Macaroon

A macaroon (/mækəˈruːn/ mak-ə-ROON) is a type of small circular cake, typically made from ground almonds (the original main ingredient), coconut, and/or other nuts or even potato, with sugar, egg white, and sometimes flavourings (e.g. honey, vanilla, spices), food colouring, glace cherries, jam and/or a chocolate coating. Some recipes call for sweetened condensed milk. Macaroons are often baked on edible rice paper placed on a baking tray.

Etymology

The name of the cake comes from the Italian maccarone or maccherone meaning "paste", referring to the original almond paste ingredient; this word itself derives from ammaccare, meaning "to crush". The word maccherone itself is derived from the Greek μακαρία (makaria), a kind of barley broth which was served to commemorate the dead. The first synthetic of the word (makar) in Greek means "blessed, happy".

Origins

Culinary historians claim that macaroons can be traced to an Italian monastery of the 9th century. The monks came to France in 1533, joined by the pastry chefs of Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henri II. Later, two Benedictine nuns, Sister Marguerite and Sister Marie-Elisabeth, came to Nancy seeking asylum during the French Revolution. The two women paid for their housing by baking and selling macaroon cookies, and thus became known as the "Macaroon Sisters".