Macaroon

Macaroon

Almond and coconut macaroons
Type	Biscuit
Place of origin	Italy
Main ingredients	Almonds (or coconuts), egg whites

A macaroon (/mækəˈruːn/ mak-ə-ROON) is a type of small circular cake, typically made from ground almonds (the original main ingredient), coconut, and/or other nuts or even potato, with sugar, egg white, and sometimes flavorings (e.g. honey, vanilla, spices), food coloring, glace cherries, jam and/or a chocolate coating. Some recipes call for sweetened condensed milk. Macaroons are often baked on edible rice paper placed on a baking tray.

The name of the cake comes from the Italian maccarone or maccherone meaning "paste", referring to the original almond paste ingredient; this word itself derives from ammaccare, meaning "to crush". The word maccherone itself is derived from the Greek μακαρία (makaria), a kind of barley broth which was served to commemorate the dead. The first synthetic of the word (makar) in Greek means "blessed, happy".

Culinary historians claim that macaroons can be traced to an Italian monastery of the 9th century. The monks came to France in 1533, joined by the pastry chefs of Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henri II. Later, two Benedictine nuns, Sister Marguerite and Sister Marie-Elisabeth, came to Nancy seeking asylum during the French Revolution. The two women paid for their housing by baking and selling macaroon cookies, and thus became known as the "Macaroon Sisters".

Italian Jews later adopted the cookie because it has no flour or leavening (macaroons are leavened by egg whites) and can be enjoyed during the eight-day observation of Passover. It was introduced to other European Jews and became popular as a year-round sweet.