Marguerites for Lunches

A cracker-based confection from the era when a hot sugar syrup and a box of saltines counted as a party dish. The syrup stage is the whole recipe: get it right and the meringue holds, get it wrong and it weeps into the crackers.

• Soft ball stage235–240°F on a candy thermometer. With only a half orange's juice as liquid, the syrup gets there fast, so start checking early and pull it the moment it holds a soft ball in cold water.
• Marshmallow size14 modern large marshmallows come to roughly 4 oz; period marshmallow sizes are not recorded here, so weigh rather than count, and cut them small as directed so they melt in the residual heat of the syrup instead of needing more cooking.
• Adding the whitesThe recipe has you beat the whites stiff and add them to the pan mixture. Reversing that, pouring the syrup-marshmallow mixture into the beaten whites in a thin stream while beating, is closer to an Italian-style meringue and may hold its shape better on the cracker, though once the mixture has stood to melt the marshmallows it may have cooled too far for that.
• Oven temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature or time, only 'deep straw color', which implies a moderate oven and a short bake watched closely; too hot and the sugar browns before the meringue has set through.
• CocoanutPeriod 'cocoanut' was generally dried unsweetened shredded coconut. Modern sweetened flaked coconut works but pushes an already very sweet mixture further and scorches sooner in the oven.
• The box of saltinesAn unhelpful measure, since box sizes are not recorded. Figure on roughly 40 to 50 crackers for this quantity of topping and stop when the meringue runs out.
• Yield and keepingMakes roughly four dozen. They are best the day they are baked; the crackers soften overnight and the meringue turns tacky in humid weather, so bake them the morning of the lunch.