No. 3383

Cream Macaroons in Cases

Macarons en Caisses a la Creme

Form a paste with one pound of pounded almonds, two pounds of sugar, one gill of good rich cream, a quarter of a gill of rum, four egg-whites and two orange peels. Put this paste into a vessel and beat it thoroughly to give it body; then add five very stiffly whipped egg whites, stirring them in gently. Have some small paper cases ready; range them one beside the other, slightly apart, on a paper-covered baking sheet; fill them three-quarters full with the preparation, letting it fall through a pocket; bestrew with powdered sugar and cook in a very slack oven.

← No. 3382 Chocolate Macaroons with Nonpareil Fancy Cakes — Petits Fours No. 3384 Dutch Macaroons →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional pastry brigade with a coal oven and a standing supply of paper cases, so the quantities are large and the oven direction is relative. The scale is what needs adjusting first: this makes roughly 60 to 80 small cakes.

GillsOne gill is half a cup, so the cream is 4 fl oz. A quarter gill of rum is 2 tablespoons.
Pounded almondsBlanched almonds worked in a mortar to a fine meal. Almond flour is the direct substitute; if you grind whole blanched almonds in a food processor, pulse with a spoonful of the sugar to keep them from turning to butter.
"Two orange peels"The zest of two oranges, finely grated or pounded with sugar in the old manner. Take only the coloured outer layer — the white pith is bitter and will not soften in a slack oven.
A very slack ovenRoughly 250 to 275F by modern reckoning, though the book gives no figure and the direction is relative. These are meringue-based and are meant to set and dry rather than colour; in a hot oven the tops are apt to colour and crack before the centres are cooked. Judge by eye rather than the clock -- perhaps 30 to 40 minutes, until the surface is firm and dry to a light touch.
Letting it fall through a pocketA pastry bag, no tip needed, or a plain half-inch round. The batter is soft and will level itself in the case.
Two batches of whitesFour whites go into the almond paste to loosen it — beat that mixture hard, as instructed, since it is where the body comes from. The five whipped whites are folded in afterward and must not be stirred flat; deflate them and the cakes bake dense and greasy.
Paper casesSmall fluted paper baking cups, set slightly apart on a lined sheet as directed. They are not removed before serving; the case is the presentation. Standard mini-muffin liners work, though they are floppier than stiff French cases and are steadier if supported in a mini-muffin tin.
Sugar on topA dusting of powdered sugar just before baking gives the thin crisp shell characteristic of macaroon work. Do it at the last moment or it dissolves into the batter.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the repertoire of Delmonico's in New York, where he was chef for some three decades, and its petits fours chapter is essentially a catalogue of the small almond confections a nineteenth-century French pastry department was expected to turn out on demand. Macaron at this date still means the almond-and-sugar meringue cake in all its forms rather than the sandwiched Parisian shell that later monopolised the name -- Ranhofer gives chocolate, Dutch, and cream versions in consecutive entries. Baking the batter in paper cases rather than piping it onto sheets would suit a slacker, cream-enriched mixture that might spread if left free, and the case makes a tidy thing to serve from.