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Florentines or Florentine Meringues
Cover a baking pan with a sheet of pie paste rolled out thin. Spread over the paste some green gage jam, strawberry jam, or fruit jelly, and bake it in a slow oven. While it is baking whip up the whites of from 6 to 12 eggs, and when firm spread it over the hot preserve. On top of the white of egg sift some granulated sugar and some desiccated cocoanut should be strewn over that. Bake the cake about 10 minutes more with the oven door open. Cut in squares when cold.
A bakery slab pastry: thin pie crust, jam, and a meringue lid, cut into squares. The instructions assume a commercial half-sheet pan and a baker's judgement about egg quantity, so a few numbers need pinning down.
- The hinge: spread the meringue on hot jamThe recipe is explicit that the whites go onto the preserve while it is still hot from the oven, presumably so the underside of the meringue begins to set on contact rather than sitting loose on a cold base.
- Oven temperaturesA slow oven is usually reckoned at somewhere around 250-325F. The recipe gives no time for the first bake; work to the look of the crust, set and lightly coloured, before the meringue goes on. Only the final 10 minutes is specified.
- Why the door stays openHolding the door open keeps the heat low and lets moisture escape, so the meringue dries rather than browning or puffing. In a modern oven, prop it ajar with a wooden spoon.
- 6 to 12 eggsThe recipe leaves the quantity to the baker and gives no pan size; the spread depends on how large a pan you cover and how thick you want the meringue. Eight whites make about a cup.
- The whites are not sweetenedUnusually, no sugar is beaten in he it it forms a crust on top instead of sweetening the meringue. Unsweetened whites are less stable, so beat them to firm peaks and spread at once; a pinch of salt or cream of tartar helps. The recipe leaves the amount of sugar sifted over the surface to judgement.
- Green gage jamGreengage is a small green-gold dessert plum, still grown but rarely made into commercial jam in the United States. Any thick plum, apricot or damson preserve stands in; avoid loose, syrupy jams, which soak the thin crust.
- Desiccated cocoanutThis is unsweetened dried coconut, finer and drier than the sweetened flaked coconut sold today. Use unsweetened shredded or macaroon-cut coconut, since sweetened flake will scorch on top of the sugar.
- Cutting and yieldCool completely, as the recipe directs, then cut with a long thin knife wiped between strokes. The recipe gives no yield; it depends entirely on the pan. They are best the day they are made.