“Macarons are certainly a rising trend—but the trick is, they're hard to make perfectly,” says Maggie Hoffman, founding editor of Serious Eats: Drinks and co-editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. “They're not all that forgiving—no one wants a macaron with huge bubbles, or not enough filling, or too much sugar.”
This delicate dessert is difficult to make and easy to ruin, meaning that only an elite breed of patissier will be able to appropriately pull them off. And it will be exactly that limited elite appeal that could drive this quarter-sized cookie to cupcake-sized proportions.
After all, cupcakes are more approachable (who can forget bringing them to school for birthdays?) --and its popularity came, in part, from dressing up a comfort food with fancy icings and unusual filings.