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Mock Macaroons
1 egg-white 1 cup chopped salted nuts 1 cup brown sugar Beat the sugar into the stiffly beaten egg-white, and add the nuts. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased pan and bake in a slow oven (320 degrees F.) for fifteen minutes.
A three-ingredient meringue drop that stands in for almond macaroons by leaning on salted nuts rather than almond paste. The original gives its own oven temperature, which is unusually helpful for a book of this vintage.
- The hinge: add the sugar graduallyBeat the white to stiff peaks first, then add the brown sugar a spoonful at a time. Dumping in a full cup at once deflates the foam and the cookies spread into flat sheets.
- Oven320F as written; treat it as the true setting rather than rounding up to 350F. At fifteen minutes they should be set on the outside and chewy within.
- Brown sugarMeasure it packed, and break up any lumps first. Brown sugar of the period was often moister and less refined than the modern product; if yours is dry and hard, soften it before beating or you will get gritty streaks.
- Salted nutsSalted peanuts, sold cheaply roasted and tinned, are a plausible reading, but the recipe leaves the choice open; salted almonds, pecans or cashews all work. Chop them fine.
- Pan liningA greased pan was the standard of the day, but meringue-type drops weld themselves to metal. Parchment lets them lift cleanly and needs no fat.
- Spacing and yieldYield depends on the size of the drops; teaspoon-sized drops will give several dozen. They spread modestly, so two inches apart is enough.
- Cooling and keepingLet them firm on the sheet for a minute or two before moving; they are fragile straight from the oven. Store airtight, since brown-sugar meringues turn sticky in humid air within a day.