62 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM roll croissants on the weekend,” she recalls. “I not only learned how to bake, I learned how to run a business. I learned how to deal with customers. I learned how to come out of my shell.” Later in life, Jackie put these lessons to the test by opening a macaron shop called Sweet Burger. But when the pandemic closed its doors, she intended to hang up her apron to focus full-time on raising four kids. Her fiancé (who was also one of the investors behind Sweet Burger) kept checking in with Jackie, asking whether she wouldn’t be happier returning to professional baking. He asked nearly every day for two years. “He didn’t want me to give up my dream,” Jackie says with a smile. Unsurprisingly, it was only a matter of time before Jackie made her return. But “I’m not going to come back in the same way,” she decided. In December 2023, her dessert-dealing ATM came to Hillsdale Shopping Center. And though her concept may be “contactless,” Jackie loves running into customers. “If I see someone at the machine, I will go up and talk to them, get their feedback and what their favorite flavors are,” she says. Jackie keeps the dialogue going with macaron enthusiasts through Instagram, where she shares advice on how to make this infamously finicky dessert at {food coloring} home. Her tips and tricks range from perfecting the texture of meringue to piping techniques to removing bubbles from batter. “I never gatekeep anything,” Jackie promises. Her foremost piece of advice? “Practice. Practice. Practice. It doesn’t happen overnight,” the macaron maker counsels. And master one recipe at a time. “Jumping from recipe to recipe is like jumping from job to job… You’re going to start all over again,” she points out. “If you come up with a problem halfway through, fix that recipe.” After countless hours honing her own skills, Jackie forgoes staid staples like chocolate or vanilla and opts for more adventurous flavor combinations. Think peanut butter brownie and matcha crème brûlée. “It’s never just a plain flavor with me. You always get a little something extra,” she says. That could be a sprinkling of toffee, nuts, coconut
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