A Definitive Ranking Of Macaron Flavors

There are certain flavors you don't want to miss, and other ones that taste like soap.

Of all the culinary gifts that the French have bestowed upon us, the macaron is definitely one of our favorites. What many confuse with the macaroon -- the coconut cookie with the similar name -- macarons are the delicate, colorful confections made of a layer of ganache, buttercream or jam sandwiched between two meringue cookies.

Many may hail macarons as the "new cupcake," but we know they've been in vogue for a long time. While it's always a good occasion to eat macarons, springtime may be one of the best times of year for these pretty desserts. Whether they're bold and bright or soft and pastel, they're as beautiful as they are delicious and their colors just scream spring. Lovely for Easter and kosher for Passover, macarons have all the right stuff to make them your go-to treat right now.

One of the best parts about macarons is the variety of flavors. From chocolate to pistachio, there's a macaron in every flavor, which means it's pretty impossible to tire of them. While we love most flavors, there are admittedly some that we'll leave behind in the box. So, we decided to rank them in order, from worst to best.

We're always excited to try less conventional flavors, like grapefruit and saffron, but for the purposes of this list, we stuck to the traditional flavors -- like almond, chocolate and raspberry. Here's our very scientific, definitive ranking of 15 common macaron flavors. What are your favorites?

15
Rose
These taste like soap (not that we've ever eaten soap, but you know). Anyone else?
14
Vanilla
B-O-R-I-N-G!
13
Lavender
Lavender macarons (and lavender flavor in general) are way too floral for us. We like smelling our flowers, not eating them.
12
Apricot
These are pretty disappointing. We wanted to like them more, but there's just something off about them.
11
Hazelnut
Annie's Eats
We're fans of hazelnut, but we always find hazelnut macaroons kind of lackluster.
10
Orange Blossom
These are pretty special -- except when they're not. They're hit or miss, so we've ranked them accordingly.
9
Salted Caramel
It's hard to go wrong with salted caramel, but while we like it as a macaron flavor, we prefer it in other forms.
8
Chocolate
We're chocolate lovers here, but we really love chocolate when it's fudgy (like in brownie form), hard (like in bar form) or liquid (like in hot fudge form). Chocolate macarons kind of miss the mark -- but we like them anyway!
7
Lemon
Lemon macarons burst with flavor -- a tart filling and light lemon-flavored meringue make for a perfect bite.
6
Strawberry
Strawberry macarons make us feel like kids again.
5
Almond
Annie's Eats
You can't go wrong with the original.
4
Coffee
Beano5 via Getty Images
Creamy, crunchy, wonderful: we love coffee macarons.
3
Passionfruit
Passionfruit macarons are unlike anything else. What can we say? We're passionate about them. (Sorry.)
2
Raspberry
Raspberry macarons are pure joy. A tart, jammy center makes them stand out in the macaron box every time.
1
Pistachio
Pistachio macarons are the best. The creamy pistachio flavor was made to be in macaron form.

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Classic French Macaron with Vanilla Buttercream Filling

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