Macarons are often thought of as a delicate, feminine dessert, one that's totally Instagram-worthy. So, not many men have tried these French cookies. I rounded up a few K-State guys to try a macaron for the very first time.
I made the macarons myself and filled them with a traditional buttercream. I usually fill them with a coconut oil buttercream, but I didn't want anyone's coconut preference to mess with their taste test. I also made the rounds fairly small and dyed them a nice green color.
"I like it overall. It’s great!"
Matt Cornell, junior in management information systems, simply said that he liked the buttercream after taking his first bite of a macaron.
"I’m definitely tasting a lot of sweet, kind of like taffyish. It’s probably the buttercream taste." Matt ranked the cookie as an eight out of ten on a tastiness scale.
"I’m supposed to eat this, right?"
Kyle Hampel, sophomore in English creative writing, was ready for his first macaron. "I've been waiting all day for this."
After taking a bite, Kyle gave an interesting description: "It kind of tastes like a jelly bean sandwich. There’s just a hint of cream, but it’s mostly a really slimy jelly bean surrounded by a little bit of edible plastic."
He rated the cookie a three and a half stars out of five, and said he would eat one again if someone gave it to him.
"Do I take a bite or eat the whole thing?"
Griffin Karr, freshman in chemical engineering, gave a great analysis of his experience after trying a macaron for the first time.
"It's like biting into a marshmallow. It's got a little give to it, a solid oomph as you bite down."
Griffin also said that the macaron is a "different texture experience" compared to your average cookie, and the taste reminded him of the hardened, caramelized sugar on top of crème brûlée.
"It's more of a smooth consistency."
Gehrig Geissinger, freshman in biology pre-medicine, was thrown off by the green color. "I'm anticipating minty." Unlike the other guys, Gehrig ate it all in one bite.
"Smooth," was his first reaction. "The outside seemed like it'd be more crunchy. It's like when you whip egg whites [for meringues]." He said he would definitely eat a macaron again.
Overall, these K-Staters enjoyed their first macaron. Their responses were creative and insightful, and Griffin and Gehrig even guessed the first step in making macarons: beating egg whites to make a meringue. Yes, they are fancy, dainty cookies, and these college guys sure liked them.