Finding a Little Bit of Joy in Every Macaron

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Solana Adedokun

The rolling rack of macarons shows the flavors of the day.

Solana Adedokun, Online Editor

Nestled in between the busier, more active parts of Clearfork lies a quiet, brightly-colored pastry café called Joy Macarons that specializes in creating around 20 different flavors of macarons and macaron ice cream sandwiches.

Because the store is small, there is only one long table with few chairs and only two outdoor tables surrounded by three seats each. Much of the decor is made up of pastel pinks and blues, whites, and reds. On one side of the store is dominated by a wall of the store’s merchandise and three light fixtures in the shape of macarons.

The main attraction of the store, however, is a massive roll out rack in the shape of a V that displays the macarons offered that day. Two sections of the rack are dedicated to the regular macarons and each row is neatly organized by flavor, while the one metal section of the rack is exclusively for the macaron ice cream sandwiches.

 As for the pricing, each macaron is $2.30. A six-pack of macarons is $13.50, a twelve pack $26, and a twenty-four pack is $50. Each ice cream sandwich is $6.50, and drinks are sold as well.

When I visited the store, I ordered strawberry macarons, salted caramel macarons, and chocolate hazelnut macarons. The strawberry macarons were by far my favorite flavor. The wafer was soft and complemented perfectly with the light, yet sweet and refreshing, strawberry jam. My second favorite macaron was the salted caramel. Unlike the light and subtle flavors of the strawberry macarons, the salty-caramel flavors were extremely sharp yet still sugary-sweet. Though the flavor was very complex and enjoyable, the paste in between the wafers was crunchy, despite the general assumption that  macarons should be soft. Finally, my least favorite macaron was the chocolate hazelnut. The macaron was rich with delicious Nutella, but the spread and flavors did not work well as a macaron. The flavors were too heavy and rich to be suitable for a macaron.

Unfortunately, Joy does not decorate their macarons well. The store and packaging are decorated simply, yet elegant, but the macarons only reflect that in their flavor. The only macarons to have a decoration were the strawberry macarons’ small seeds and a few of the ice cream sandwich macarons. Adding more flair to the macarons would make the item look more eye catching and entice customers to buy some.

All and all, Joy Macarons is a good place to get macarons. Though they could improve some aspects of their presentation and taste, they offer a solid place to purchase macarons, if you are willing to splurge on a treat.

The store is small with limited seating, but to go orders are encouraged and they ship to many locations.