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Almond Wafers
Before baking Rolled Wafers, sprinkle with almonds blanched and chopped. Other nut meats or shredded cocoanut may be used in place of almonds. English Rolled Wafers I (Brandy Wafers) ½ cup molasses ½ cup butter 1 cup flour (scant) 2/3 cup sugar 1 tablespoon ginger Heat molasses to boiling-point, add butter, then slowly, stirring constantly, flour mixed and sifted with ginger and sugar. Drop small portions from tip of spoon on a buttered inverted dripping-pan two inches apart. Bake in a slow oven, cool slightly, remove from pan, and roll over handle of wooden spoon.
ENGLISH ROLLED WAFERS I-II. - Page 494.
MARGUERITES I. - Page 493.
MOCHA CAKES. - Page 518.
SMALL ÉCLAIRS. Page 519.
ICE CREAM CAKE (Page 517) WITH NUT CARAMEL FROSTING. Page 530.
Two recipes run together here: a one-line instruction for topping rolled wafers with nuts, and the base recipe for English Rolled Wafers I, the batter better known today as brandy snaps. Everything depends on working fast while the baked discs are still pliable.
- The hinge: the rolling windowThe wafers set hard within about a minute of leaving the oven. Lift one with a thin offset spatula as soon as it firms enough to hold its shape and roll it around a wooden spoon handle; if the rest stiffen, return the pan to the oven for 20-30 seconds to soften them again.
- "A slow oven"In the book's usage, roughly 250-350F; around 300F suits these thin, sugar-heavy discs, which scorch at the edges before the centres are set.
- The molasses measure is doubtful1½ cup molasses against 1 scant cup flour and ½ cup butter would give a batter far too loose to hold a dropped shape. Comparable brandy-snap formulas use roughly equal volumes of molasses or syrup, butter, sugar and flour, so read this quantity with suspicion and test with a small batch before committing the lot.
- Dripping-pan, invertedA dripping-pan is a shallow rectangular roasting pan; turned upside down it gives a flat, rimless surface so the spatula can slide under a wafer cleanly. A flat baking sheet does the same job. Butter it, or use parchment.
- No brandy in the brandy wafersThe name is usually explained by service alongside brandy or a brandied cream filling rather than by any ingredient, though the origin is not certain. Nothing appears to be missing from the ingredient list.
- Spacing and spreadThe batter spreads considerably, so treat two inches apart as a minimum and drop only small portions. Bake a few at a time so you can roll them all before they harden.
- Blanching the almondsCover shelled almonds with boiling water, stand two minutes, and the skins slip off between finger and thumb. Dry them well before chopping, or the wet nuts will steam on top of the batter.
- Yield and keepingThe recipe gives no yield. They soften quickly in humid air; store airtight the day they are made and fill with whipped cream only at the moment of serving.
These are brandy snaps, a British fairground and tea-table sweet whose thin, lace-like texture comes from a hot sugar syrup batter rather than any leavening. Fannie Farmer files them under the English label and pairs them with molasses and ginger, a combination common in American baking with dark syrups in this period. The trailing list of page references, from Marguerites to nut caramel frosting, is not part of the recipe at all: it belongs to a separate list of items elsewhere in the book. Rolling a hot biscuit over a spoon handle is a technique that predates any specialised tool, and it survived into print because it needs nothing a kitchen would not already own.