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Macaroons
1/2 lb. almond paste Whites 3 eggs 3/8 lb. powdered sugar Work together almond paste and sugar on a smooth board or marble slab. Then add whites of eggs gradually, and work until mixture is perfectly smooth. Confectioners at first use the hand, afterwards a palette knife, which is not only of use for mixing but for keeping board clean. Shape, using a pastry bag and tube, on a tin sheet covered with buttered paper, one-half inch apart; or drop mixture from tip of spoon in small piles. Macaroon mixture is stiff enough to hold its shape, but in baking spreads. Bake fifteen to twenty minutes in a slow oven. If liked soft, they should be slightly baked. After removing from oven, invert paper, and wet with a cloth wrung out of cold water, when macaroons will easily slip off.
A confectioner's formula rather than a home baker's: three ingredients by weight, worked to a paste. Weigh them, since volume measures for almond paste and powdered sugar are unreliable.
- The weights1/2 lb almond paste is 8 oz (about 225 g); 3/8 lb powdered sugar is 6 oz (about 170 g). Three egg whites is about 3 fl oz, so the batter is stiff and slightly sticky rather than pourable.
- Almond paste, not marzipanAlmond paste is roughly equal parts ground almonds and sugar, sold in tubes or cans. Marzipan is much sweeter and softer and will give a slack, over-sweet batter. If the paste has hardened in storage, break it up and work it with a little of the egg white before adding sugar.
- A slow oven300 to 325F. At that temperature fifteen to twenty minutes sets the surface without colouring it much beyond pale gold; pull them at the shorter end for chewy centres.
- Add the whites in stagesAdding all the egg white at once leaves lumps of paste that never disperse. Work in a spoonful at a time until the mixture is glossy and smooth, and stop there — extra white makes them spread into one sheet.
- SpacingHalf an inch is far too close for a batter the recipe itself says spreads. Allow 1 1/2 to 2 inches between piped mounds.
- PaperParchment replaces the buttered paper and needs no butter. If you use parchment, the wetting trick is unnecessary — let the sheet cool a few minutes and lift them off.
- Releasing from plain paperWith ordinary paper the method works as written: invert the sheet onto the counter and stroke the back with a cloth wrung out in cold water. The damp paper loosens them. Do not soak it, or the bottoms turn to paste.
- YieldAbout 24 to 30 macaroons an inch and a half across. They keep several days in a tin and improve in chewiness overnight.