MMMMacaron

Last weekend we went to visit Nancy, which is a town in France and not a librarian. In addition to being really fun to say (“Nancy, France. Fancy pants. Nancy, France.”), Nancy is the birthplace of the frenchiest of all foods, the macaron.

Two Benedictine nuns, who got out of the habit due to the French Revolution’s ban on religion, started selling a delicacy made of sugar, egg white, and almonds in order to support themselves. The sister act became renowned for their creation: heavenly meringue-meets-marzipan cookies, crunchy on the outside, and chewy in the middle. The Maison des Souers Macarons has been performing the “opus dei” of macaron-making ever since.

Over time, however, the nuns’ sweet, simple, pure wafer was adulterated by Parisian epicures, gradually morphing into the titillating, tie-dyed-whoopie-pies with which you may be more familiar (ahem… apostates!) But in Nancy, there is only One True Macaron, and as novices ourselves we decided to get a box. (Well, two boxes, but who’s counting? And it was an accident. Stop judging.) I'd say it falls somewhere between ambrosia and manna.

#russ #food