Little Oven

Fighting erupted around the dining-​room table as everyone argued about why their favorite macaron flavors deserved to be crowned.
I thought the raspberry and lychee – both massive pops of flavor – were best, but others staked out positions in favor of caramel and dark chocolate. Sounds of moaning filled the air. Lemon/​lime was debated. Pistachio was bandied about. Knives were drawn.
Finally, the smoke cleared with no winner. More ammunition is required. I hope it will be a long war.

All the reviews here are for the macarons… but Little Oven also makes a BOMB ASS CREME BRULEE TART!!!
Available only by pre-​order, the crème brûlée tart is a wonderful hybrid of a fruit tart and crème brûlée. Beautiful seasonal fruits line the outer edge of the tart on top of a luxurious cream filling that is torched til perfectly crispy — the best birthday cake (err… tart) ever! Don’t worry about the cream being too sweet or heavy because it is neither. A treat you won’t feel guilty about the next day — my favorite!
By the way, if you get something to eat in shop, you should note that this place is TINY! There is enough seating for 3 – 4 but that might be getting too cozy for my comfort…

A colleague brought these into work for a last-​day party, and they were gone in minutes.
I had the Earl Grey and the Dark Chocolate — the Earl Grey was very distinct and unusual. You can’t really go wrong with Dark Chocolate. I wanted to try the Salted Caramel but as I said, they went quickly.
Haven’t been to the actual store so I can’t speak for the service, but I’ll definitely pick some up soon. I know everybody’s all cupcakes cupcakes cupcakes now but I’m still in love with a good macaron.

Little Oven is one of those places that I don’t even glance at other reviews before writing my own — it’s THAT GOOD.
I had asked my BF to get me a box of Macaroons instead of Roses for special occasions because that’s what I would really want and this Valentines, that’s exactly what he did! When I opened the box, I squealed with delight — Macarons! ! 12 beautiful multicolored Macarons!
Here’s the rundown on what’s what:
Passion Fruit:
Mmm! One of my top 2 Favorites so far! Tangy passion fruit and sweet milk chocolate blend into this magic concoction, wrapped in a wonderful almond macaron.
Black Current:
YUM! 2^nd of my 2 top favorites! Tangy yet sweet and full of Black Current flavor. I hope they have it when you go in!
Raspberry:
Another delicious one! This is another milk chocolate infused creation which definitely makes these macarons unique.
Dark Chocolate:
Chocolate Macaron with dark chocolate ganache, how can you go wrong?
Matcha:
Ah, Green tea. Green tea mixed with white chocolate ganache. The creamy taste is heavenly.
But alas, this is this reason Little Oven did not make 5 stars. The Matcha Macarons were old, the middle was hard and the Macaron crumbled. So sad. So disappointing Little Oven…
I can’t wait to try the other flavors, particularly the Pistachio and Caramel Fleur de Sel. I love the anticipation!
At $ 20 a box, it’s a steal!

Cute, small, and easy to miss (that’s what she said?). All sorts of baked goods here, but tried their macarons cause I think that’s their specialty. Tried: caramel fleur de sel, passion fruit, and pistachio. Passion Fruit was tangy and had a kick to it, pistachio was pretty good. Both were very soft and melty. Caramel fleur de sel was a little harder/​chewier than the others, but I think it was due to the caramel filling. Loved the hint of salt that they sneaked into it.
Pretty small macarons (esp compared to Bouchon), and kinda pricey, but hey there’s a price to pay for baked goodies.

Super cute shop in LIC! The macaroons were DELISH! I had a seasonal pumpkin and pistachio, both were perfect! Can’t wait to go back!

Green tea, pistachio and passion fruit were the stars of the show.
Earl grey, though very popular, didn’t float my boat nearly as much as those three.
But, pumpkin was especially light and airy.
My least favorite was their seasonal spiced caramel and pear.
Their storefront is tiny, as are the macarons they provide. But, Little Oven proves that good things really do come in small packages!

If you are hunting for the perfect macaroon, hunt no more. Hands down, the best F (#U%NG macaroons in New York City! I can’t even begin to describe the bliss I experienced savoring every bite of my 1.5″ diameter caramel fleur del sel. The sea salt shell and sweet buttery filling were absolute perfection. The dark chocolate is also an incredible treat to be treasured! Bike, swim, walk yourself out to LIC for the most AMAZING macaroons in the city!!!

this is a piece of heaven
three shots of happy, five shots of sugar
this guy, Hans Baang, is responsible with the pastry shop in the sky where the angels would gather for a macaroon bash
their pies are great, and so their TEA SELECTION !!!
many japanese teas in their collection
Sakurambo is a tea blend to die for !

