[Sca-cooks] Macarons

Susan Lin susanrlin at gmail.com
Mon Jul 19 07:25:05 PDT 2010


I distinguish between macarons (made with almond flour) and macaroons (made
with coconut - yuck!)

On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 8:58 PM, Stefan li Rous
<StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>wrote:

> Shoshana asked:
> <<< We are trying to find some additional period information on macarons -
> the
> almond cookies from France.  All we seem to be able to determine is that
> Catherine de Medici brought them with her.
>
> If anyone has anything more informative we'd be grateful.>>>
>
> Considering all the tales, later disproved, surrounding Catherine de
> Medici, I suspect there is little basis in her connection to these.
>
> Do you mean "macaroons"? Doing a search on this in the Florilegium files
> several recipes described as being similar to macaroons in this file.
> cookies-msg (80K) 11/13/07 Period cookies. Recipes.
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/cookies-msg.html
>
> for instance:
> ======
> Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 22:15:30 +1100
> From: Meliora & Drake <meliora at macquarie.matra.com.au>
> Subject: SC - Almond Cookies
>
> At 12:46 PM 16/02/98 -0800, Rebecca Tants wrote:
>
> >The only completely non-period item (we'll skip lemonade for the moment)
> >was the Almond Cookies.  They were AWESOME, but came from a nice Italian
> >cookbook I have and can't be dated to prior then the turn of the century.
> >They were, however, inexpensive, yummy and a good solution as I got
> >frantic.  (Recipe for those is 11oz almonds, 1c plus 3T sugar, 1/2 t
> >vanilla, 4 egg whites, pinch of salt.  Beat egg whites and salt to stiff
> >peaks, process almonds and sugar together.  Fold almonds/sugar and vanilla
> >into the egg whites, bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes on greased cookie
> >sheet.  YUMYUMYUMYUMYUM)
>
> Hi Rebecca,
>
> There is a similar recipe in Elinor Fettiplace (1602 - so is definately
> renaissance not medieval) which follows:
>
> To make french biskit bread
>
> Take one pound of almonds blanched in cold water, beat them verie smale,
> put
> in some rose water to them, in the beating, wherein some musk hath lien,
> then take one pound of sugar beaten and searced and beat with your almonds,
> then take the whites or fowre eggs beten and put to the sugar & almonds,
> then beat it well together, then heat the oven as hot as you doe for other
> biskit bread, then take a paper & strawe some sugar upon it, & lay two
> spoonfulls of the stuf in a place, then lay the paper upon a board full of
> holes, & put them into the oven as fast as you can & so bake them, when
> they
> begin to looke somewhat browne they are baked inough.  Elinor Fettiplace
> p224.
>
> Moden recipe by Spurling:
> 100g ground almonds
> 100g icing sugar
> 1 beaten egg white
> little rosewater
>
> Spurling tends to waffle a lot so the following is paraphrased:
> Mix all ingredients together and bake as one large biscuit (the size of the
> palm of your hand) in 180oC or 350oF oven for 35-45 mins.
>
> Mel's Notes: I tend to make smaller maccaroons.  A double-sized batch
> normally makes 20 biscuits.  I find that if I wet my hands with water or
> rosewater while rolling the mixture into little balls, it gives the
> finished
> macaroons a smooth shell.
>
> I first thought to make this recipe because I does not contain flour and my
> mother has Coeliac's Disease (cannot ingest gluten).  At the couple of
> feasts I provided them at, they were a bit hit but are rather expensive to
> make.  My mundane work still asks me to make these whenever we celebrate a
> birthday though !!
>
> Spurling, Hilary (1986) Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book, Penguin Books,
> Available on order through any book store in paperback for around $Aust
> 16.00.
>
> Hope this helps you
>
> Meliora de Curci
> Politarchopolis, Lochac, The West
> ===========
>
> Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 11:24:42 -0400
> From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
> Subject: Re: SC - [Fwd: [Shire X] Oh, My, so This is what they eat in CAID
> . . .   .]
>
> CBlackwill at aol.com wrote:
> > If you think this foul, please remember that ambergris was considered a
> > "seasoning" in the Middle Ages... Particularly in China
> >
> > Balthazar of Blackmoor
>
> I also found both ambergris and musk mentioned as ingredients for sweets in
> period in Europe.  I even tried to find some just to see how it would taste
> in a recipe that called for it.  I was unsuccessful, and decided simply to
> omit it, but believe that it probably added a unique taste.  One of these
> came from the
> catalogue for the "Fooles and Fricassees" exhibit at the Folger here in DC.
>  An
> appendix had an early 17th century cookbook by Sarah Longe.  I redacted it
> and
> used it at an Elizabethan feast a couple of weeks ago:
>
> p.  19, Mrs Sarah Longe her Receipt Booke [c. 1610] from Fooles and
> Fricassees:
> Food in Shakespeare's England (Published by the Folger Shakespeare Library,
> Washington, DC, 1999)
>
> Take a pound of Almons, blanch them, then beate them in a morter [;] then
> put in a little rosewater to them, that they may not turn to an Oyle in
> their beating; when they are beaten very small take them up and put them
> into a Dish [;] then take half a pound of sugar beaten very small and put to
> them the whites of 4 Eggs, with a little Quantity of musk, and Ambergrease
> [;] then beat it altogether a quarter of an hour, then put it upon papers in
> what fashion you will.  You must be carefull in the making of it, that it be
> not coloured to[o] much.
>
> Redaction: (makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies)
>
> 2 cups blanched almonds
> 1/2 teaspoon rose water
> 1 cup sugar
> 4 egg whites
> 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
>
> 1.  Grind almonds in a mill or food processor.  Add the rosewater to keep
> them
> from getting oily.
> 2.  Add sugar, egg whites and almond extract and blend thoroughly in the
> food
> processor.
> 3.  Put teaspoonfuls of the batter onto a greased cookie sheet.
> 4.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Be very careful to check the bottoms
> of the cookies as they tend to get too brown.  The cookies should be VERY
> lightly
> ìcolouredî as the recipe above states.
>
> Notes:
> I added almond extract to intensify the almond flavor.  This is a slightly
> perfumed taste and would, I believe, approximate the ambergris and/or musk
> the
> recipe called for.  I was unable to locate either of these ingredients.
>  Also,
> I've heard differing opinions on the safety of cooking with these
> ingredients so
> prefer to stay away from them.
>
> People seemed to really like them...they came out as a sort of cross
> between
> meringues and macaroons.
>
> Kiri
> ========
>
> Stefan
>
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas
> StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
>
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