Bollocks to Baking: L'Orchidee Macarons

I would never have known about L'Orchidee if it wasn't for the fabulous deals that Keynoir dish up every day. One minute it's Michelin star meals, the next it's little holidays. Last week it was macarons from L'Orchidee catering. They were reduced to just £20 for 20.

You can guess how long it took me to click 'buy'.

I got a cute personal email from the company not long after my purchase, and my macarons arrived about five days later. In the post.

Yep, I thought that was strange too. But they actually survived their little trip really well. The extra bubble wrapping in the tin was clever, and didn't at all detract from this being a very pretty box of treats. Of course, they could have done without someone leaving them by the radiator when they arrived, but that's my own fault for staying in bed and letting someone else answer the door.

Are they any good? Yes. Perfectly textured. The slight cracking was almost certainly from the journey, rather than the baking, and they're just the right size. You want another one, even thought you probably don't need one. I tried pistachio, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, with chocolate and vanilla being the clear winners. The ganache worked better for me in those. But while they're tasty, the macarons are very very sweet. Too sweet, actually and the strawberry ones tasted a little artificial because of it.

That said, I like getting macarons in the post. So much more fun than cupcakes, and a really cute present idea for someone. They'll last five days in the fridge (they've actually only lasted two days in Sluttery HQ), and a box of 12 cupcakes tends to go to waste if there aren't a lot of people around to eat them. But they're not cheap. They might have been £20 on Keynoir, but without that deal they'd have been £34 including postage.

I like the service, for the most part I liked the macarons, but £34 is too pricey for me. It's a shame, because it's a great gift idea.