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2^^ZXT 2aPiT T] 5aP]{PXb Not to be confused with its coconut brethren, the macaron is the oldest dessert to make the newest splash By Rose McMackin

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s the century turned, Americans were completely sugar high for the cupcake. After hyperstylish Carrie Bradshaw enjoyed a retro, pinkfrosted cupcake from Magnolia Bakery on an episode of Sex and the City, the fashion world became smitten with the little East Village bakery. Cupcakes, with their perfect ratio of frosting to cake, were no longer relegated to the world of kindergarten birthday parties. Exotically flavored, delicately frosted cupcakes were featured in Vogue spreads, and Magnolia Bakery’s cupcakes appeared in movies like The Devil Wears Prada and in SNL’s 2005 instant classic “Lazy Sunday� digital short. Just as quickly, the trendy desserts radiated outward from Lower Manhattan. As a luxury, cupcakes, with their humble origins, single serving size and ease of preparation, lent themselves to democratization and offered a taste of indulgence in an economically challenged decade. But America might have finally

overdosed on them. In fact, the new cupcake might just be a cookie, the French macaron. Not to be confused with the kiss-shaped, double-o “macaroon,� a coconut cookie often dipped in chocolate, the macaron is a biscuit composed of delicately baked meringue and finely ground almond flour. Ideally, the crunchy exterior of the cookie should give way to an airy interior, a satisfying chewiness and a light but compelling flavor. Perhaps most distinctly, macarons distinguish themselves from the realm of regular cookies by their extraordinary colors, which can range from creamy off-whites to peacock blues, mint greens and rosy pinks. The culinary history of the macaron is an elusive one, but generally food historians believe that Catherine de’ Medici’s chef brought the macaron from Italy in 1533 and served them at her wedding to Henry II. But it was two Carmelite nuns, sisters Marguerite and MarieElisabeth, who established the macaron as a French classic. When the French Revolution dissolved their religious congregations, the

sisters baked and sold the cookies, which had been an important staple of their monastic diet, to support themselves. The popularity of the Champagne-colored biscuits, not unlike chewy sugar cookies, grew rapidly, and the women came to be known as the “the Macaron Sisters.â€? Today in Nancy, a city in northeast France, Maisons des SĹ“urs Macarons purports to sell macarons made from the nun’s original recipe. The cookies were traditionally served in pairs, but it wasn’t until the 1860s that Pierre Desfontaines LadurĂŠe, a cousin of famous bakery founder Louis-Ernest LadurĂŠe, hit upon the idea of putting the patties together into a sandwich, joined by ganache, jam or butter cream to create the “Parisian macaron.â€? With the concept of double-decker macarons came the notion of f lavoring them, but choices were largely limited to chocolate, vanilla and occasionally raspberry until the 1980s, when Pierre HermĂŠ, who originally baked for LadurĂŠe, expanded the menu of macaron f lavors to include everything from rose, orange blossom and anise to jasmine tea, vanilla olive &) THE BOHEMIAN

03.10.10-03.16.10

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