Bouchon Bakery's Macarons

If you haven’t been to Bouchon Bakery before, you must stop by next time you’re nearby.  They have 5 locations in the United States: two in California (Yountville and Beverly Hills), two in New York City, and one in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Although Bouchon Bakery is known for their breads, pastries, and confections they also have a full espresso bar as well as a café menu with sandwiches, salads, and quiche to make lunch on-the-go easy. 

One of my favorite confections from Bouchon Bakery is their macarons.  Macarons are soft, chewy meringue cookies made with ground almonds and sandwiched together with rich, velvety Swiss meringue buttercream.  The last time I visited, I bought one of each of their espresso, raspberry, and vanilla macarons as well as their seasonal flavor, which at the time was a malted chocolate macaron. 

I also tried their version of the San Francisco born classic: the ho-ho.  This Bouchon version of the ho-ho was composed of a chocolate cake rolled with Chantilly cream and covered in a rich chocolate shell.  Their ho-ho was delicious, but it’s a dessert that you definitely want with some milk. 

Lemon Bars

The gooey, sweet, lemon filling pairs nicely with the buttery, crumbly crust in these lemon bars.  The crust is so buttery and tender that these lemon bars should be eaten with a fork since the crust can crumble under pressure.  This recipe is simple to master and the lemon bars can be made in about an hour or less.  This lemon bar recipe was one of my favorite recipes growing up and I actually prefer this over the more time consuming Lemon Meringue Tarts.