The village of St Emilion in the Gironde department in Aquitaine is perhaps best associated with wine but did you know it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Criterion (iii): The Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is an outstanding example of an historic vineyard landscape that has survived intact and in activity to the present day.
Criterion (iv): The intensive cultivation of grapes for wine production in a precisely defined region and the resulting landscape is illustrated in an exceptional way by the historic Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion.
There are so many reasons to visit St Emilion, none the least being it’s one of the most picturesque villages I have ever visited.
But actually, when I was there, a couple of summers ago, I had a mission beyond admiring the gorgeous scenery and ogling the wine…
Macarons you say? Of COURSE I’m interested. But these are not the macarons you are thinking of, the pretty pastel sandwich “cookies” (for want of a MUCH better word!) made famous by Ladurée. The kind I have spent years working on perfecting. The kind I teach in my classes around Toronto. Nope, these look like this:
Note that these were a little worse for wear after their trip home – they got squished – but I am sure you see the difference. Mainly in that, well, they look cracked. They kind of look like the *other* kind of macarons look when they don’t work out. With just 3 ingredients (egg whites, icing sugar and almond flour), they are similar to the macarons we know today however, these are a cinch to make. These are supposed to have cracked tops – and are more like a chewy cookie than delicate airy macarons. These are more like macarons as they were originally made, back in the 1600s and 1700s in France. I first discovered these “imperfect macarons” a few years ago at Aurore et Capucine in Paris..
The history of macarons is a complicated one… It’s said they originated back in the late 1700s when Carmelite nuns baked sweet cookies with almond meal as a way of supplementing their meat-free diet. According to the Larousse Gastronomique, these nuns followed Theresa of Avila’s principle to the letter: ‘Almonds are good for girls who don’t eat meat’. During the French Revolution, two nuns in hiding in the French town of Nancy started making and selling macarons, becoming known as “Les Soeurs Macarons”. In 1952, the street where their bakery and store was located was named after them and macarons de Nancy are are still sold there today. The original cookie was simply ground almonds, sugar and egg whites and not sandwiched together with ganache, like we know today and many parts of France claim to be the birthplace of the “original” macarons. The macarons craquelés that I ate in Paris did have a thin filling joining two flat cookies together – which you can do to make these “plain” cookies just a little fancier.
My favourite St Emilion version comes from Bernard Meysan. The box claims Ursuline nuns who settled in St Emilion in 1680 were responsible for the creation of this version – a certain “Sister Boutin” having shared the secret to making these with some families in St Emilion during the revolution. The tradition has been carried on by numerous pâtissiers around the town to this day and, in fact you won’t go far without seeing a store that sells them, each claiming to be “true” St Emilion macarons.
The recipe I am sharing here today is my version of what I tasted. I don’t claim they are “véritable” St Emilion macarons but they taste pretty close to the rustic cookies I enjoyed whilst I was there. In any case, they are infinitely more do-able than the version you might have already tasted. Macarons for everyone? Now that’s a concept I can get behind!
Rustic macarons that everyone can make!Macarons de Saint-Emilion
Ingredients
Instructions
Now, these are macarons EVERYONE can make, right?
Happy (French) Friday!
It must be said, there was a temporary bit of alarm in the ELTW household, as one member (and that would not be Cleo) almost ate the entire box contents – thereby ruining the photo op.
Luckily (ahem) the photographer jumped in to avert disaster.
Another box, please. 🙂
And St. Emilion is a must-visit for anyone close to the town. Best piece of advise: if you’re there in summer peak season, arrive as early as you can stomach, so you can wander before the crowds. And of COURSE, do le Petit Train. 😉
Yeah, they look very moreish, Mardi. Lovely pics of the village too.
Absolutely do Le petit train!! St Emilion is also memorable for the steep paths and tower to climb!
I also recall well the afternoon of the macarons craqueles in Paris!!
Ah yes, the macarons craquelés! And indeed, le petit train, no matter WHERE you are visiting – is a must!
Are these macaroons sold anywhere in the United States? They are delicious My daughter brought me a
Box as she visited France
You know, I am not sure they are sold in the US (though they have to be). But hey, I’ve included a recipe so you can make them yourself!
Thanks for the recipe! When my wife and I visited Sante Emilion on our honeymoon I regretted only getting one of these macaroons and not a whole box. We tried the recipe and it didnt come out well, but we are sure the cookies we made will go well with goat cheese and jam. I am wondering, though, what we did wrong. I think maybe we under whipped the egg whites and maybe using fresh ground almonds instead of almond meal caused them to be pitted instead of cracked? If you have any thoughts I’d be happy to hear them.
Hi, thanks for trying the recipe. But it’s hard to know what went wrong if I don’t see a photo? Almond meal = ground almonds so unless you overground them and they were oily, I doubt it was that. You don’t need to whip the egg whites very much with this recipe but that could be it.. As I say, hard to tell unless I see them…