Macaroons recipe
- Half a pound of shelled sweet almonds.
- A quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds.
- The whites of three eggs.
- Twenty-four large tea-spoonfuls of powdered loaf-sugar.
- A tea-spoonful of rose-water.
- A large tea-spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace and
- cinnamon.
Blanch and pound your almonds, beat them very smooth,
and mix the sweet and bitter together; do them, if you can,
the day before you make the maccaroons. Pound and sift
your spice. Beat the whites of three eggs till they stand
alone; add to them, very gradually, the powdered sugar, a
spoonful at a time, beat it in very hard, and put in, by
degrees, the rose-water and spice. Then stir in, gradually,
the almonds. The mixture must be like a soft dough; if too
thick, it will be heavy; if too thin, it will run out of shape. If
you find your almonds not sufficient, prepare a few more,
and stir them in. When it is all well mixed and stirred, put
some flour in the palm of your hand, and taking up a lump
of the mixture with a knife, roll it on your hand with the flour
into a small round ball; have ready an iron or tin pan,
buttered, and lay the maccaroons in it, as you make them
up. Place them about two inches apart, in case of their
spreading. Bake them about eight or ten minutes in a
moderate oven; they should be baked of a pale brown
colour. If too much baked, they will lose their flavour; if too
little, they will be heavy. They should rise high in the middle,
and crack on the surface. You may, if you choose, put a
larger proportion of spice. [Footnote: Cocoa-nut cakes may
be made in a similar manner, substituting for the poundedalmonds half a pound of finely-grated cocoa-nut. They mast
be made into small round balls with a little flour laid on the
palm of the hand, and baked a few minutes. They are very
fine.]