When we walked in one night about 25 minutes before they closed, I was shocked at how teeny weeny itsy bitsy tiny this shop was. Very cute though! And conveniently located in LIC where we were staying for the duration of our NY vacation.
First thing I did was look at the price… I’m not familiar with snacking on macarons so I’m not sure what’s overpriced or what’s not for em. I looked at the bf with wide-​eyes and said, «Whoa…$ 2.25 EACH?! For those teeny tiny things?!!» Anywhoo, I figured I should at least try 3 of em since it’s cheaper to buy more than just 1. So I chose the following:
1. Caramel Fleur de Sel: This is their most popular so I actually ate this one last on our bus ride in Brooklyn to get to our dinner spot for pizza. I should have ate this one first cuz it wasn’t the best out of the 3 that I chose in my opinion. It was a bit too salty for my taste but it still had the wonderful, airy, waferlike texture to it.
2. Black Currant Cassis: This had a very interesting flavor to it. And interesting meaning I’ve never tasted another dessert like this one! The black currant had a slight tangy/​fruity taste to it and the white chocolate ganache blended so perfectly.
3. Passion Fruit: My ULTIMATE fave out of the three and the #1 reason why I wouldn’t mind paying more than $ 2 for this bite-​sized treat! This was the best macaron ever! The flavors, texture and everything about this macaron just naturally felt… right. It literally melted in my mouth as I took my tiny bites. I could seriously take down a huge box of these in one sitting!
I’m thinking I might have to order these online and have them shipped to me and I’ll save them for «cheat treats» at home, here in California.

It took me over 2 hours to get there, coming from Eastern LI… well it was worth the trip… and back!!! Absolutely fantastic!!! The Caramel Fleur de Sel was sublime, loved them all, I only wished I lived closer!!!

Little Oven is in fact quite little. A small storefront with a small counter and case containing the macarons. While the texture of the macarons is good, I found the flavor a little to sweet compared with others that I have had. In addition price wise they are consistent to what I have paid elsewhere, but the size of the macarons is much smaller. Overall I can see why people love them, but they were not my favorite.

I never understood the obsession with macarons. I would always tell people, «I don’t like mararons.» And then I would get blank stares. I guess the ones I have tried were always dry, crunchy and chalky.
But this place has changed my image of macarons completely. They sell tiny macarons for $ 1.75 a piece and so we bought 3. I gave my friend 2 and I had one. While on the subway, I ate the one that was mine.
Wow oh wow. I had a black cherry macaron and it was soft, chewy and flavorful. Indeed, this was a good macaron.
Thank you Little Oven for helping me to see the light. I will never look at macarons the same again. But, I only trust you to make my macarons. I will definitely be back to try the chocolate ones. I have a thing for all things chocolate. If you can marry chocoate and macaron and make me happy, then all is complete in the universe.

This tiny little shop makes the best macaron’s I’ve had outside of France. They are baked by hands that studied under Pierre Hermé.
Wonderfully concentrated flavors. Every one bursts with flavor. That said, the Caramel Fleur de Sel, with it’s slight salty touch, is completely and utterly transcendent.

A little piece of France in LIC…
they have a small store with little sitting room but the room is quite charming in mostly white and pink. They offer a wide array of macarrons as well as a few cakes (individual sized) and a wide variety of tea.
Their macaroons are quite good and are not chewy like many of the terrible run of the mill ones in Manhattan. They are soft and often melt in your mouth; I got the 12 pack and tried them all and some are harder than others. Overall I would give them a solid ⁸⁄₁₀ with only a few places in Manhattan which offer better fare.
They have a few cakes and I believe they are seasonal for the most part, I had the Sakura cake when I was there and was quite surprised. The top layer was a Jello like consistency with cake and cream layers. However I tasted little Sakura in the cake, but it was still enjoyable. I know they have a cheesecake and a black currant cake which looks pretty good.
Including the food they have several drinks which are interesting. They have an iced Japanese tea, basil lemonade and a raspberry lichee soda. The selection of tea is made up of Japanese or French brands.

Up until today when I tried Little Oven, I never had a Macaron that I actually liked before and I have had them my whole life because I had a family member who loved them. But I actually hated them. I can say that what I had up until today was not even in the same league as to seem like a different dessert all together. If you like Macaron’s this is the place to go in NYC! I will say I may never be addicted to them. I crave salt. Believe it or not sweets are not really my thing but I do enjoy good fruit pastries and cheese cake on occasion. But now I do see why people like them but as I said up until today I never had one I liked and I am 48 years old! I do like stronger flavors but the flavor is not dull just delicate. And I have not tried all of the Macaron’s in all of the bakeries and I don’t think I will. I am satisfied that if I want another one I would come back here for it.
They were fresh and delicate and not overly sweet they were just sweet enough. If you are used to my reviews you know I don’t like anything overly sweet.
I tried Little Oven based on Atif I’s review.
I looked at the menu and I saw a Cherry Blossom dessert. That intrigued me. This is taken from their web site. (Cherry Blossom Gâteau
Layers of cherry, pistachio, and white chocolate mousse with sponge cake, topped with real Japanese cherry blossoms suspended in cherry blossom liquer.)
I had a mini version of it. It was really fresh and delicate. I never had anything like it before! I also got a mini cheese cake mouse with Black Currant. Again not overly sweet. Perfect!
The bakery itself it is tiny and there is no seating but it is worth the trip. Service is good. I like service that I don’t have to think about. I do not like intrusive service or angry neglectful China town type service. I prefer service that gets the job done and doesn’t fake being polite. Here it was just that kind of service. Polite and the kind I did not have to think about.
Atiff said, After all, even Bön Appetit recently crowned the macaron as «the new cupcake», that is refreshing to know. Anyone can make cupcakes and anyone can learn to make good ones. It is clear that not everyone can make a good Macaron. So it is at least an understandable trend. The cup cake trend I always thought was ridiculous. For someone my age cupcakes are what our parents made for our Kindergarten classes on our birthday’s.
I digress, if you want a good Macaron, you can get it here!

