There are times at the Pink Palace of the Bitchery that we get into Dessert Wars: Somebody voices an opinion about a dessert, and someone else declares that opinion to be wrong, and then battle lines are drawn and to be honest, it’s probably gonna be Red Velvet that will tear us apart.
Elyse voiced an opinion regarding macarons (as in, she luuuuuurves them), and I went “blech” but then when I was flipping through an 1805 cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse, there was a recipe. So I decided that I would make Elyse some proper macaroons that don’t involve filling or whatever. (The 1805 edition is the first American edition of this book- the first was published in 1747. I was able to find the 1762 edition on Google books, and the Macaroon recipe is in there, too.)
A note on terminology: The term most people tend to use for those little puffy sandwich cookies (and whenever someone makes them on Masterchef, Gordon Ramsay is like ‘are you out of your mind they’re SO DIFFICULT”) is macaron. The term used in in Glasse is Macaroon, and that’s what I made, so macaroon they are.
SO.
Take a pound of almonds, let them be scalded, blanched, and thrown into cold water, then dry them in a cloth, and pound them in a mortar, moisten them with orange flower water,or the white of an egg, lest they turn to oil, afterwards take an equal quantity of fine powder sugar, with three or four whites of eggs, and a little musk, beat all well together, and shape them on wafer paper, with a spoon round. Bake them in a gentle over on tin plates.
I had this crazy-ass idea of getting almonds and actually blanching them and grinding them by hand in my totally awesome 14th century mortar, but uh, a) that’s crazy b) the grocery store I went to didn’t have whole almonds or even slivered almonds and c) THAT’S CRAZY. (I mentioned this idea to Abby, who helped with the quince paste and the “what the actual fuck, girl” look on her face was delightful. BECAUSE IT WAS A DUMB IDEA.) Especially since the grocery store that didn’t have almonds DID have almond flour which is…. ground almonds.
Yeah.
Since the almonds were already ground, I didn’t do the orange flower water bit- that seems to be for processing the fresh ground almonds and dealing with the oil, and that’s been done by the good people at Bob’s Red Mill.
Musk is something there just isn’t a substitute for- it’s the same thing that is used in perfume, according to Andrew Dalby’s Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices. I was not going to go hunt down a musk deer for y’all- I’m a busy girl.
I also, because I really wanted to use my 14th century mortar and pestle (From Ironwood Pottery), did take the sugar and grind it down so it was a little bit finer. Look, I take things seriously around here.
I used two cups of the almonds, and two cups of sugar…. I would have gone by weight, but we don’t actually have a scale, so I guessed as best I could.
I mixed in three egg whites, formed the balls, and baked them for about 40 minutes in a 300 degree oven (I got the temp and timing from Lauren Royal’s recipe archive- ratafia puffs and macaroons are functionally the same thing.
So they turned out HUGE. And kinda chewy. And SUPER sweet. I mean, it’s almonds and sugar bound together with egg whites, so it’s sweet. And because I made them waaaaaaaaaay too big, I get about halfway through one and it’s enough.
I think I’d do one less egg white, make ’em about half the size, and keep a close eye on them in the oven.
Elyse, however? Elyse liked them. So that’s a win.
That’s close to my Aunt Doris’ recipe. I agree, all you need is ground almond, sugar and egg white. Beat the egg white before you add it to the mixture. A teaspoon of almond extract ramps up the almond flavour as against the sugar. Make them small, because that’s all you need to get the taste “hit”, and as you say, they really don’t need much baking. Very simple, very easy, very tasty.
My mother made macaroons every Christmas, two kinds, because one recipe uses the egg whites, and the other uses the yolks. I’m guessing you’ve got some leftover egg yolks right now, so here’s the recipe: 1/2 lb. almonds or filberts, finely ground, 1/2 lb powdered sugar, 4 egg yolks. Mix the yolks and sugar, add the nuts. Chill dough and then roll into small balls. Top with a whole nut. Bake at 325 for 1/2 hr or until crisp.
The egg white recipe she used calls for the same amounts of nuts and sugar, but with the 4 egg whites instead of yolks. The instructions say to beat the whites until stiff, add the powdered sugar gradually, then the nuts. Make small drop cookies using a teaspoon. Bake at 300 for 1/2 hr or until crisp. Grease the cookie sheets for both of these. The recipes come from The Settlement Cook Book. I remember them as being good, and not sickeningly sweet.
Only almond flour isn’t really the same as ground almonds. It’s grated almonds, and wonderful for all sorts of things. I suppose the macaroons still come out like macaroons though. If you’re looking for shortcuts, you could put the whole almonds in a food processor. That will get you nice oily ground almonds.
But I wonder if you couldn’t just use almond paste mixed with egg whites.
I’m curious about the sugar. You used regular sugar that you pounded/grounded a bit, but when I first read the recipe, I was thinking powdered sugar, not granulated.
