Thus, I found myself in possession of a King Cake-A-Ron, a seasonal creation by local macaron maker Ilyssa Archuleta of Violet Sprinkles. The King Cake-A-Ron is a giant macaron fashioned into a ...

While her most popular items tend to be French macarons and decorated cookies and cakes, the farmers market crowd gravitated to Zummer’s homemade pop tarts made with fresh, local fruit.

For the macarons, preheat the oven to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1. Line 2 baking trays with silicone paper and draw 12 well-spaced circles, each 4.5cm/1¾in in diameter, onto each sheet of paper.

Macarons are tricky. There’s no getting around it, but it’s what makes them special. This Italian meringue technique helps to stabilise the sugar and egg white to give you a fighting chance.