A macaroons are small biscuits or cookies, typically made from ground almonds which is the original main ingredient, coconut, and/or other nuts or even potato, with sugar and sometimes flavorings like honey, vanilla, spices, food coloring, glace cherries, jam and/or a chocolate coating. Some recipes call for sweetened condensed milk.Macaroons are often baked on edible rice paper placed on a baking tray. Culinary historians write that macaroons can be traced to an Italian monastery of the 9th century. The monks came to France in 1533, joined by the pastry chefs of Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henri II. Later, two Benedictine nuns, Sister Marguerite and Sister Marie-Elisabeth, came to Nancy seeking asylum during the French Revolution. The two women paid for their housing by baking and selling macaroon cookies, and thus became known as the "Macaroon Sisters".