PRODUCT: Super Bowl Macarons, Valentine Macarons
 The battle of the macarons. Photo courtesy Dana’s Bakery. |
In addition to the Super Bowl, we’re celebrating the Mac Bowl: the battle between two macarons for the title of tastiest.
Dana’s Bakery, a wonderfully creative maker of delicious macarons (a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week—here’s the review), has created two flavors for the occasion: Who needs chicken wings, guacamole and pizza? We’re set with our Super Bowl macarons. Game on! |
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VALENTINE MACARONS For Valentine’s Day, Dana has transformed the classic Sweethearts candy, also called conversation hearts, into macarons. Sweethearts are made by the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), makers of Necco Wafers. Each hard heart-shaped candy is printed with a romantic message: “Be Mine,” “Kiss Me,” “Adore Me,” and “Crazy 4U” are some of the messages. WHO INVENTED SWEETHEARTS CANDY? Sweethearts date all the way back to 1866. In 1847, 26-year-old Boston pharmacist Oliver R. Chase invented a machine that cut lozenges from wafer candy—similar to Necco Wafers. |
 Macarons for your Valentine, atop a bed of Sweethearts candy. Photo courtesy Dana’s Bakery. |
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While it turned out to be the world’s first candy-making machine, the original intent was to create lozenges to soothe the throat or to settle the stomach. The line between “losenge” and “hard candy” is pretty slim. In 1866 Oliver’s brother, Daniel Chase, designed a machine that pressed designs onto the wafers, and began printing sayings on what had become “candy.” Sweethearts were launched by NECCO in 1901. In 2010 the recipe was changed to allow for bright modern colors; contemporary sayings have been added, such as “Email me” (no doubt soon to be “Text Me”) and “LOL.” NECCO receives hundreds of suggestions a year on new sayings. Sweetheart macarons are available from DanasBakery.com. |
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