French Macaroons/ Macaron


French macaroons or macaron, are sweets made of egg whites (meringue), almond powder, and sugar. The two tops are sandwiched with a layer of jam or spread in between. There are many flavours of macarons. Usually, the colour of the macarons match their flavours. For example, red for raspberries, or brown for chocolate and so on.


The Macaron, synonymous with France, is a cookie was actually born in Italy, introduced by the chef of Catherine de Medicis in 1533 at the time of her marriage to the Duc d'Orleans who became king of France in 1547 as Henry II. The first Macarons were simple cookies, made of almond powder, sugar and egg whites.

Only at the beginning of the 20th century did the Macaron become a "double-decker" affair. Pierre Desfontaines, the grandson of Louis Ernest Laduree (Laduree pastry and salon de the, rue Royale in Paris) had the idea to fill them with a "chocolate panache" and to stick them together. Since then, we find this type of macarons all over the world


The perfect macaron for me, is divided into three categories: shape, texture and flavour. The shape has to be a perfect and smooth roundish dome shape on the top and a perfectly flat base. The texture, when you bite through it, will have a crunch but not too crunchy followed by a soft slightly chewy kind of texture.  Finally, the taste. The shells should be sweet but not too sweet followed by the taste of the spread in the middle that accentuates the overall flavour of the macaron.

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