Macarons

Macarons originated in Venice in the 13th century. The Venetians christened the small cakes macerone, which was the Venetian word meaning fine paste. Catherine de’ Medici brought this Venetian delicacy to the French court; it quickly became fashionable within the court and then spread across France, with many cities eventually producing their own special recipe.

The modern popular style of macaron are also known as Parisian Macarons, created by a young French pâtissier called Paul Desfontaines. While working at a small pâtisserie in Lausanne, he was greatly impressed by the speciality of the establishment, which was a biscuit-based gâteau filled with ganache. On his return to France, he started working for his uncle, Jean Ladurée who owned his own small pâtisserie. The young pâtissier adapted the recipe; instead of using the biscuit base, he used individual macarons which he sandwiched together with different flavours of ganache.