Coming Soon! Bella Gelateria Gelato filled Macaron Sandwiches – The Gelato Macaronwich!
Salt + Pepper. Ketchup + Mustard. Peanut Butter + Jelly. Macarons + Gelato. Milk + Cookies. Wait. Wait! What!? Go back! Did she just say MACARONS + GELATO?! YES!! You heard it here first! Bella Gelateria is soon to be introducing MACARONS + GELATO in a sandwich! A Gelato Macaronwich! That’s what I’m calling it! (But they don’t know that yet *chuckle*… well I guess they do now!) It’s pretty much a heavenly combination in theory and actuality. I’m not sure when the official launch for the Gelato Macaronwich is, but if you request it by commenting on this post, I’ll bother them until it’s available!
Some of you may already know that I think Bella Gelateria is the best gelato in Metro Vancouver, BC. It’s no secret that I launched my Follow Me Foodie Christmas gelato flavours there, but at the same time I would never say I liked something if I didn’t really like it. Owner and gelato Maestro James was kind enough to give me an exclusive tasting of his gelato filled macaron sandwiches… which I’ve just named Gelato “Macaronwiches” via this post 😉 Let me tell you, I was a happy girl! *FMF happy dance*
Macarons are getting more and more popular. I even posted a recipe for them here. These authentic French macarons seem to be the hot item for 2011, but I actually highlighted them in my 2009 Top 10 list of my favourites foods. Regardless, I’m glad their popularity is finally growing in Vancouver… after 2 years.
The Bella Gelateria Gelato “Macaronwich”
The macarons being used for these gelato sandwiches are brought in from Kitchening with Carly, a recently graduated pastry chef . Owner James requested a small batch and has been experimenting with them by filling the macarons with his own handcrafted gelato. Brilliant! The macarons were professional, all natural and actually very good – see more of her macarons here. The raspberry macaron was sweet and tangy with obvious real raspberry notes and a nice crisp shell with the almond flavour still coming through. I tried a fresh one as well as one that had been sitting in the display freezer for comparisons sake. The prices are still being determined.
Eventually these Gelato Macaronwiches will be premade and kept in the freezer because the gelato is naturally too creamy and oozes out the edges if it doesn’t have time to freeze. However when it freezes the macarons get a bit harder as well and they become much chewier and denser. Rather than the light airy texture, the macaron is more like a chewy cookie and the gelato is firmer, taking on characteristics of “ice cream”. (I’m sorry James, don’t kill me for using that word). The verdict: I liked them just as much as regular macarons. It’s not necessarily better, but it’s different and more or less what you would imagine… although put Bella Gelateria gelato on anything and it will taste good.
James at Bella Gelateria invented the concept and I’m inventing the name! The Gelato “Macaronwich” is a 2011 Follow Me Foodie hot item. My only request would be to make the macarons larger, the size of a regular sized cookie, similar to the ones from Bouchon Bakery – see here. The only other part is nailing the ratio of macaron to gelato so that you can taste the flavours of each, since they will likely be different. The ones I tried had the perfect ratio.
Follow Me Foodie Gelato “Macaronwich” Requests:
1. Matcha Macaron with Black Sesame gelato filling
2. Chocolate Macaron with Pistachio gelato filling
3. Coconut Macaron with Mango gelato filling
4. Salted Caramel Macaron with Chocolate gelato filling
5. Raspberry Macaron with Sorrento Lemon gelato filling
Request it by commenting on this post and I’ll bother them until it’s available!
I was at Bella Gelateria last night ogling these things in the freezer…. can’t wait to try one!
I saw them in the freezer too. It took all my restraint not to open the freezer and taste the one that had what looked like blood orange sorbetto inside.
Gelato macaronwiches, how ingenious! It certainly takes the ice cream sandwich to a whole other level. Can’t wait to try one! And I like the flavour requests, the raspberry with lemon gelato sounds good!
Looking forward to trying a Macaronwich one day, especially the Matcha Macaron with Black Sesame gelato filling!
can’t wait!!!! I am really looking forward to the Macaronwhich!
@Isabel & @Sandi – I was there too!!! Did I see you ladies?! i was there 10:30-11:15pm or so. Thanks for commenting!
@nicole – That’s a good sentence… I totally had it my head, but never actually wrote “it takes the ice cream sandwich to a whole other level” – love u Nicole!
