making french macarons at sur la table!

After this harrowing week, it seemed time for a light and fluffy post so I thought I’d finally write about the macaron baking class I took with my mom and sister at Sur La Table.

My mother wanted us to take a cooking class during our annual birthday spa weekend but, since I don’t cook, she struggled to find something that would be interesting to all of us (“Basic Knife Skills?” Uh, no. “Mirepoix?” WHAT? “The Art of Preserving?” Are you kidding me?)

She checked out our local Sur La Table, and immediately signed us up for “Make Your Own Macarons.” Yes, my mother knows her daughters. My sister actually bakes, and I actually eat a lot of macarons. The macarons my husband and I planned to bring home for everyone from Laduree in Paris were consumed before we hit Charles de Gaulle, and we always make sure to hit the U.S. outpost when we’re in New York.

So, after a blissful hot stone massage and lunch at La Costa, we headed over to Sur La Table to make our own dessert. Because we like to brown nose – especially when food is involved – we got there early and were greeted by Chef Lucas Spenser and his wonderful assistant, Amelia Martinez, who, with a wink, whisked us over to the table closest to the fan (“they’ll come out better this way”) and strongly suggested we make the hazelnut macarons with dark chocolate ganache (“trust me”). Oh, Amelia, I will always trust you and you will always hold a special place in my heart.

As the rest of the students arrived, Lucas – or Chef, as I liked to officially call him – told us a little about his background. He’s the culinary lead at Sur La Table, and was previously the assistant pastry chef at the prestigious George’s at the Cove and Meritage Bistro. He’s also a photographer, so he really has an eye for presentation.

I would like to be able to give you a play-by-play account of the class but it’s pretty much just a sugary haze now. I do fondly remember doing a little mixing and a lot of talking, meeting a fantastic young man named Noah Lomax, going around the room and spreading raspberry buttercream, chocolate ganache and banana buttercream on coconut, hazelnut and chocolate macarons, and tasting a dozen (or two) of the different combinations.

The macarons were melt-in-your-mouth amazing and, although we humbly brushed off compliments, everyone agreed that ours turned out the best of all. (We bow to you, Amelia.) My sister may actually make them again, and I would actually eat them any time, but there is very little chance I could ever replicate these at home. We did talk about a class reunion – which would be a blast. Are you in, Amelia? Chef?

We all had so much fun during this class which was, for me, more of an eating class than a cooking class. Sur La Table’s class philosophy is “Learn. Eat. Laugh.” and we did those so well, no one wanted to leave. Customers kept looking in to see where all the “ooh”s and “ah”s and “ummmm”s were coming from, and they eyed our precious macarons greedily, asking where they could get samples.

After hugs and photos and a self-guided tour of the store, we finally left, satiated and laden with recipes and plates of our creations for the men we had left at home.

My sister, sadly, is back home in Northern California now — possibly making these macarons as I write. My mom and I, though, are thinking of becoming regulars at Sur La Table and are looking forward to the pizza eating making class we signed up for next weekend.