Cookies spark memories for me. After a harrowing journey from Delhi to Kashmir, Charles and I looked out at the lotus blossoms on Dal Lake from the small deck of a houseboat.
We were grateful to have arrived safely and couldn’t imagine anything that would make the moment more perfect. And then the boatman arrived with a tray of tea and almond macaroons. It was beyond perfection.  At breakfast the next morning, I asked the boatman, who was also the cookie baker, how he made the macaroons and he invited me into his tiny kitchen. Here’s how we made them.
Almond Macaroons
We crumbled eight ounces of almond paste into small pieces and put it into a mixing bowl with one and a quarter cup of granulated sugar. He used a yellow, vintage electric mixer to blend the sugar and almond paste together until it was smooth and then beat in three egg whites. My job was to drop rounded teaspoons of the mixture, an inch apart, onto baking tins lined with brown paper.
After eighteen minutes, in a 325 F oven, the macaroons were lightly browned. When they had cooled completely, we removed the macaroons from the paper by moistening the paper under each macaroon with a pastry brush dipped into water. He shooed me out of the kitchen, made a second pot of tea and joined us for a second round of very fresh macaroons.
Macaroons are baked in kitchens around the world. Italians claim that they created them during the Renaissance, French monasteries and convents have macaroon recipes that date back many centuries, macaroons are a favorite Passover dessert, in Turkey macaroons are seldom made at home but can be found in nearly every bakery.
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Macaroon List
- 8 ounces almond paste
- 1 1/4 cup  granulated sugar
- 3 egg whites
It is relaxing when seeing the painting and reading the story, thanks for sharing. I make almond cookies but by using the pulp strained from almond milk : ).
Sounds like an interesting cookie.
I love the watercolours………….. do you paint them? You can make your own Almond paste too….tastes even better. Check out my blog post.
Yes – the paintings are mine. I got fresh almond paste in Sicily and haven’t made it but may try .
how proustian!
I hope I wasn’t too pretentious. I do have a post about madeleines as well. Thanks for your comment.
wonderful story!i never made macaroons…and i regret…but i will do it!sorry for my poor english!
Finding almond paste may be the most difficult part of this recipe. Macaroons are one of the easiest cookies to make and are even gluten free. Thanks for your comment.
What a great memory– thanks for sharing it 🙂