My friend and I have been talking about macaroons lately, and we keep reminding each other that they are not macarons (the ones mentioned in my last post). Sometimes we remember to say that the macaroons are Italian to distinguish the two.
Macarons are the fancy, French cakey sandwich cookie with many different individual flavors. My friends think these are wildly popular and too pricey. I think they can be pretty tasty except when flavors start mixing like pumpkin pie or banana sundae.
Macaroons are the cookie that my good friend and I prefer: the almondy, coconut flaked cookie often drizzled with chocolate.
All this talk gave me the idea to make macaroons for my friends’ event, “Good pizza, bad movie” party. We ordered some pizza, ate some chips and guacamole and watched the blacksploitation film “Black Dynamite” and a movie about a car tire on a combustible murdering spree called “Rubber.”
My campy movie friend who loves beer also came with some grapefruit beer, pineapple habanero beer and alcoholic ginger ale.
I make macaroons a few times a year because my brother in law from Africa really likes them. I always use the recipe in “The Cookie Bible:”
But this other cookbook that is completely dedicated to macaroons also has come out:
I was not totally impressed with “The macaroon bible” because I felt that there were many flavors I just would not put in my macaroons. Perhaps this book is for the more inventive cook. Or, I am spending too much time with “The Dessert Purist” and will agree with him that the classic macaroon is the best.
“The Cookie Bible” recipe is pretty great though and makes tons of these cookies.
A faster way to add chocolate without the mess is to drizzle melted chocolate with a spoon instead of dipping.
These were definitely a hit for the party and addictive to snack on the day after.
