Napoleon's Macarons at the Americana at Brand

Recently, I spent some time at one of my favorite shopping centers: The Americana at Brand in Glendale, CA. It is a modern outdoor mall that was built with references to American architecture from a couple centuries ago. It's just a beautiful place to shop, eat, or just hangout. I did a little bit of it all on this visit. I'll share with you my first time having Napoleon's Macarons.

Napoleon's Macarons has their own kiosk inside the Americana. 

For those of you who may not know what it is, a macaron is a French cookie sandwich. The actual cookies are meringues with different flavors. They are filled with different flavors of buttercream, ganache, or jam. Napoleon's displays all of their 15 varieties in the front window. I think I've only had a couple of macarons before from another bakery. So, I was looking forward to trying some different kinds. 

A couple of the flavors that caught my eye were salted caramel and raspberry. They change some flavors with the seasons and holidays. 

I decided to splurge on a dozen. Since I am a member of the Americana's loyalty rewards program, they have a special offer for Napoleon's. During the month of your birthday, you can receive 3 free macarons and 25% off of a dozen. I couldn't pass up that deal. The macarons cost $1.70 each. A dozen was about $20 (~$15 with my discount). 

The flavors I got were intense chocolate, salted caramel, pistachio, pistachio with raspberry, strawberry, raspberry, hazelnut, and vanilla creme brulee. (I think I might have missed one, but I can't remember what it was. Ooops!) I love how pretty, colorful, and delicious they look in the box.

These macarons were all light, flavorful, and yummy. My favorites were (in this order) salted caramel, vanilla creme brulee, and intense chocolate. The vanilla creme brulee surprised me in the fact that you could taste the caramelized sugar inside of the cookie. It was almost like having the real dessert sandwiched between cookies. 

I know I will be indulging in these tasty treats again in the future. They will be hard to resist when walking by at the Americana.

While at the Americana, I also recommend doing a few other things. 

1. Taking some time to enjoy the park and beautiful fountain that dances to music every hour on the hour
2. Admiring the outdoor chandelier hung above the street
3. Riding on the trolley (it only runs in the afternoons)

One last look before leaving from the parking structure. If you look in the background, you can see the lights of downtown LA.