Macaroon Mania

When I hear the word macaroon, I think of those baked caramelized coconut confections. In fact when I lived in Chicago, Au Bon Pain, a self-proclaimed French sandwich shop, was my favorite spot to treat myself to a tennis ball sized coconut cranberry chocolate dipped macaroon. They were half price after 6PM. I highly recommend them if you have not tried one.

So it was intriguing to me to find that macaroons in France in no way resembled those sold at Au Bon Pain. The macaroons (macaron in French) displayed in the patisserie windows were round jam or frosted filled little cakes the colors of a merry-go-around. Sometimes they had a little bling of sprinkled sugar. They sat on the shelves of the window like the sugared candy dots on the paper strip. Which was the true one? Which was the false one? I really wanted to try one of these mysterious macaroons.



My first taste of the French macaroon was at the famous Laduree (pretty pics available on their website) on Place de Madeleine. My friend Sophie and I sampled a plate of six petite macaroons. As the French would say, each one was exotically "perfumed" with violet, chocolate, pistachio, strawberry, coffee and tea. It was love at first taste. I had to learn more and learn how to make them for home.

I didn’t have to go far to get the recipe. Among the 20 sushi cookbooks on our bookshelves at home the only other cookbook was one on making macaroons called Lecon macarons. It has a lot of great demonstration photos and holds the 10 secrets to making great macaroons. The recipe is all in grams except for the liquid measurements. As far as I can tell the the recipe call for a big spoon and little spoon but not anything as precise as teaspoon or tablespoon measurement. I kind of confirmed this my friend,Chris, who has taken extensive French cooking courses in Paris. If I get more information on this I will be sure to let you know.

The bookstores are filled with cookbooks dedicated to the macaroons. There is even one of those gorgeous coffee table cookbooks with amazing photos of the macaroons called Un amour de macaron by Stephane Glacier. Since I share his name, I took this as sign that his books had to be good. This was further confirmed by the fact that Stephane Glacier was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France. (more about it wiki) This is highly coveted award for the best craftsman through-out France and you carry the title for the rest of your life. If I read the intro to the coffee table book correctly, I think it said his specialty was the macaroon.

Most of the recipe books I skimmed had a brief history of the macaroon. The macaroon is thought to be first made by monks in abbeys in Italy. Catherine de Medici brought them to France when she got married to the King and this made them popular with the French royalty. The macaroon of the royalty was only an almond flavored little cake. I was told I could find the traditional macaroons in the campagne, the countryside. I had the pleasure of finding the treasured traditional macaroon in Yvoire, France, a medieval town on the shores of Lake Geneva. Thus the search to find the true French macaroon ended. I think they are my favorite!


According to an Elle magazine article in the spring 2008, the macaroon mania in Paris was revived by a gourmand’s blog entry entitled Desperate Macaron Girls. (link to english version) They were looking for a recipe to make the perfect macaroon in their own kitchens. The French are not the only ones mad about the macaroon as evidenced by the fact that French blog entry was recently translated into English. Who knew a blog entry could set a world wide revival of the macaroon. Has macaroon mania hit your neck of the woods? I might not have to learn to make my own if macaroon mania hits my neck of the woods. Let me know if you see them!