Request #17: Macarons + Request #38: Macaroons

Here are two projects that I couldn’t resist lumping together since they’re ostensibly the same thing, at least to an etymologist. In practice of course they are very, very different. One — at least if it’s made by master pastry chef Pierre Hermé — is widely considered to be bakingdom’s ultimate one-bite delight. It’s also thought by many to be the world’s most difficult cookie (though it’s technically a petit four). The other is largely dismissed in elite pastry circles, a pedestrian concoction of baked, sweetened coconut and egg whites. Exactly which is which I’ll leave to you to ponder for the moment. But let’s just say I’ve been looking forward to this high-low matchup for quite a while.