Cookies

Friday, May 31, is National Macaroon Day. I kid you not. I have recently discovered that a different food is celebrated practically every day of the year. This is in addition to the National Food Months. Various food lobbyists prevail upon the President or the Senate to make a proclamation that it’s National Kumquat Day or National Rutabaga Month in order to promote their products.

So, National Macaroon Day is upon us.  Here in the United States, the Coconut Macaroon variety is the most familiar to us.    

 Sixty years ago, when my dear mother was awaiting  my arrival in this world, she craved Coconut Macaroons. I don't believe she's tasted another one since.

The earliest macaroons, made from egg whites and almond paste, have been traced to an Italian monastery in the ninth century. They probably looked like this.

                                           

 The name macaroon comes from the Italian word macarone, which means paste. The monks traveled to France in the sixteenth century, bringing their macaroons with them. The pastry chefs of Catherine de Medici made macaroons for her. During The French Revolution, two Benedictine nuns, looking for asylum, paid for their safe lodging by baking and selling Macaroons. They became known as the Macaroon Sisters. Recipes for macaroons first appeared in cookbooks around 1725.

Later, Italian Jews became fond of macaroons because the cookies have no flour or leavening and can be enjoyed during Passover.  Other European Jews began enjoying them and macaroons became a year-round treat.

There are many regional varieties of macaroons,but in North America Coconut Macaroons are usually dense, moist and sweet when commercially made, and often dipped in chocolate.

                                                   

Hmm, I wonder if Mom HAS had any Coconut Macaroons since 1953. I'll have to ask her. I'm getting hungry for something sweet. Good bye for now.