If you have scrolled through any kind of social media in the last decade you must have seen the colorful sandwich-like cookies lined daintily and shared for the world to drool over. Those French pastries have been described as macarons but as soon as you add another "o" to the mix you get a completely different pastry: the rustic coconut-based cookie, sometimes sprinkled with some chocolate.

I say they are different but these two originate from the very same recipe and a very old one at that. The macaron is probably coming from Italy when Arabs introduced almonds into their cuisine. The Jewish communities especially loved these unleavened cookies as they could be served on their holiday, Passover. As it is with many things that taste good, the cookies found their way to France between the 15th and 16th centuries. Some centuries later, namely in the 19th, coconut became much more available in Europe. Curious pastry chefs found out that you could indeed swap out the almonds with shredded coconut and you got yourself the macaroons of today. As for the fine almond cookies we associate with France, they were first made in the 20th century by high-end patisseries in and around Paris.

Not so different then?

Exactly. Both are made using egg whites and do not require any flour or rising agent. The only big difference is the almond meal and shredded coconut respectively. The coconut variety is quite easy to make and there are many different variations that I love to make occasionally. My family used to buy them around Christmas so it always feels like the holidays even in the middle of summer when I make them. As for the French kind ... to be perfectly honest I have tried many times and they never were quite as beautiful as the patisserie kind. Not to be discouraging by any means! I am just a perfectionist. They tasted amazing but didn’t have quite the look I was aiming for. Another difference is that the macarons are sandwiched together usually with a ganache, a mixture of heavy cream and chocolate, while the macaroons usually don’t even get a chocolate treatment – though I’d definitely recommend that you at least drizzle some over them.

The classic, rustic macaroons

So let’s get the easy one out of the way! I’ve been making them for years and it really depends on you how you like to shape them. I like it when they are a bit ruffled, making more cleanup necessary thanks to the piping tip but once they are out of the oven you have a crunchy-ish outer shell with a soft core which is to die for! The chocolate is of course optional but I like to usually dunk the lower bit in dark or semidark chocolate to balance out the sweetness a bit.

Ingredients