I searched and googled and urbanspooned until I found macarons in Chicago! They are NOT easy to find because they take so much work to make - believe me, I've tried.
Vanille Patisserie is a small pastry shop in the Chicago French Market - it was quite a hike over there, but completely worth it. They had rows and rows of macarons!! I chose rose, violet cassis, lavender, coconut, raspberry, green tea and lemon - my favorite.
Macarons are mostly pure sugar, ground almonds, and a little flavoring - you can only eat a bite or two before you're feeling the sugar!! I ate the lemon ones immediately.... and gave the coconut ones to my mom. I tried fairly unsuccessfully to get them home on the plane - they were still delicious smashed up :) The green tea ones were also especially delightful - well anything with matcha is delightful!!
I'm sure you're sick of my macaron posts - but I love them. It's ridiculously hard to find places that make them which only makes me like them more. They are special treats!!
-J
PS - this is my last Chicago post :)
