08/22/2026
= How the Linguistic Split Happened =
History has some amazing information and it is interesting to find out how many people ask about what these cookies are that we are so famous for now.... Macarons the Original Paste In the 1500s, Italian bakers made simple almond-paste cookies. When Catherine de' Medici brought them to France, the French called them macarons.
Then In 1611, English speakers translated the French word macaron into English as "macaroon". For centuries, "macaroon" simply meant any almond paste cookie in the English-speaking world.
Then in the late 1800s the ingredient divergence happened when bakers in the US and UK started replacing the expensive almond paste with shredded coconut, creating the modern coconut macaroon.
The elegant cookie you get from the beloved Horicon Bakery is the current Modern Sandwich Upgrade, from when French bakers in Paris changed the rustic almond biscuit into a colorful, smooth-topped sandwich cookie with buttercream fillings.
Yet again, to really really go back the first Macaron Biscuit was created in the 8th Century (700s A.D.) in Venice, Italy which was made by Italian monks; eaten by clergy and local communities since the cookie had no flour or leavening agents. This made it an ideal sweet treat to consume during fasting periods and religious holidays.
We welcome everyone in the shop and find it fun to explain this vast information, that no matter what you call them we know - history is very confusing and it is both.
