Surprise surprise, I am better at making crochet macarons than the real-deal edible versions. Not macarOOns mind you, but the delicate French macaron, an almond-based meringue sandwich cookie. (It feels demeaning to call it a “cookie”). I have baked chocolate and pistachio macarons, but they didn’t quite turn out perfectly, the meringue tops and bottoms falling a little flat. Since making them and tasting various macarons in New York, I always meant to design a crochet version….

Not too long ago, I had a dream (the sleeping kind) that I started a macaron business and instantly became famous, the dream concluding with someone handing me one of those gigantic checks on stage. Just for making macarons. Um, I’ll take it! The day after I had this dream, a foodie friend of mine in New York City posted a video he made with another foodie friend that shows a macaron on a stand, awaiting its photo shoot, with dramatic panning in and out to a Phil Collins song. It’s brilliant and I can’t explain why, but if/when it goes viral and Phil is knocking on my friend’s door with words of praise, I’m sure well all understand. The video set off a macaron discussion between the three of us that ended with a, “now I have this dream of commissioning a series of crocheted macaron ottomans for my house.”

Well, before I go that large scale, I figured I’d finally get back to designing a realistically-sized crochet macaron. Pattern is after the jump!

Crochet Macarons

Supplies

G hook
various colors of worsted weight yarn, preferably different shades of each color per macaron
5-6mm black beads
black embroidery thread
polyester fiberfil

Instructions

With top and bottom color:

Round 1: ch 2; 6sc in 2nd ch from hook (6).
Round 2: 2sc in each sc around (12).
Round 3: 2sc, sc around (18).
Round 4: 2sc, sc, sc around (24).
Round 5: [sc2tog, sc in next 6 sc] around (21). Fasten off.

Repeat the above again so that you have the macaron top and bottom.

With cream/filling color, ch 21 and join, leaving a 12-inch tail for sewing.

Assembling

Flip the sandwich top and bottom inside out so that the “wrong” side is on the outside. With 12-inch tail of filling, sew the ridge of the 21-ch piece (the ridge is on the back of the chain) to the inner loop of the sandwich bottom piece. On the sandwich top, sew on face, positioning the eyes between the 3rd and 4th rounds, about 2 sc apart. Sew the inner loop of the sandwich top also to the ridge, stuffing with fiberfil when you have a few stitches left. Sew to close.