It’s been a while since I’ve tasted macarons from The Twisted Baker in Chicago. My first experience there, however, was a little hectic.
The teacher man and I visited the Windy City for a long weekend a while back and made sure to hit up the sweet spots on my list. Because we stayed in the Old Town area of the city, a visit to The Twisted Baker just made sense. It was right around the corner from his brother’s digs, and good smells from the bakery were filling the street.
When we got in, it was just one of those mornings. Busy crowd. Not enough help. Crazy cash register malfunctions.
Despite all of the ruckus, I was able to pick out a few treats to sample: cupcakes and macarons! For today’s post, we’ll focus on the macarons.
{I made sure to share my macarons with the teacher man.}
I chose simple French vanilla macarons to share with the teacher man when we got back to the apartment. At first glance, they seemed OK — smaller footing than I’m used to seeing and a little bit bubbly on top, but nothing too extreme to my naked eye.
Biting into the macaron, it seemed just a little too chewy for my tastes. The Twisted Baker’s macarons lacked that nice airy, crispy shell indicative of a great French cookie. The filling, however, was smooth and luscious — great vanilla flavor without being overpowering.
I’m hoping The Twisted Baker was just having one of those days. I’ve never baked macarons myself, but it seems like everything, including the sun, moon and stars, has to be in perfect alignment for these little guys to come out perfect. Maybe next time things like the rush, crowd and cash register will be aligned so that the bakers and owners don’t have to worry about anything more than producing the perfect macaron.
Have you been to The Twisted Baker? What did you get? Tell me about it in the comments section.
