new Linda's Bakery that opened on Snowden River Parkway this month offers several flavors of macarons.  These are basically sandwich cookies made with meringues connected with a cream or other filing.

They're light, often fruity sweets.  Perfect as a tiny treat.  Beautiful on dessert plate.  They're also a current post-cupcake trend among pastry shops and cookbooks.  The Sugar Baby cookbook caught Mrs. HowChow's eye because she had searched out macarons when we visited Manhattan.

Mrs. HowChow hasn't worked up to the complex recipe yet, but Linda's pops out macarons with raspberry, almond, coffee, and chocolate chip.  They're not the perfectly uniform pastries from New York's Macaron Cafe.  A few were so brittle that they shattered or had air spaces inside.  But they're light with the burst of intense flavor that makes macarons so special.

This is the kind of experimentation that makes me glad to see all the new bakeries.  Linda's could create a niche for this kind of pastry, which I haven't seen closer than Bethesda until now.
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11 comments:

  1. RHfoodieDecember 21, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    Can't wait to try one and pretend I'm in Paris for a bite or two.

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  2. AnonymousDecember 21, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    The almond ones are to die for!

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  3. ho.co.poDecember 21, 2011 at 12:26 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. ho.co.poDecember 21, 2011 at 12:28 PM

    I miss the almond macaroons from the dearly departed local chain Trés Bon... they were more like a tart... I've never seen anything else like them.

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  5. Elisabeth @ joggerslife.comDecember 21, 2011 at 3:11 PM

    As if I needed another reason to visit Linda's Bakery again this week...

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  6. TiffanyDecember 21, 2011 at 4:24 PM

    Curious how much they sell for? I love the macarons at Bouchon Bakery so if I could get them locally, that would be great!

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  7. HowChowDecember 21, 2011 at 7:15 PM

    @Tiffany -- Not expensive. I think they sold them by weight. I think six or seven was about $2. But don't quote me.

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  8. dzoeyDecember 21, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    Not sure how much they are, but I got 6 macarons, 3 meringues, a nut stick and a cream puff and the total was $6. Very reasonable.

    The cream puff was really good, and I really like the macarons. The macarons are made with almond flour, which gives them a sweet, almost coconut note.

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  9. anita b.December 22, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    pretty lackluster way too much empty space(airpockets) they are a good value only 1.50 for like 1 regular sized and 3 mini macarons. NYC prices are like 3 bucks per piece
    not sure if I would get the mini macs they were gritty in texture.

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  10. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2012 at 8:06 AM

    Finally got over to Linda's to try the macaroons. They have a different flavor every day. It happened to be lemon last Saturday, and the cookies were divine. They contain no wheat so they're perfect for people with wheat allergies.
    The owners waited on me and were sooo pleasant. When I told them I was sending some cookies with my daughter to deliver as a present on her flight out of BWI that day, they trimmed the box with ribbon and put in tissue so the cookies wouldn't get jostled.
    There were also some little heart cookies filled with raspberry jam. A welcome change from all the Christmas chocolate.

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  11. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2012 at 12:47 PM

    I've been on a macaroon kick recently and made a trip to Linda's specifically for them! They're pretty good, but I'm picky about the flavors. We had strawberry and choc. chip and the strawberry was too sweet for me, but that's just personal preference. We were recently in Europe (not Paris, though!) for a 'closer to the real thing'. Linda's aren't quite the same, but very good, a great value and local!

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