Macarons and McNuggets at McDonalds, Paris, France

McDonald’s

84 Avenue des Champs Elysees, Paris, France

10 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, Versailles, France

Guess what we found at McDonald’s in France? You guessed it! Macarons! I was in heaven. Technically, the macarons were sold in the McCafe section of McDonald’s but we have McCafe in Canada, and they’ve never sold anything as cool as macarons! Plus, McCafe macarons were less than half the price of Laduree and Pierre Herme macarons (obviously) so we loaded up.

We visited McDonald’s on a number of occasions while staying in France. We even popped in for a quick bite before our visit to the Palace of Versailles and bought a box of macarons for snacking while we wandered the palace and gardens.

Of course McDonald’s macarons were not as tasty, delicate and flavourful as Laduree or Pierre Herme macarons, but they definitely hit the spot for any mad cravings. And I was constantly craving macarons on this trip.

The flavours of macarons at McDonald’s were pretty standard: chocolate, vanilla, lemon, caramel, strawberry, pistachio, chestnut,  and coconut. My favourite was still vanilla with pistachio coming in as a close second.

The vanilla macaron tasted the least artificial. The strawberry, coconut and lemon tasted pretty sugary. To no surprise, the texture and appearance of these macarons are no comparison to the perfect little feet and flawless meringue cookies from the higher end shops. Some of the McDonald’s macarons were hollow in the center, a huge no-no in macaron baking, and of course the outer shell of these macarons were not as crispy as the Laduree macarons. The McDonald’s macarons were a bit on the chewy side. I didn’t mind this so much since I love meringue. The difference between these and Laduree and Pierre Herme macarons though, is that the higher end macarons will be chewy upon the first one or two bites, then the meringue starts to melt away revealing layers of flavour. McDonald’s macarons are missing the melting factor. As a result, McDonald’s macarons were fairly uncrushable in our purses as we traveled on trains, street trams and ran around the gardens at the Palace of Versailles. The more delicate macarons we bought from Laduree were mostly dinged around the edges or smushed by the time we transported them home to Canada.

Even the croissants tasted flakier and more buttery in France. And this was a McCafe croissant. They must contain a higher fat content and lighter flour or something.

They also had some cool smoothies and juices on the menu at McCafe. I opted for a tropical mango and pineapple drink. It was refreshing but very sweet.

Lastly, since we tried the McNuggets in London, I had to try some French McNuggets to compare. The texture was the same, same crispy skin but the meat inside was slightly more moist. They were still not as moist and juicy as Canadian McNuggets but they did the job in curing some of my homesickness.