Pierre Hermé and his famous Macaroon

As my foodie buddy Peech was in Burgundy recently on a vinotherapy (a quite gruelling one I am told, involving several dozens of tastings a day...), he needed a rest on the way back and stopped over in Paris for a couple of days. He was kind enough to buy me a box of macaroons from one of Pierre Hermé's famous shops. He obviously took great care during transport, as these are extremely fragile, and they reached Honkie in perfect condition and amazing freshness.

"Pierre Hermé and his famous macaroon", says the cute box - if there was a Nobel prize for gastronomy, these little pillows would be a prime candidate...

The selection in my goodie box (front to back, top to bottom, left to right):

Chestnut and Matcha - I think this is my favourite after the white truffle. I am a huge chestnut fan, and this combination was just perfect. Sweet, smooth chestnut cream with a fragrant center of matcha cream. I could have gobbled down a dozen more;
Rose & rose petals - a classic, always as good as ever;
Crème brûlée - my third favourite from this box. This was totally amazing - it tasted exactly like Crème brûlée, each and every layer of flavour was there: the vanilla aroma, the creamy/buttery taste and that slight hint of caramel. Brilliant;
Quince & rose - one of the seasonal flavours. Quite fruity with a nose of rose that was much more muted than in the rose macaroon. Very nice and subtle;
Mogador (milk chocolate ganache and passionfruit macaroon) - an old favourite. I find it interesting that this macaroon is built as passionfruit macaroon around chocolate ganache and not the other way round, which keeps this somehow classic combination of flavours ever appealing;
Chuao (chocolate and blackcurrant half-macaroons, sandwiched around blackcurrant cream) - another favourite. The chocolate in the top-half macaroon was very intense, and the blackcurrant cream brought some balance with its fruity and slightly acidic notes. Very, very good;
Infiniment caramel (salted caramel) - classic. "Like a Chanel suit, it will never go out of fashion." Sorry I HAD to pull a Carrie Bradshaw on this one ;-)

Seasonal flavour: white truffle & roasted Piemont hazelnuts

I was lucky to get 2 of these - absolutely a-ma-zing!! The white truffle was very fragrant, and worked perfectly with the sweet, crumbly, creamy texture of the macaroon. Like Peech, I would think that the hazelnuts could have been done without, even though they were excellent. Such a noble ingredient as white truffle doesn't need props and texture tricks, it should be the star of its own show without the need for a sidekick...