Mackeroons

Today mackeroons (now macaroons) are a meringue made with coconut, but until the mid-19th century they contained finely chopped or ground sweet almonds. Recipes for them have appeared frequently in cookery books since the 17th century, with varying ratios of sugar to egg whites. Mackeroons were served with wines and liquors or were crushed and served in trifles or with syllabubs and creams. An original recipe from Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (London 1796; facsimile edition 1971, 381) reads: Take a pound of almonds, let them be scalded, blanched, and thrown into cold water, then dry them in a cloth, and pound them in a mortar, moisten them with orange-flower water, or with the white of an egg, lest they turn to oil, afterwards, take an equal quantity of fine powder sugar, with three or four whites of eggs, and a little musk, beat all well together, and shape them on wafer-paper, with a spoon round: bake them in a gentle oven on tin plates.

Orange-flower water is made by steeping orange blossoms in either brandy or distilled water. The delicate perfume of both orange flower water and rosewater were once characteristic of all types of British cakes, confections and beverages, although rosewater was much more common.

By the mid-19th century they were being displaced by vanilla essence. Musk, however, although still an important ingredient in perfumery, is no longer considered edible. It is an aromatic substance produced by the male musk-deer. Instead of buttering the baking sheets, wafer paper was used to line them for baking delicate biscuits and meringues.

Our Modern Equivalent:

675 ml (2 ¾ cups) blanched almonds
10 ml (2 tsp) orange-flower water
4 egg whites
500 ml (2 cups) white sugar, pulverized with mortar and pestle or in food processor

Pulverize almonds to a paste with orange-flower water either in a mortar and pestle or in a food processor; set aside. Whisk egg whites to a stiff froth. Beat in sugar a bit at a time to create a glossy meringue. Fold in almond paste. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with baker’s parchment paper. Bake in a slow oven, 160 ° C (325 ° F) for 12 – 15 minutes, or until dry but before they start to brown.

Yield: about 5 ½ dozen macaroons.