PARISIAN CULINARY DELIGHTS — CHEZ BABETTE MACARONS

Paris is the City of Love — the lights are gorgeous at night not only on the Eiffel Tower but the entire city, and the culinary delights, especially desserts, are quite indulgent as the French are truly masters of cuisine. Babette Hunt, aka Chez Babette, has always been passionate about food and the joy she can give to others through her fare.

When her sister-in-law, lover of Paris macarons, asked if she wanted to take a macaron-making class in Paris, Hunt leaped at the chance and responded with a resounding YES!

During the intensive training at La Cuisine French cooking school, Hunt learned how to make the French macarons, sweet meringuebased small pastry bites made of almond meal. The chef who taught the class trained under and worked at Pierre Hermé Paris. Pierre Hermé was a fourth-generation pastry chef who discovered the macaron and founded the Maison Pierre Hermé Paris in 1998.

A few months after returning from Paris, Hunt was ready to make macarons on her own. With guidance from her sister-in-law, Hunt was elated to find she remembered what was learned during the class in Paris and began making delicious macarons for friends and on special occasions.

Hunt said, “It was pure joy to produce something so delicate, pretty, and delicious!” Anyone who has ever tried making macarons knows they are finicky, as there is nothing straightforward about the process, and they are indeed very difficult to make. This simple truth did not exasperate Babette, but made her more determined to keep making the tiny confections, as practice makes perfect and the quest for the perfect macaron was worth the perseverance.

Fast-forward a couple of years, when Hunt and her husband decided to move to middle Tennessee from the San Francisco Bay area, landing in historic Columbia. After the move, Hunt’s sisterin-law encouraged her to start baking and selling her macarons locally. Hunt decided to pursue the endeavor and made some of the delicious treats for her Bible study group. Everyone savored the tasty little bites and was surprised by how different they were from other macarons they had tried and did not prefer. Hunt loved the smiles as her friends enjoyed the special petite confections, which brought a feeling of great happiness to her. The more she served the macarons, the more she heard, “You should be selling these!”

While Hunt wasn’t sure if anyone outside her family and friends would want her macarons, let alone pay for them, she did take pleasure in baking and sharing them with others. Hunt always found joy in blessing others with the gifts and talents God gave her. With loads of encouragement and support from family and friends,

Hunt made the decision to move forward and set up a booth at Columbia’s First Friday in February 2022, showcasing Chez Babette Macarons and her handcrafted French macaron delights. To Hunt’s amazement, she sold her first macarons before set up was finished. Within an hour and a half, she sold out of all the packaged macarons and began making up boxes from the extras she brought. Obviously, it was a huge success and now Chez Babette Macarons is a regular at First Fridays, set up outside Elia Day Spa on the Square, for all to experience.

“The best part of this new adventure is meeting so many wonderful people and feeling that same sense of joy at their delight at first bite,” said Hunt. “I love to know about the occasion or event an order is for and as I work at filling these orders, I pray for the occasion and those receiving them.”

For additional information or to order Chez Babette Macarons for your special occasion, follow her on social media at @chez.babette.macarons or contact via email at chezbabettemacarons@gmail.com.