Almond Fingers

A short shortbread-type paste under a meringue-bound almond topping. The dough is stiff and the topping is wet, so the handling matters more than the ingredient list suggests.

• The hinge: watch the topping, not the baseChopped almonds bound with egg white and sugar are essentially a soft macaroon mixture, and they colour long before the pastry beneath is done. Bake until the almonds are pale gold, then check the underside; if the topping is browning too fast, drop the heat rather than pulling the pan.
• "Bake quickly"In this period that generally means a quick oven, somewhere in the region of 400-450F; contemporary manuals differ on the exact range. Given how thin the fingers are, the lower end of that range is the safer choice, and they will take only a few minutes.
• CriscoThe book is a Procter & Gamble promotional cookbook, hence the branded shortening throughout. Crisco has been reformulated since and contains far less trans fat than the original; any solid vegetable shortening works, and 1/2 cup of cold butter gives a better flavour with a slightly softer crumb.
• Two eggs, not oneThe recipe uses one whole egg in the dough and one white in the topping, so you need two eggs and will have a yolk left over. If the dough will not come together with a single egg, add cold water a teaspoon at a time rather than a second egg.
• "Stiff paste"This should be a short, barely cohesive dough, not a kneaded one. Work it only until it holds, chill it 20 minutes, and roll to about 1/4 inch before cutting into strips roughly 1 by 3 inches.
• AlmondsBlanched almonds chopped by hand or briefly pulsed give the intended texture; ready-ground almond flour turns the topping pasty. "Sifted sugar" here means a fine sugar put through a sieve rather than confectioners' sugar, though the exact grade intended is not certain.
• YieldRoughly two dozen fingers from a 2-cup batch, depending on how they are cut. They keep for several days in a tin and crisp up again in a low oven.