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Toasted Marshmallows
1 tablespoon granulated gelatine 1 cup boiling water 1 cup sugar Whites 3 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla Macaroons Dissolve gelatine in boiling water, add sugar, and as soon as dissolved set bowl containing mixture in pan of ice-water; then add whites of eggs and vanilla and beat until mixture thickens. Turn into a shallow pan, first dipped in cold water, and let stand until thoroughly chilled. Remove from pan and cut in pieces the size and shape of marshmallows; then roll in macaroons which have been dried and rolled. Serve with sugar and cream.
This is a gelatine confection meant to imitate marshmallows, rolled in crushed macaroon crumbs so the outside looks browned. As written it cannot be recommended, because of how the egg whites are handled.
- The egg whites are never heatedThe gelatine and sugar are dissolved in boiling water, but the bowl is deliberately chilled over ice before the whites go in, and nothing is cooked afterward. The whites are eaten raw, at a temperature that does nothing to control Salmonella, and the finished squares then sit at room temperature to be served. Modern marshmallow method exists precisely to avoid this: the syrup is boiled to the soft-ball stage and poured hot into the whites. Use a current recipe rather than adapting this one.
- Why a syrup matters, not just sugarOne cup of sugar dissolved in one cup of water is a thin syrup, well below the concentration that sets a marshmallow. The structure here comes entirely from gelatine, which is why the result is cut like jelly rather than piped or dusted like a true marshmallow.
- Granulated gelatineA tablespoon of the granulated gelatine sold around 1900 corresponds roughly to one modern quarter-ounce envelope, perhaps a little more. Period gelatine may also have been less consistent in setting strength than what is on shelves now.
- MacaroonsThese are most likely the crisp almond meringue biscuits, not the coconut kind and not French macarons. The recipe calls for them dried and rolled to crumbs; crushed amaretti are the closest current equivalent.
- "Toasted" is a figure of speechThere is no toasting or open fire here; the only heat is the boiling water used to dissolve the gelatine. The browned macaroon crumbs appear to stand in for the scorched surface of a marshmallow held over coals.
- Yield and servingServing -- "Serve with sugar and cream" suggests these went to table as a spooned dessert in a dish rather than as a hand-held sweet.