If you’ve ever shopped at Pierre Hermé, you know they not only supply delicious goodies, they will also wrap your purchase up with care in an assortment of pastel colour and white boxes, and place within similarly colour-schemed paper bags.

I know it’s rather frivolous, but it also means the full elegant package is now ready to be presented as gifts should you not be tempted into eating them up yourself. ;-)

They have just came up with 5 new gift boxes for macarons, four of which I’ve put together in the giant collage above. These are known as “J’aime Les Macarons”, “Les Incontournables de Paris”, “Joyeux Anniversaire” and “Je Pense à Toi”.

If you’re buying them online for home delivery, they’re available as boxes of 12 macarons (6 types of macarons per box) for €24 plus delivery charges. If you’re buying them online for boutique collection at 185 rue Vaugirard, they’re available as boxes of 16 for €34. Don’t ask me why the €2 price discrepancy. Processing charges? Option to choose macaron flavours?

My favourite pâtissier in Paris is undoubtedly Pierre Hermé and I make no secret about this. Just about anyone who knows me know that I will always make time to be in his shop, usually the one by St Sulpice, to get some émotions (glasses of 3 complementary layers of delicious goodies), macarons, pastries, chocolates…

Pierre Hermé certainly deserves his title as The Picasso of Pastry, among other illustrious ones. The offerings from his shops are simply delectable and irresistable to me (and many others I suspect). The queue outside the shop can be pretty lengthy at times, and I’m not surprised if numerous Japanese tourists have got pictures of me standing in the line, waiting for my turn to get into the tiny shop on Rue Bonaparte!

Bij treated me to some Pierre Hermé when I saw her a few days ago (what can I say - she’s an awesome friend!), after a few turbulent days of emotional rollercoaster. We shared some émotions and macarons, and she also gave me a couple of surprise plénitude.

Let’s talk about those delightful émotions, shall we?

Pierre Hermé usually creates two émotions for his shops at any one time, and this summer they are Émotion Fragola and Émotion Eden. I personally love Émotion Eden while Bij prefers Émotion Fragola.

Émotion Eden is a creation with layers consisting of delicate crème brûlée of saffron at the bottom, apricot pieces in the centre, and topped with saffron jelly sprinkled with some gold sheets. Digging through all three layers in one go to get a mixture of creamy custard and light jelly together with fruit pieces, it’s a lovely combination of texture and taste much after my heart’s delight.

Émotion Fragola is not pale in comparison either, and rather unusual too. It’s a bold combination of balsamic vinegar, spaghetti in strawberry juice and strawberry compote, garnished with a dollop of cream. I’ve known of the vow factor in pairing balsamic vinegar and strawberry, but to add spaghetti into the mix to make it a dessert, that’s a new experiment in my opinion. But it works well. Very well.

Of course, a trip to Pierre Hermé also normally means taking a small selection of macarons. We had some rather fruity selection, continuing the whole summery theme, with some Eden (apricot), Montebello (raspberry and pistachio), Vanille (vanilla) and Pamplemousse (grapefruit). They literally melted in the mouth, such heavenly bites they were.

I. Really. Heart. Pierre. Hermé.

Pierre Hermé
- 72 Rue Bonaparte (near St Sulpice)
- 185 Rue Vaugirard
- also available through online shopping in Europe (certain products only)