No. 3387

Souffle Macaroons

Macarons Souffles

Crush one pound of almonds with two pounds of sugar and eight egg-whites; of this make a fine paste; lay it in a vessel and work, to give it body, then mix in lightly twelve very stiffly whipped egg-whites. Push the preparation through a pocket on paper in the shape of inch and a quarter long macaroons; bestrew lightly with powdered sugar and cook in a slack oven. When done detach from the paper by wetting and fasten the macaroons together two by two with apricot marmalade (No. 3675).

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional pastry brigade working at scale; the quantities here fill sheet after sheet. Everything scales down cleanly by half or quarter.

Scale and yieldOne pound of almonds with two pounds of sugar and twenty egg whites in total (eight in the paste, twelve whipped) makes a very large batch. Quartering the recipe (4 oz almonds, 8 oz sugar, 2 whites in the paste, 3 whipped) is a sane domestic batch.
The two batches of whitesEight whites go into the paste unbeaten, as the liquid that grinds almonds and sugar into a smooth mass. Twelve more are whipped stiff and folded in at the end for lift. Do not combine the two stages.
"Crush" means grind fineBlanched almonds ground with the sugar in a food processor, pulsed so the fat does not smear, stand in for the marble mortar. Sifting the ground mixture and regrinding the coarse remainder gets you closer to the texture Ranhofer expects.
"Work, to give it body"Beat the paste against the side of the bowl until it is glossy and holds a ribbon; the working is what gives the paste enough body for the piped shapes to hold their edge.
A pocket is a piping bagFit a plain round tip and pipe fingers an inch and a quarter long onto paper.
A slack ovenConventionally around 275-300F. These are meant to dry and set pale, with a thin crust and a soft interior, not to colour. Bake until set, then leave them to cool completely on the paper.
Detaching by wettingThe old trick is to slide the sheet of paper onto a damp cloth or brush the underside with water; the steam releases the macaroons in a minute or two. Modern parchment usually needs none of this, but it works if they stick.
Apricot marmaladeRanhofer's No. 3675 is a thick apricot preserve, not citrus marmalade. A good apricot jam warmed and pushed through a sieve stands in. Sandwich flat side to flat side.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its petits fours chapter draws heavily on the French pastry repertoire. Macarons soufflés are the lighter branch of the macaroon family: the same almond-and-sugar base as the dense chewy macaroon, but aerated with a separate meringue so the baked piece is puffed rather than solid. The pairing of two shells with a fruit preserve anticipates the sandwiched Parisian macaron that became fashionable in the twentieth century. Note that these are piped in an elongated shape rather than as rounds.