From the La Cuisine Paris blog.
Jour du Macaron
In recent years, the delicious macaron has become France’s star dessert. Luxury macaron shops like Ladurée have lines out the doors and the hip traveller’s trip to Paris is not complete without a pretty pastel-toned Instagram post of these delicate cookies.
Today’s macarons are relatively simple: Two cookie shells (consisting of almond flour, sugar, and egg whites) stuck together with buttercream, ganache, or jam.
Though the macaron’s appearance on the international radar is fairly recent, its history is long and rich. Some suggest that the macaron has its roots during the Renaissance in Arabic countries, where almonds were abundant. Those cookies were quite different from their modern counterparts. The recipe included much less sugar and they didn’t have a filling.
After the fall of Constantinople, a rush of immigration into Europe brought the cookies to Italy, where they got their name maccherone (a word which, yes, shares its root with our old Italian friend macaroni and cheese). These cookies were still dry, and similar in texture to marzipan.
Macarons finally made it to France in 1533 with Florentine noblewoman Catherine de’ Medici when she married King Henry II and became Queen of France, bringing her Italian pastry chefs with her.
The treats gained popularity during the French Revolution, when two nuns sought asylum in Nancy and baked and sold the cookies to earn their keep. Sister Marguerite and Sister Marie-Elisabeth came to be known as les soeurs macarons, or the Macaron Sisters – there’s even a street in Nancy named after them.
The icing on top of the cake (or, well, between the cookies if we’re being literal) came in the early 1900’s, when Pierre Desfountaines, second cousin to Louis Ernest Ladurée, piped ganache between two cookies, creating the macarons we know and love today. His idea certainly caught on! Walking through Paris today, you’ll see countless window displays of tempting macarons.
You probably already know the big names in macarons, like Ladurée and Pierre Hermé, which we definitely recommend, but if you have the time there are plenty of smaller hidden gems in the game well worth checking out.
In honour of March 20th’s Jour du Macaron, we stopped by a few of them to taste and compare.
Here are our suggestions:
Pierre Marcolini: This Belgian chocolatier makes dreamy confections that are out of this world. We sampled his macaron of the month for March, which is matcha flavoured. It was stuffed with white chocolate ganache and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. We found the tea flavour was matched perfectly with the sweetness of the chocolate.
Gerard Mulot: Gerard Mulot’s store is always swarming with people, probably because it sells a lot more than just sweets. Stop in for lunchtime sandwiches, alluring quiches, and an array of other goods à emporter. But whatever you do, don’t miss the macarons. We tried one of the autumn/winter specialties, pamplemousse rose (pink grapefruit). The shell was particularly crispy, and the kick of the strong citrusy filling made us absolutely joyous. The pink grains of sugar sprinkled on the shell were a nice touch, too.
Pain de Sucre: Pain de Sucre is a collaboration between Nathalie Robert and Didier Mathray, who worked together for six years at Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire. We decided to go for a savoury one here, and tasted their foie gras macaron. It was a delicate yellowy colour, swept with golden shimmer dust – so pretty we couldn’t resist! This one was stuffed with foie gras mousse, so light and fluffy it made for the thickest layer of filling in our macaron haul.
Arnaud Larher: This patissier/chocolatier has the distinction of being a Meilleure Ouvrier de France (MOF), which means he won a prestigious award marking him as one of the best in the business. We could see why! We tried one of his fine champagne macarons. The orange-colored cookies were stuck together with ganache à la fine champagne with a little dollop of orange confit in the center. It was one of the prettiest, as well, with a little dash of white sparkly powder on one side.
Sadahuro Aoki: With shops in Paris and Tokyo, this Japanese patissier is a famous for using Japanese flavours in French-style pastries. Sadahuro Aoki’s penchant for simplicity and elegance is evident in his shop, with stylish white walls and neat rows of pastries on display. We snagged a genmaicha macaron – matcha tea au riz souflée. The texture was flawless and Aoki’s control over the strong matcha flavour is impressive.
Carl Marletti: Before opening his patisserie, Carl Marletti was the pastry chef of the Grand Hotel Intercontinental and its restaurant Café de la Paix. Keep in mind that this boutique does not sell single macarons like most other places. Instead, they’re available in packs of six or twelve. If that doesn’t suit you (if you’re sampling at a handful of shops like we were, for instance) they have single giant macarons available. The giant ones are about the size of four normal macarons combined, so eating them is a very different experience. We tasted the framboise (raspberry) flavour, and highly recommend it. Little raspberry seeds in the centre layer gave it a nice fruity crunch, and we could taste a subtle hint of rose that rounded out the flavour perfectly.
Laurent Duchêne: Another Meilleur Ouvrier de France winner, Laurent Duchêne focuses on the quality and freshness of his ingredients. We tried the marron glacé (sugar-glazed chestnut) macaron. With a sprinkle of sugar crystals coating the cookie shell, the colour brown has never looked prettier. The flavour was true to the popular Christmas-time candy, with an additional hint of liqueur in the mix. Yum!