I make French Macarons occasionally, so I found your experiment really interesting. The proportion of almond flour to sugar by weight is about the same, but your dough looks much stiffer than I’d expect.
Modern recipes use mostly confectioners sugar to get a smoother airy texture, and the batter has the consistency of a soft frosting so you get the shiny top and the “foot” on the cookie.
Whoa those are huge!
I recently got an ARC of the newest edition of The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, and found it very interesting, and almost as if it could act as a survival manual if we go into a no electricity apocalypse. Also, a lot of basic animal selection, butchery and storage for the meat eaters.
As for French maccaroons, they are my favorite cookie, and although I have made them in the past, they go into the ‘just buy it instead’ file folder along with vegemite and soba. Too much work for something easy enough to buy and probably better made than I could do.
Coconut maccarons on the other hand, are easy to make and delicious.
My mother used to grate the almonds using a manual grinder similar to this, but it was hand held and not as fancy. http://tinyurl.com/oz9z587
In fact now I want to buy one!
Just yesterday I had a conversation about how growing up, we all thought macaroons were this dry overly sweet repugnant coconut monstrosity, so even if I don’t understand the popularity, the French style macaroons are less mind boggling.
As someone who makes a malevolent life sized marzipan squirrel from scratch to accompany the annual Yule log, I fail to see what’s so crazy about making your own almond paste. (I don’t try to make them malevolent, it’s just that a sculpture of that size will slowly alter under its own weight, but it is kind of fitting since my mom can’t stand squirrels and insists it’s because there’s no hiding their evil nature. Anyway.) (Also I make the genoise by hand because I don’t have a mixer and it makes me cry every year and every year I swear never again but I can’t stop.)
I have to quit reading these historical kitchen posts, because every close enough substitution or impossible to get ingredient omission makes my head explode. Making everything as difficult as possible is the core teaching of my family.
But once I get over the heart failure, it’s mind-blowing in a good way. I could just not spend time and money I don’t have tracking down ingredients I don’t want. I mean, I’m not there yet, but one could, theoretically.
But if you wanted to use musk even though it sounds gross, because the book told you to, and had difficulties finding and killing an endangered animal, would any of the synthetic stuff be edible? Just asking for a friend.
In shock that the grocery store didn’t have any almonds. we buy almonds all the time. I even roast almonds (slivered) for a peach/plum cake I make and they (and the cake)comes out well.
I’ve made conventional macaroons and vegan macaroons (using the liquid from a can of chickpeas. It’s crazypants that it whips up just like meringue.) conventional or not, I apparently am missing the gene to make this cookie work Properly. I am a drop cookie gal, anyhow. I too find macs too sweet also- this coming from someone who’s morning coffee is described as ‘a sugar slurry’ by their SO. However, I am charmed by their shape and the endless combination of fillings and decorations of them.
@Lillian Marek: as far as I know, almond paste is made from ground almonds and sugar syrup, not plain sugar, and it’s kneaded to give it this special texture, so it probably woumd not yield the exact same results. But I’ve never tried it, so I have no idea 😉
And if you get a chance to use orange blossom water, go for it! Oil or not, orange blossom and almonds together taste incredible.
All this talk of substitutions reminds me of a charming recent story, “So Much Cooking” by Naomi Kritzer. It’s about cooking becoming heroic in the truest sense.
Confectioner’s sugar (AKA: powered sugar) has cornstarch added to keep it from clumping into a rock. It may make a difference in the texture of your final product. I wouldn’t recommend musk (synthetic or natural) because it’s probably been processed with substances that aren’t suitable for human consumption. Besides, most folks are going to serious issues about having the secretions of a deer’s anal glands in their food. I’d suggest doing some experimenting with a food grade essential oil of your choice.
Ack! That should powdered sugar, not powered sugar!
Back in the day, musk was expensive and there was no substitute for the real stuff. Consider its use as a bit of conspicuous consumption.
Blanching almonds is very easy, actually. My mother always does it herself and grinds the almonds with a little electrical mill. Her cookies and macaroons are divine so I assume it is worth it. I think there is something fun in doing all the necessary steps yourself…. But I often cheat by buying ground almonds, too! 🙂
I make Maceron like things and my recipe says you should bake them at a low temperarure, so they do not get runny. Maybe worth a try?
Oh, ick! I’ve never cared for macaroons. I’m red velvet all the way. And I prefer to get my cookies from a grocery store so I admire the time you took to make these from scratch! My kitchen and I aren’t on speaking terms at present.
Love these posts.
I don’t have much of a sweet tooth anymore, but I like both macaroons and macarons (in very limited quantities). I also liked red velvet when I was growing up. It less common (or maybe I should say trendy) back then, and my favorite recipe called for making it with sauerkraut. Sauerkraut was used in a lot of baked goods, a holdover from the Depression/WWII years, I guess.
There s a significant difference between the fashionable French macaron and the classic English macaroon. I fnd the first far too sweet, but the second should be a balance of sweet and nutty.