A Rainbow of Macarons

by Barbara McMahon

Title

A Rainbow of Macarons

Artist

Barbara McMahon

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

My 15 yr old grandaughter is loving everything "French" these days, so instead of chocolate for Easter I gave her a box of macarons and a framed print! She was soooo delighted....which of course, pleased me very much. :)
A macaron (/ˌmɑːkəˈrɒn/ mah-kə-rohn; French pronunciation: ​[makaʁɔ̃]) is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. The name is derived from the Italian word macarone, maccarone or maccherone, the meringue.

The intricate confection is characterized by smooth, squared top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the "foot" or "pied"), and a flat base. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth. Macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavors that range from the traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to the new (foie gras,
Macarons have been produced in the Venetian monasteries since the 8th century A.D. During the Renaissance, Catherine de' Medici's Italian pastry chefs whom she brought with her in 1533 upon marrying Henry II of France arrived in France. Larousse Gastronomique cites the macaron created in 1791 in a convent near Cormery. In 1792, 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 flavors or fillings.

It was not until the 1830s 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 patisserie Ladurae 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. French macaron bakeries became trendy in North America in the 2010s

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March 26th, 2016

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