Toasted coconut is one of pastrydom’s most beautiful sights, I think. These shaggy cookies resemble French macarons only in name, however they are a true pedestrian delight, at least if you like coconut. I think they deserve the royal treatment. Start by tossing your sweetened and unsweetened coconut together with the salt. Next — and […]
READ ONThe question of fat was raised yesterday in an email. Specifically, where’s the fat in the macaron cookie recipe below? Don’t most cookies us butter as a base? The answer is that the fat is in there, just not in the form of dairy fat. The fat that macaroons contain — and they contain a […]
READ ONThat’s a bit of a toughie. The macaroon springs from the macaron, which means the origination point of the macaroon is somewhere in Italy. The French macaron was developed sometime in the 18th Century, so it’s safe to assume that the idea of the macaron/macaroon had pretty well spread around all of Europe by the […]
READ ONIt turns out last week’s project was perfectly timed from a marketing standpoint, as Starbucks is preparing to test-market French macarons in many of their stores. To believe the reviews, the macarons are decent if not great. They are, however, very reasonably priced. Whereas macarons in Paris can cost several dollars each, Starbucks will sell […]
READ ONThough I respect macarons, macaroons are much closer to my heart. My grandfather, a man of great dignity and taste, was crazy about them. Here I should insert that a really good macaroon is a rare thing. Too often macaroons are dry, papery and almost completely devoid of real coconut flavor. Thus, most people — […]
READ ONThis is something else you hear an awful lot about in regard to macarons. What we call “aged eggs” French pastry chefs simply call “eggs”, since they tend not to refrigerate theirs. They just get them very fresh, use them relatively quickly, and order more. Here we’re a little more uptight about maintaining egg freshness, […]
READ ONRegular reader and commenter Chana writes in with this: You see — you take a simple potato knish, change the dough a litte, fill it with something a little different, and everyone is screaming “you call that a knish? You call THAT a KNISH?? Are you crazy? That is NOT a KNISH!!” You take a […]
READ ONSo. Two disks of almond meringue stuck together with a filling. Not terribly much to work with from a creative standpoint. Or at least that’s the conclusion Parisian pastry chefs seem to have collectively arrived at in the decades after Desfontaines’ innovation. For more than fifty years macarons remained pretty straightforward affairs. The meringue disks […]
READ ONWhat do macarons and macaroni have in common? Not much, other than the fact that they’re both made from pulverized ingredients (almonds and wheat, respectively). Though etymologists debate the subject, it’s thought by many that the Italian word maccheroni comes from an earlier Italian word, maccare that means “to reduce” or “make smaller.” The present […]
READ ONIt’s Thanksgiving in the States, and the Pastry family is headed out of town for a few days. Back Monday. When I return: macarons — and macaroons!
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