No. 3400

Cherry Sticks

Batons aux Cerises

Crush one pound of almonds with two pounds and three-quarters of icing sugar, having part of it flavored with vanilla (No. 3165) and eight to ten egg-whites; obtain a very fine paste, then spread it out three-eighths of an inch in thickness and let rest in a cool place for an hour and a half to two hours; cover the flat with a layer of the same paste, softened with more egg-white. Divide it into bands, each two and a quarter inches wide, and cut these in crosswise sticks, three eighths of an inch in width; decorate each one with four halved cherries, the cut side down, and lay them on a baking sheet covered over with paper; bake in a medium oven.

← No. 3399 Rocks with Orangeade Fancy Cakes — Petits Fours No. 3401 Vanilla Sticks →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a marzipan-style petit four from Ranhofer's confectionery chapters: an almond-and-sugar paste, dried briefly, glazed with more of the same paste thinned with egg white, then cut into batons and studded with cherries. The hinge is the drying rest — skip it and the sticks slump and weep sugar in the oven.

Scale it downOne pound of almonds with two and three-quarter pounds of sugar and eight to ten whites yields several pounds of paste, enough for a professional tray of petits fours. A quarter batch (4 oz almonds, 11 oz confectioners' sugar, 2–3 whites) is plenty for a home batch.
Icing sugarRead this as confectioners'/powdered sugar. Period icing sugar was sifted fine but unstarched; modern powdered sugar contains cornstarch, which slightly stiffens the paste, so hold back a little of the egg white and add it only as needed.
AlmondsBlanched sweet almonds, ground to a fine meal. A food processor works if you pulse with some of the sugar to keep the nuts from turning to butter. Do not substitute almond flour alone without checking texture — the paste should be smooth and firm, not sandy.
Flavored with vanilla (No. 3165)The cross-reference points to Ranhofer's own vanilla preparation elsewhere in the book, most likely a vanilla-scented sugar. Vanilla extract, about a teaspoon per quarter batch, does the same job.
"Cover the flat"The flat is the rolled-out slab of paste itself. You are brushing its surface with more of the same paste loosened with egg white — a royal-icing-like glaze that bakes to a thin dry crust and gives the sticks their sheen.
The rest is not optionalThe recipe calls for an hour and a half to two hours in a cool place, which lets the surface firm and skin over. Cut and baked while still tacky, the batons are likely to spread and the glaze to crack.
CherriesAlmost certainly candied or glacé cherries, halved and set cut side down; the recipe does not specify. Fresh cherries release too much juice into the paste. Rinse very sticky glacé cherries and pat dry so the syrup does not scorch.
"Medium oven"Roughly 325–350°F. Watch them rather than the clock: they are done when the glaze is set and just barely coloring at the edges, with the interior still soft. Baked to golden brown throughout they turn hard and dry.
PaperParchment, not waxed paper. The sugary paste sticks to bare sheets, and the batons are best lifted off the paper while still slightly warm.

A Little History

Bâtons aux cerises belong to the family of almond-paste petits fours that French pâtisserie built on the same base as marzipan and macaroon batter — ground almonds, sugar, egg white — varied endlessly by flavoring and garnish. Charles Ranhofer, who ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for some three decades and published The Epicurean in 1894, kept several hundred such numbered formulas in sequence: this one sits between rocks with orangeade and vanilla sticks, and the entries assume a pastry department working from a shared stock of pastes and sugars, which is why the recipe cross-references its vanilla flavoring rather than spelling it out. The vast sugar-to-almond ratio is characteristic of the period's petits fours secs, which were expected to keep for days on a dessert tray or in a sweetmeat box rather than be eaten the hour they left the oven.