If your childhood was anything like ours, you grew up with chewy, unkempt, possibly chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons. Like us, you were probably confused when these "new" almond macarons bearing no resemblance to those childhood macaroons started appearing in fancy boutiques. As several of you have pointed out, almond macaroons may just be the next big thing, so let's take a look at these two cookies...
What's the Difference? Macaroons vs. Macarons
Macaroons and macarons both start off with a base of egg whites and sugar. Some recipes vary, but this base is typically whipped into a stiff meringue - just as if you were making meringue cookies.
For coconut macaroons, shredded coconut is folded into the meringue at this point. Spoonfuls of this batter are dropped onto a cookie sheet in little haystacks and baked until crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Chocolate-dipping optional!
Almond macarons require a little more technical finesse, much of which seems to be steeped in pastry chef lore and mythology. After the meringue is whipped, a combination of powdered sugar and finely ground almonds gets folded in. But not folded too much or too little, or else all is lost! The resulting semi-liquid batter is piped into exact rounds and baked.
Perfect macarons have shiny, slightly domed tops with a crinkled "foot" around the bottom edge. And then, of course, the cookies are paired with a flavored buttercream filling and formed into elegant little sandwiches.
As seen in the recent explosion of macarons on dessert menus and in boutiques, the basic almond batter is really a blank canvas for any flavor or combination of flavors you might imagine, and which can all be further complimented by a creative buttercream.
With so many common characteristics, it's easy to imagine the coconut macaroon evolving as the quick, home-cook version of the more elaborate macaron. We're curious about the true origins of these two cookies - does anyone know or care to guess?!
• For more info on macarons and a few recipes, check out our post International Cravings: French Macarons, Minus the Plane Fare to Paris.
Related: DIY Almond Meal
(Images: Flickr members cbcastro and yuichi.sakurabalicensed under Creative Commons)
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Huh, I always figured the round ones were cut with a cookie-cutter because of the foot and domed top.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
the best article about macarons was an HG article by Lora Zarubin many years ago -- the story of how she wrangled the recipe for a couple of the Ladurée macarons...
Oh, and the coconut cookies are called "Congolais" in France...
view mschatelaine's profile
I was under the impression that "macaron" is French for "macaroon" and the spelling doesn't necessarily differentiate the cookie. (I think I got this impression from Dorie Greenspan.)
view Katie in Berkeley's profile
I went to an upscale pan-Asian teahouse in London called Yauatcha where the pastry specialty was macarons. The window display consisted of artfully displayed piles of perfectly round, perfectly shiny macarons in a variety of Technicolor hues, corresponding to different flavours.
I tried a few, a lemon-sesame (bright yellow), a tea flavour of some sort (ultramarine blue) and another that was bright green. The flavours were infused into the cookie portions and a little stronger in the filling. Very tasty and delicate.
view Michelle of Montreal's profile
I second Katie with the Dorie ref, its on her blog. There is also lots of other info if you do a search.
http://www.doriegreenspan.com/dorie_greenspan/2008/05/the-paris-ten-must-tastes.html
view sally599's profile
You read my mind! I was just talking about the differences with my husband; I had never noticed the spelling difference.
view maggiepcs's profile
I had no idea that the first option existed until I read this article. As for the Macoron, we served those at our wedding a few years ago at the urging of our pastry chef. They were delicious - and popular! (We had a dessert reception.)
If you haven't tried, I highly recommend them!
view EmmieB's profile
As for the history of macaroons or macarons, according to my edition of Bruce Healy's French Cookie Book, the cookie was created by sisters of the Benedictine order in Nancy, the seat of the dukes of Lorraine. They even devised a windmill for grinding the almonds. As a result of the revolution, the convent was closed, and two nuns who found asylum repaid the generosity by setting up a business making macaroons according to the old recipe. The recipe remained a closely guarded secret, and many pastry chefs have tried to recreate it.
There are of course, many different styles of macarons in France (my book has over 18 recipes -- and these are different again from the Ladurée recipe obtained by Lora Zarubin)... for example, there are Parisian macaroons, and then there are Gerbet macaroons, which according to Healy "in the world of Parisian pastry, are the king of modern macaroons" (and closer to the Ladurée version).
view mschatelaine's profile