Umami Mart Registry


I don't know about what's going on in your city, but these days, NYC is filled with macaron shops. Sure some tastes better than others, but if you throw a stone, and it will hit a macaron shop or two. For the amount of effort you put in to make perfect macarons, I am slowly beginning to think that macarons have reached its saturation point, and my macarons may have to put on hold. I could move to Bay Area and start selling them at the Umami Mart shop, but I would probably fight with Kayoko all the time (like during the famous wedding cake debacle) and Yoko would end up using an ice picks as a weapon.

I shall remain in NYC.

So I am thinking about alternative ideas, something cute, different and elegant, that all still tastes good. My Halloween-themed macarons with a gorgeous flower arrangement looks elegant, but I want to be more creative. Too many people are making macarons left and right.



Solution: the Raisinwich. It's a butter cookie sandwiched with buttercream filled with rum soaked raisins. There are a couple of famous raisinwich stores in Japan (like Ogawaken of Tokyo and Rokkatei of Hokkaido), but it hasn't reached overseas.



These cookies are very flavorful from the rum, raisins, and buttercream, plus the cookie dough is buttery and crunchy -- everything you want in a cookie. You may not want to eat dozens of them at a time, but these are seriously good.

On top of that, potentially this could be shipped nationwide (I still need to figure out logistics, and tweak the recipe a bit) since cookies are a lot more stable compared to macarons.



Maybe I shouldn't be writing about it since someone may steal the idea, but hey, we need something different from macarons. If you have other ideas, please let me know. I know I am not making flødebollers, that's for sure.

FYI, I have survived Sandy. My neighborhood (FiDi) is a mess. There is an evacuation order for the building across the street, and the building next may not have power back for a month! But I am super lucky to be back home.
Column: MOTOism
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5 comments

  • Glad to hear you are safe and back home, baking away in your lab. I LOVE raisin sandos. I would be a customer.

    Yoko on

  • Love your blog! and a conversation about macarons couldn’t escape my browsing eye. :) Raisinwich looks interesting… but the macaron won’t give away its spotlight yet! It’s getting ever more popular… Anyone sersious about mastering the macaron should invest in The Macaron Master – here’s the detailswww.TheMacaronMaster.com :)

    danny on

  • Well seen by you that you need to move forward if everyone else are doing macarons now. It’s the skill of a good businessman.

    I’ve never had a raisinwich but it looks cute.
    However, from my designer point of view, one of the main reasons that macarons are everywhere now is their look. They’re sexy, multi coloured, cute and elegant – they signal style, luxury, over the top and FUN!

    So I’m excited to see where you can take the raisinwich to try and find the same formula of the above qualities. Coz right now, it’s kind of a snorefest, sorry…

    Can you fab it up a little more?

    Anders on

  • Please start making these! If you ship them to the UK, we will buy them.

    Emma Presland on

  • Anders, I see your point. Macarons are totally pretty to look at, but if you really think about these bright colors, they are all food coloring. Sure, some use green tea or cocoa, but it just isn’t natural. Once whole macaron craze gets saturated (though I think it’s already there), people will start thinking, what the hell am I eating? Raisinwiches are very simple and pure. It’s like, after eating 10 course meal, you want to just have a PB&J next day, kinda thing. I can color the cookies, but that’s just gross. It’s basically the same idea. Macaron are the same, they add color to make it look pretty.

    Moto on

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