Macaron

There is some variation in whether the term macaron or macaroon is used, and the related coconut macaroon is often confused with the macaron. In North America, most bakers have adopted the French spelling of macaron for the meringue-based item to distinguish the two. Stanford professor of linguistics Daniel Jurafsky describes how the two confections have a shared history with macaroni (Italian maccheroni, from Greek μακαρία). Jurafsky notes that French words ending with "-on" that were borrowed into English in the 16th and 17th centuries are usually spelled with "-oon" (for example: balloon, cartoon, platoon).[6] In the UK, many bakeries continue to use the term "macaroon".[7][8]

According to Dan Jurafsky in Slate magazine, Arab troops from Ifrīqiya (now Tunisia) brought new techniques (papermaking) and foods like lemons, rice and pistachios with them during their occupation of Sicily in 827. These included many nut-based sweets such as Fālūdhaj and Lausinaj - baked goods with sweet almond cream inside. These sweet pastries were handed down by the Sassanid Shahs in Persia, where the almond cake was made to celebrate the Zoroastrian New Year (Nouruz). In Sicily (and in Toledo, Spain, another contact point between Muslim and Christian culture) fālūdhaj and lausinaj developed into various desserts, like the almond-paste tarts called marzapane and caliscioni. In 1154 Muhammad al-Idrisi reported the production of noodles, which was also carried out in Sicily for the first time. Under the collective term Maccarruni, the Arabs referred to ground grain products as noodles and pastries. The Italians borrowed maccheroni from Maccarruni, from which today's macarons are derived.[9]

The culinary encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique (1988) traces the origin of the macarons back to a French monastery in Cormery in the 8th century (791). At the same time, the encyclopedia entry spreads the pious legend that the shape of the pastry with a cracked crust was abandoned from the navel of a monk.[10]

A Swiss online encyclopedia on the history of baking says that the almond biscuits were brought from Andalusia (present-day Spain) to Marrakesh (present-day Morocco) in the early 11th century by the sultan and first king of the Almoravid dynasty Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and that it was served mainly during Ramadan.[11]

Picture from Dictionnaire encyclopédique de l'épicerie et des industries annexes, by Albert Seigneurie, edited by L'Épicier in 1904, page 431.

During the Renaissance, French queen Catherine de' Medici's Italian pastry chefs made them when she brought them with her to France in 1533 upon marrying Henry II of France.[12][13] In the 1790s, macarons began to gain fame when two Carmelite nuns, seeking asylum in Nancy during the French Revolution, baked and sold the macaron cookies in order to pay for their housing. These nuns became known as the "Macaron Sisters". In these early stages, macarons were served without special flavours or fillings.[14][12]

It was not until the 1930s that macarons began to be served two-by-two with the addition of jams, liqueurs, and spices. The macaron as it is known today, composed of two almond meringue discs filled with a layer of buttercream, jam, or ganache filling, was originally called the "Gerbet" or the "Paris macaron." Pierre Desfontaines, of the French pâtisserie Ladurée, has sometimes been credited with its creation in the early part of the 20th century, but another baker, Claude Gerbet, also claims to have invented it.[6][15] French macaron bakeries became trendy in North America in the 2010s.[16]

Many Italian cookbooks of the 16th-century mention almond biscuits closely resembling macarons, albeit under different names. The earliest known recipe dates back to the early 17th century and appears to be inspired by a French version of the recipe.

To make French Macaroones
Wash a pound of the newest and the best Jordane Almonds in three or foure waters, to take away the rednesse from their out-side, lay them in a Bason of warme water all night, the next day blanch them, and dry them with a faire cloath, beat them in a stone morter, until they be reasonably fine, put to them halfe a pound of fine beaten Sugar, and so beat it to a perfect Paste, then put in halfe a dozen spoonefuls of good Damaske Rose-water, three graines of Ambergreece, when you have beaten all this together, dry it on a chafingdish of coales until it grow white and stiffe, then take it off the fire, and put the whites of two new laid Egs first beaten into froath, and so stirre it well together, then lay them on wafers in fashion of little long rowles, and so bake them in an Oven as hot as for Manchet, but you must first let the heat of the Oven passe over before you put them in, when they rise white and light, take them out of the Oven, and put them in a warm platter, and set them againe into the warme Oven & so let them remain foure or five houres, and then they wil be thoroughly dry, but if you like them better being moist, then dry them not after the first baking.

— John Murrell, A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1617).[17]

Macaron preparation

There are two main methods for making a macaron – the "French" method and the "Italian" method. The difference between the two is the way the meringue is made.

In the French method, egg whites are whisked until stiff-peaked meringue forms. From there, sifted, ground almonds and powdered sugar are folded in slowly until the desired consistency is reached. This process of knocking out air and folding is called macaronage.[18]

The Italian method involves whisking the egg whites with a hot sugar syrup to form a meringue. Sifted almonds and icing sugar are also mixed with raw egg whites to form a paste. The meringue and almond paste are mixed together to form the macaron mixture. This method is often deemed more structurally sound yet also sweeter and also requires a candy thermometer for the sugar syrup.

Either Italian or French meringue can be combined with ground almonds.[19]

A macaron is made by combining icing sugar and ground almonds into a fine mixture.[20] In a separate bowl, egg whites are beaten to a meringue-like consistency.[21] The two elements are then folded together until they are the consistency of "shaving foam", and then are piped, left to form a skin, and baked.[22] Sometimes, a filling is added.

In Paris, the Ladurée chain of pastry shops has been known for its macarons for about 150 years.[36][37]

In Portugal, Spain, Australia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand and the Netherlands, McDonald's sells macarons in their McCafés (sometimes using advertising that likens the shape of a macaron to that of a hamburger).[36] McCafé macarons are produced by Château Blanc, which, like Ladurée, is a subsidiary of Groupe Holder, though they do not use the same macaron recipe.[36]

Outside of Europe, the French-style macaron can be found in Canada[38] and the United States.[39][40][41]

In Australia, Adriano Zumbo and his TV series MasterChef have contributed to the macaron becoming a popular sweet treat, and it is now sold by McDonald's in its Australian McCafe outlets.[42]

• Alfajor, a similar Spanish confection
• Petit four

• Meyers, Cindy (Spring 2009). "The Macaron and Madame Blanchez". Gastronomica. The Journal of Food and Culture. University of California Press. 9 (2): 14–18. doi:10.1525/gfc.2009.9.2.14. JSTOR 10.1525/gfc.2009.9.2.14.
• Jurafsky, Dan (16 November 2011b). "Macarons, Macaroons, Macaroni — The curious history". Slate. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. (About the history of the macaron.)
• Jurafsky, Dan (16 April 2011a). "Macaroons, Macarons, and Macaroni". The Language of Food.

• B. Clermont (1776), "Des Macarons; commonly called Macaroni-drops", The professed cook, or, The modern art of cookery, pastry, and confectionary, made plain and easy, London: W. Davis, OCLC 6194222, OL 7237714M
• Louise-Béate-Augustine Friedel (1811), Le confiseur impérial, ou, L'art du confiseur dévoilé aux gourmands, A Paris: Chez Henri Tardieu, OCLC 61172534, OL 25072827M
• Frances Crawford (1853). "Macarons". French confectionary adapted for English families. London: Richard Bentley.
• Emile Herisse (1893), "Macaroons", The art of pastry making, London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, OL 13878920M

• Media related to Macarons at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of macaron at Wiktionary