Home › Refrigerator Menus › Macaroon Pudding
Macaroon Pudding
2 dozen macaroons 2 cups cream, whipped 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1/3 teaspoon almond flavoring Whip cream, adding sugar, almond flavoring and eight crumbled macaroons. Line freezing pan with eight macaroons. Pour over this the cream mixture. Arrange on top, eight remaining macaroons. Let stand in room 30 minutes, then place in electrical refrigerator and chill from 4 to 5 hours. Serves eight.
A frozen icebox dessert from the era when a mechanical refrigerator was new enough to be called "electrical" in print. It is essentially a semifreddo held together by macaroons.
- The macaroonsThe almond flavoring suggests crisp almond macaroons of the Italian type rather than the coconut haystack or the French sandwich cookie, though the recipe does not say. Amaretti or crisp almond macaroons hold their shape; soft coconut ones dissolve into the cream and the layers vanish.
- Powdered sugarConfectioners' sugar, which contains cornstarch and helps stabilise the whipped cream. Weigh it if you can: 1/3 cup is roughly 40 g.
- Almond flavoringAlmond extract, and 1/3 teaspoon is meant literally / modern extracts are strong, so measure rather than pour. The macaroons already carry almond, so more is not better.
- Whipping orderWhip the cream to soft peaks first, then fold in sugar, extract and crumbs. If you beat after the crumbs go in, the cream turns grainy and can break.
- Freezing panA loaf pan or a metal ice-cube tray with the divider removed will serve. Line it with parchment or plastic film if you want to turn the pudding out whole.
- Chill or freezeA 1930s refrigerator's freezing compartment generally ran warmer than a modern freezer, and the recipe asks only that the pudding be chilled 4 to 5 hours, giving a soft, spoonable set. A modern freezer will set it faster, and it will want a few minutes at room temperature before serving.
- The 30-minute restThe recipe does not say why, but the interval presumably lets the macaroons soften slightly and absorb cream before the pudding sets.
- YieldEight servings as written, and it is rich; small portions suit it better than large.