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Cocoanut Cakes II
1 lb. fresh grated cocoanut 3/4 lb. sugar White 2 eggs Cook, shape, and bake same as Cocoanut Cakes I.
Stuffed Dates I Make a cut the entire length of dates and remove stones. Fill cavities with castanea nuts, English walnuts, or blanched almonds, and shape in original form. Roll in granulated sugar. Pile in rows on a small plate covered with a doily. If castanea nuts are used, with a sharp knife cut off the brown skin which lies next to shell.
A two-ingredient macaroon-style confection: fresh coconut bound with sugar and raw egg white, then baked. The method is borrowed from the preceding recipe, so the working details have to be reconstructed.
- Weights, not cups1 lb grated coconut is a large amount — roughly 5 to 6 cups loosely packed. The 3/4 lb of sugar is about 1 3/4 cups. Weighing is far more reliable here than measuring by volume, since grated coconut packs unevenly.
- Fresh coconut is the pointFresh grated coconut carries its own moisture and fat, which is what holds these together with only two egg whites. Packaged sweetened flaked coconut is drier and already sugared; if you substitute it, cut the sugar sharply and expect a different texture. Unsweetened desiccated coconut needs a little water or coconut milk to rehydrate.
- MixingBeat the whites only to a loose froth, not to stiff peaks. This is a paste, not a meringue — over-beaten whites will break down as soon as the heavy coconut goes in.
- OvenThe recipe gives no oven temperature; it defers to Cocoanut Cakes I. A slow to moderate oven, in the range of 300 to 325F, suits such mixtures: the sugar and exposed coconut shreds brown quickly, so the aim is to dry the cakes through and take just a little colour on the tips, perhaps 20 to 25 minutes depending on size.
- ShapingDamp hands or two spoons; pile the mixture into small cones or rough mounds on a buttered and floured sheet, or on parchment. They spread very little.
- YieldA pound of coconut with this much sugar gives roughly three dozen small cakes, depending on how large they are shaped. They are best eaten within a few days, as they dry and toughen in storage.