A few weeks ago I popped across to the Maille Boutique in Piccadilly to try a new concept from Maille and Coq d’Argent’s – savoury macarons – and to learn how to make them.  

To begin, head chef at Coq d’Argent Damien Rigollet showed us how he makes these unique macarons, combining a traditional macaron recipe with a dash of mustard into the shells itself for that brilliant vibrant colour. Hopefully (although this is still yet to be proven) my homemade macarons will only be perfect from now on after learning from the master.

We then experimented with our own unique mustard macarons combinations. Faced with a selection of traditional fillings, and with Rigollet on hand to show us the best pairing with the array of Maille mustard on offer, we grabbed a few shells and started to fill.

The first combination I tried was, sadly, not a winner. Passion fruit filling combined with coconut mustard. The sweet and savoury combination was not particularly ying and yang in this instance, with both flavours fighting. This was followed by another flavour failure – liquorice and balsamic mustard. Although, in hindsight, I was probably never going to be on to a good one there.  

But then, finally, I hit gold. Passion fruit filling with a very tasty mango mustard – combing flavours of the tropics was clearly a strong move (with a helping hand from Rigollet). Quickly followed by almond filling with raspberry mustard, I was slowly coming around to the idea of mustard macarons which, I will admit, I had approached with some hesitance to begin with.

The final flavour combination I tried was honey mustard and lemon curd, which you can buy now at the Maille Boutique for £5.50 for a box of two. The tangy lemon curd nicely contrasted the sweet honey mustard to create a tasty treat.

The macarons are also available to buy at Coq d’Argent.