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Lemon Puffs
Whisk the yolks of three eggs together with one-fourth pound of powdered sugar, then beat in three tablespoonfuls of milk, and sprinkle in a very little salt and the grated peel of a lemon; whip the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth and beat them in the above, and stir in finally one-half pound of flour. Pour the batter into muffin-rings, and bake in a quick oven. They should be baked immediately after the batter is mixed.
A small, eggy teacake leavened entirely by whipped whites, so the timing note at the end is the whole technique. A few of the quantities need thought before you start.
- Bake it immediatelyThere is no baking powder or soda here; the only lift is air beaten into the whites. A batter left standing on the bench deflates and the puffs come out as dense little cakes.
- Quick ovenRoughly 400-450F. Have it fully preheated before the whites are whipped, since the batter cannot wait for the oven.
- The flour looks highHalf a pound is roughly 1 3/4 cups, against three yolks, three whites and three tablespoons of milk. That gives a paste rather than something you can pour, yet the recipe says to pour it. Mix the flour in gradually and stop when you have a thick but droppable batter.
- Powdered sugarIn 1896 this meant granulated sugar ground fine, not modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch. Superfine (caster) sugar is the closer match, a quarter pound being about half a cup plus a spoonful.
- Muffin ringsPlain metal bands set on a greased baking sheet or griddle, not a modern muffin tin. Buttered ring moulds, crumpet rings, or a shallow muffin pan filled about two-thirds all work; the batter is stiff enough to hold its own shape on a sheet if you spoon it into rounds.
- Lemon peelGrate only the yellow zest of one lemon; the white pith underneath is bitter and there is no sugar syrup here to mask it.
- Folding, not beating"Beat them in" was standard phrasing, but the whites are the leavening. Fold them into the yolk mixture, then fold in the flour in two or three additions.
- Yield and donenessAbout ten small puffs. They are done when risen, dry to a skewer, and just coloured at the edges, roughly 12–15 minutes at this heat. Eat them warm; without fat in the batter they stale within hours.
Oscar Tschirky was maitre d'hotel at the Waldorf, and the 1896 book that carries his name is largely a compilation of the hotel kitchen's working repertoire alongside a great deal of standard American and European household cookery. Lemon puffs belong to the latter category: a small tea-table cake of the sort English and American cookbooks had been printing since the eighteenth century, when "puff" was often applied to something raised by beaten egg rather than yeast or a chemical leavener, though the word also covered puff paste and meringue-type biscuits. Baking powder was widely available by the 1890s, so a recipe that still relies on whipped whites alone, and insists the batter go straight into the oven, is an older formula preserved in a newer book. The muffin rings point the same way, to a period when small cakes were baked in bands on a sheet or a griddle rather than in a moulded pan.