@David – mmmm me too!! 🙂
Those are great flavour combinations! Would also love to see chocolate macaron + peanut gelato, chocolate macaron + passionfruit gelato or sorbetto, vanilla macaron + vanilla gelato. Or even better, choose your own macaron cookie plus a scoop of any available gelato or sorbetto! The holy grain of macaronwiches, yum.
@Brenda – yes customizing would be awesome!! but the thing is they need to be premade so they have time to freeze so making them fresh upon order doesn’t work as well. But YUMMM flavour combination!! Love it! Thanks Brenda!
Can’t for for these! My goodness I can taste them in my head =w=;;
Wonderful blog! Loving all the comments. I am the “recently graduated pastry chef” who is making the macarons for the “sandwiches”. Baking more macarons as I type and looking forward to everyone trying more soon!
@Shelley – glad you’re excited!!
@Carly Wintschel – Thank you!! I added your name and link to your site to “recently graduated pastry chef” 🙂 Can’t wait to try more of your flavours! I think it would be great if you made the macarons bigger as well in the “Gelato Macaronwich” circumstance. Great product you have!
Love your suggestions Mijune and am now following you on twitter as well. James @ Bella Gelateria and I are loving the play with different macaron and gelato flavours as well as sizes. Did you get to try a natural almond macaron as well as the raspberry? Did you know that the flavour and colour of raspberry macaron were natural? I can’t wait to see everyones naming suggestions! Thanks for linking my site. My new site will actually be up within the next couple hours! A huge improvement if I do say so myself!
I had to add that the salted caramel macaron has been on my personal endeavour list to create since a couple weeks ago. No excuses now!
@Carly Wintschel – Yes I tried the natural almond and I’m so glad to hear it was almond because I thought that’s what I could taste. I also COULD tell that it was all natural raspberry! It was very apparent and I’m curious to try your macarons authentically…. without the gelato as well. Looking forward to seeing your new site and that salted caramel macaron 🙂
Chocolate Macaron with Pistachio gelato filling sounds amazing. It’s like my favourite chocolate combination magically transformed into my favourite dessert. Yum!
Such a yummy idea! Can’t wait to try the coconut/mango and raspberry/lemon.
@Lia – I know right?!?!? i can’t wait for them to sell!!!!
@Laura – me too!!
This is probably the best news ever. I love macarons and I love Bella Gelateria, so…
I can’t wait!
OMG I tried one of these the other night and they are SO good!! My hubby and I headed there after work because James tweeted that he just put out some pistacchio bronte. Well, that tweet was enough to make me head over there as soon as possible… pistacchio gelato was my absolute favorite growing up (born & raised in Rome) and every time I have some of Bella Gelateria’s pistacchio gelato it brings back so many great memories.
James came over to chat with us for a bit and he mentioned the macarons… and I said that I saw you tweet about them. He reached into the freezer and let me try one. It was soooo good!! I would totally go back for more… and more… and more. =)
@Dilara – Yaaayy!!! I’m so glad he gave you one… uh oh… once this news gets out everyone will mention the tweet for a gelato macaronwich lol! He better start producing more sooner 😉
ok so your Indian raised in Rome!??! You ARE exotic aren’t you?!?! That’s AWESOME!! I’m so happy to hear that you think Bella Gelateria is as good as the stuff you had at home in Italy 🙂 I’m even more happy that you liked the gelato macaronwich!
How about a lemon basil macaron with blood orange gelato? Doesn’t that just scream summer! I think my favourite thing about macarons is the fun colour combinations. I know a lot of people like the colour on colour, but I love the contrasts!
This sounds so good!
@Alison – It’s delicious! Unfortunately he’s not using Carly’s macarons anymore though :(… she has great ones… I think the new ones are square shaped one and a bit different.
OMG this reminds me of this place in LA called Milk. It was down the street from my work and I was so obsessed with their macaron ice cream sandwiches. Everyday for like 3 weeks last year, I would drive there and eat one…They were giant macaron shells, with ice cream. The best one was “red velvet”! Someone needs to make this big here!!!
@Cassie Gill – oh really!?! you’ve had this!??! I’m actually surprised you found this post! It’s quite old! Were you searching for gelato macarons? It didn’t really launch at Bella Gelateria, but maybe we’ll just have to recreate them ourselves?