Words by Johanna Harlow
Jackie Peng is living the sweet life. “I’m a huge dessert fiend,” she admits. “I have to have dessert after every meal.” But she’s a dessert fiend on a mission. “I plan to convert everyone out there!” Her plan for taking the world by sugary storm? Macarons.
But not just any kind of macaron. Fatcarons. (Or “fat macs” as they’re also called.) A Korean twist on a French favorite, these meringue-based masterpieces have a more generous amount of filling sandwiched in a larger shell. “They’re thicker, they’re creamier, they’re chewier …. It feels like a heftier dessert,” Jackie describes.
Though one might be tempted to picture this macaron maker wearing pastels to match her pastries, Jackie cuts a sleek figure in jet-black befitting a business-savvy entrepreneur. As owner of Anytime Macarons, Jackie has introduced a food ATM (an elevated vending machine) to satisfy dessert devotees in a new way. “People always think of vending as fast chips, drinks, sodas, things like that,” Jackie says. “But I want them to know that you can actually get a really good quality dessert in a vending machine as well.”
A baker’s daughter, Jackie grew up surrounded by a host of flaky, buttery things. Her first job as a teen was working a register at her parent’s French pastry shop in Houston. “I would help my dad 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 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 or Maldon sea salt flakes. Maybe a drizzle of caramel or Nutella. “I’m really big on texture, so creamy and crunchy is always best.”
Will we one day find Jackie’s macaron ATMs in malls across America? “I’m a small-batch baker,” Jackie says. “Not to say I wouldn’t expand, but I would only expand to where I felt the quality was the same.” She adds that she’s toying with the idea of rolling out an Anytime Macarons truck so she can share the love with those across the Bay.
As Jackie readies to return to the kitchen to whip up her next irresistible batch, she shares her thoughts on what it means to be in the dessert business. “I’m the end of their evening. I’m the last thing after their meal,” she reflects. “I get to put the exclamation point on their day!”