Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been baking macarons for a few months now. I was excited to see that the Herme book would be available for the English market. First of all you must know that Herme uses the Italian method in making his macarons. No French, no Swiss. I don't particularly like handling boiling sugar, so this was a big disappointment to me. I prefer the French method which requires no soft ball stage boiling of sugar to make a meringue. Temperatures are in metric units, which doesn't bother me, but may bother some people. I have become accustomed to measuring in grams. There is no way around it in this precise art form. This book is targeted toward those already familiar with baking macarons. It offers no trouble shooting guide. You are on your own if things don't turn out quite like the beautiful pictures in the book. The ingredients used in the recipes can be quite exotic to America. The resource guide in the back of the book provides names and websites of suppliers, but most are in the UK or France. The recipes produce impractical quantities of macarons. 144 shells = 72 macarons? That is 6 dozen macarons per batch! Be prepared to make only 1/2 or 1/3 the recipe. You don't want 6 dozen macarons that you decide you or no one else likes. It's a beautiful book given its pictures. It can spark your imagination in producing your own recipes. However, this book is not practical for the novice. In addition, it has not been properly translated for use in the US market. If you are looking for a book to begin your journey into the world of macarons, I recommend Les Petits Macarons by Gordon and McBride.