Fads Aside, The Perfect Macaron Is Timeless

NANCY, France — In the back of a pastry shop in this city in eastern France is a small kitchen that holds a secret.

It is here that Nicolas Génot comes early every morning, shuts the sliding door tight behind him and transforms ground almonds, egg whites and sugar into cookies called macarons. He works alone. Not even his wife is allowed in.

This macaron — round, unadorned, with rough fissures in its crisp golden crust — is made from a centuries-old recipe. In 1792, two Benedictine nuns, driven from their convent after France’s postrevolutionary government banned religious orders, took refuge with a local doctor and made a living making macarons. Their recipe has been passed down in secret ever since.

These are the rustic original macarons that begot the smooth-topped, puffed up, ganache-filled, pastel food-colored sandwich confections we know. But while the Nancy macarons are timeless, their trendy present-day cousins are going through strange times. What was once the most exquisite of small pleasures, the most elegant hostess gift you could buy, is everywhere today, as ordinary as Oreos. Some are good, some not so good. Some have ketchup in the middle. Some are from McDonald’s.

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