The best macarons I’ve had in NYC. The caramel fleur de sel are my favorite, with the passionfruit a close second. Nice balance of classic flavors, with a few seasonal ones.
Plus, friendly staff and adorable space. Worth a slight detour to L.I.C.

Francois would be speechless after seeing Little Oven. It might do him some good.
While reading about the Macaron Day NYC 2011 in the New York Post (gasp!), online version only mind you, I saw pearls of wisdom from the premier Pastry Chef about his philosophy on macarons, «We make every size. We have big ones for the SoHo shop (Francois Payard Bakery), and smaller ones for the shop uptown for $ 2.25. Americans, when they think about a bakery, they think ‘large cookie’. The small ones are for the ladies uptown» (!!!). He went on to expound that the idea of the Macaron Day was to make Americans understand what macarons are, «For me, it’s much better than a cupcake. They’re something more delicate and fragile»
Rather than pace up and down to compose myself after reading this, I decided that it would be better to check out a few new macaron places. After all, even Bön Appetit recently crowned the macaron as «the new cupcake», with so many recently jumping on to the bandwagon. Little Oven may have a new bricks and mortar retail storefront for the owner chef Anne-​Marie Farrier, but she certainly isn’t the new kid on the block when it comes to baking and selling macarons — having sold them online since 2009. Her credentials include not just a stint in Paris with Pierre Herme (now standard for anyone looking to make a name in macarons), but also studying French pastry in Tokyo.
Little Oven is aptly named, for that’s exactly what the modest retail premises amounts to. Neither does the neighborhood resemble, even remotely, SoHo — which is great for an up and coming baker and residential area, as rents are cheap and the macarons can retail for a mere $ 1.75. Compared to the $ 4 macaron monstrosities at Mr. P’s store, these small, dainty, colorful creations would contrast much like macarons would against large cupcakes… Ouch. Even better, the macarons and pastries use less sugar than is the case with most bakeries in the city, perhaps a result of the training in Tokyo.
The rotating selection of flavors of 10 to 12 macarons currently includes lemon (zesty and sweet), dark chocolate and orange (hint of cointreau liquer), Caramel Fleur de Sel, Cherry Blossom (cherry cream cheese blossom with Sakura liquer) as extremely capable versions with more emphasis on the use of white, milk, and dark chocolate as filling rather than buttercream or jam. You would be hard pressed to call them as the best macarons in the city (I have minor quibbles over texture, the need for more filling, and that some of the flavors should be bolder), but they would certainly rank in the upper tier. You do need to wait an hour to enjoy them at the right temperature.
In terms of visual beauty, I don’t think I’ve recently seen any bakery dessert prettier than Little Oven’s Cherry Blossom Gâteau!
The trio of softly colored pistachio, cherries, and white chocolate mousse topped by cherry blossom liquer gelee with a cherry blossom in the center is elegant, delicate and fragile in both looks and taste. An apt reminder, that no particular geography has a monopoly over delicate and fragile creations.

These are delicious french macaroons! Elegant flavor choices, without getting too artsy or weird. They are a little pricey (at $ 1.75 a piece), but an «affordable luxury» for a little treat once in a while.
Cute, hole-​in-​the-​wall location on Jackson Ave. in LIC.

O creamy clouds of melt-​on-​your-​tongue delight, thy name is macaron!
Spotted this little outpost on Jackson while walking to the G train. There’s a white washed interior with an adorable painted tin ceiling and two café tables at which to enjoy these heavenly delights. Gals in baker’s hats swishing around in the back, one pops to the front to take orders.
These little treats are the stuff of poetry :
the velvety caramel and crunchy snap of fleur de sel in the Caramel Fleur de Sel;
the creamy richness of Valrhona chocolate in the Dark Chocolate;
the flowery aromaticness of the Earl Grey Tea;
the sweet tongue-​coating tang of green tea and white chocolate in the Matcha;
I could go on. But I’ll let you discover the rest of these beauties for yourself.
After a little research, the coming about of this NYC-​made perfection is made perfectly clear: the chef owner, Anna-​Marie Farrier, studied with The Macaron Master, Pierre Hermé* himself.
–
* Pierre Hermé: