There is a little debate going on how one should pronounce or call, what I will refer to as French macarons. Two almond meringue discs joined together by a flavoured filling. Macaron is the French spelling and pronunciation, and some say that in English it is macaroon and pronounced that way.
How do I pronounce those 'biscuits' that Sydney has gone nuts for, and Adriano Zumbo has become famous baking. I pronounce them macaron. When I hear people refer to them as macaroons, it effects me like somebody dragging their nails down a blackboard, shudder!
When I was growing up you didn't see macarons in the local cake shop, they just didn't exist. See picture below.
Well, I am sure you could find them in France, I am 100% sure there were, I just didn't grow up in France. I grew up in Australia, where every cake shop had macaroons, coconut meringue mounds. You could purchase small ones, large ones, they could be plain, dipped in chocolate, even ones with glace cherries on top. See picture below.
You don't see macaroons very often these days. Macarons on the other hand are everywhere, from specialty stores to the freezer section of the supermarket.
It is a shame, as macaroons are delicious. The coconut turns all toasty when they are being baked. The outside is crisp and crunchy while the inside stays moist and slightly chewy. They smell amazing when baking, like somebody toasting coconut covered marshmallows.
Macaroons are extremely simple to make, unlike the macaron. Just make sure that you keep whipping your eggs and sugar until all the sugar has dissolved into the mixture, very important. This stops your macaroons 'bleeding'. I also use a mix of desiccated and shredded coconut to give them a more interesting texture.
Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
- 2 eggs separated
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup caster sugar
- 2 cups desiccated coconut
- 1 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees C/325 degrees F.
- Either use you stand alone mixer or hand mixer to beat eggs whites and salt until soft peaks form. If using stand alone mixer use your whipping attachment.
- Then beat in egg yolks one at a time.
- Very gradually add sugar, making sure well incorporated after each addition. Beat until sugar has completely dissolved, this can take a while.
- Stir in coconut and mix through the mixture well.
- Line baking trays with baking paper and spoon level tablespoons of mixture on to them.
- Bake until golden brown, roughly 15minutes. Cool slightly on trays before removing to wire racks.
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Nutrition
Dear Belly Rumbles' reader, do tell, are you camp macaron or macaroon?
Sara xxx