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Almond Wafers
Blanch and pound to a pulp in a mortar a sufficient quantity of sweet almonds and beat with them two eggs to each half pound of the almonds used; then sift gradually, while beating, some powdered sugar and a little fine flour; add two or three drops of the essence of lemon. Butter lightly a warm, clean baking-sheet and spread the mixture with a spatula very thinly and evenly over it and place in a quick oven and bake until of a pale brown color. Then remove, cut the past with a knife into oblongs and roll each lengthwise around a piece of round stick about a half inch in diameter. Let them get cold and hard and then remove the sticks. These wafers are very useful as a garnish for creams and other light, sweet entremets.
A classic almond tuile batter, written for a cook who already knew the shape it should take. The proportions are given only as a ratio, so treat the sugar and flour as adjustable to a spreadable paste.
- The hinge: shape them hotThe wafers stay pliable only briefly after leaving the oven, and once cool they shatter rather than curl. Bake in small batches of four or five, and if a tray stiffens before you finish rolling, return it to the oven for a few seconds to soften again.
- Working proportionsFor each half pound (about 225 g) of blanched almonds and two eggs, start with roughly a cup of powdered sugar and two to three tablespoons of flour, added gradually until the paste spreads thinly without running. The original gives sugar and flour by no measure at all, so the amounts have to be judged by the consistency of the paste.
- Mortar and pestleA food processor does the same work, but almonds ground dry turn to butter quickly. Pulse them with a spoonful of the powdered sugar to keep the mixture crumbly, then add the eggs.
- "A quick oven"Broadly 400-450F, with the lower end safer for so thin a wafer. At that heat it colours in only a few minutes, so watch the edges rather than the clock; pale brown at the rim with a still-blond centre is the point to pull them.
- Essence of lemonThis is lemon oil or extract, not juice. Two or three drops of true lemon oil is genuinely all you want; if using a modern alcohol-based extract, about a quarter teaspoon is closer.
- Sweet almondsThe specification matters historically — bitter almonds were also sold for flavouring and are not interchangeable. Any ordinary blanched almond from a supermarket is a sweet almond.
- The baking sheetButtering a warm sheet works, but parchment or a silicone mat is far more reliable for lifting a wafer intact. Spread the paste with an offset spatula as thin as it will go without tearing.
- The stickA half-inch dowel, the handle of a wooden spoon, or a sharpening steel all serve. Rolling around a rolling pin instead gives the shallow curved tuile shape more familiar today.
- Yield and keepingHalf a pound of almonds gives roughly three to four dozen small wafers. They go soft within hours in a humid kitchen, so store them airtight with a desiccant or bake them the same day they are served.
Entremets in Oscar Tschirky's 1896 book is used in the sense of the sweet and light dishes served toward the end of a formal dinner, and this wafer is frankly described as a garnish rather than a cookie in its own right — something to spear into a Bavarian cream or stand beside an ice. Rolled almond wafers of this kind belong to the same family as the French tuile and the cigarette russe, and their appearance in a Waldorf kitchen manual reflects how thoroughly the grand American hotel dining rooms of the 1890s worked from the French repertoire. The technique — a paste of pounded almonds, egg and sugar spread thin, baked fast, and shaped while limp — is older than the book, and versions appear in European confectionery writing before the nineteenth century. What dates this particular text is the assumption that a professional kitchen has a mortar and a pastry cook with hands quick enough to roll the wafers before they set.