Seven Minute Frosting and Macarons

What, say you, is a macaron?

Macarons

Just about every blog I've read recently talked about "Macaron Day".  As I was reading each and every post, a very strange thought popped into my head....so here goes my story.


See this link for a recipe and photo of Macarons by David Lebovitz



Growing up in the 1950's and '60's, my mother made 7-Minute Frosting (do people still make it?) lots of times to cover a deep dark chocolate layer cake or a yellow layer cake with coconut shreds on the frosting.  We ate it while it was fresh, that's to say, it lasted for just one day, most of the time.  If it did get past the first day, the surface of the frosting developed a crust, but under this crust the texture was still soft and gooey.  When that happened, we considered the frosting to be a little old and stale......at least past its prime anyway.


Click here for Martha Stewart's recipe for 7-Minute frosting


As I pictured this in my mind, I thought,  this is almost exactly like the famous macaron, the only difference is the crust on the macaron is meant to be there!  That is the surprise....the softness under the crusty top layer.

How weird is this?   What I took for crusty, and moving toward stale, back then, is today's sought after desired effect for a perfect macaron.    « The macaron has been in existence since the middle of the 1500's, so some claim.  See Wikipedia for more information. »

Now,  what about the famous dessert  "Pavlova" ?   It, too, has a crusty top with a soft interior.  I first tasted one while in Australia having dinner with friends.  The sweetness of the meringue coupled with the tart of the passion fruit was fantastic!  Oh, so many,  sweet culinary pleasures....♡

Just saying.....

Mem