THE ORIGINAL ‘RECEIPTS’

Mrs. Sifton

1 egg white beaten

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup filberts (chopped)

Bake in slow oven.

~Ida A. Shaver, handwritten receipt book. (Ida was born in 1871 and died in 1959)

Nut Meringues.

To Meringue Glacée mixture add chopped nut meat; almonds, English walnuts, or hickory nuts are preferred.  Shape by dropping mixture from tip of spoon in small piles one-half inch apart, or by using pastry bag and tube.  Sprinkle with nut meat and bake.

~Farmer, Fannie Merritt.  The Boston Cooking School Cook Book.  New York: Weathervane Books (reprint of 1896 edition).

THE UPDATED RECIPE

• 1 egg white
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. chopped filberts (hazelnuts) (be sure to toast them…. see notes below)
• additional chopped filberts for garnish (optional).

Preheat oven to 225F.

Line two baking sheets with waxed paper.

Beat the egg white in a mixing bowl with a rotary beater, until it begins to form soft peaks.

Gradually add the sugar, and continue beating, until all the sugar has been incorporated, and the meringue is stiff and glossy.

Fold in the chopped nuts, and blend until they are evenly distributed.

Drop the mixture from a teaspoon onto the waxed paper, in small mounds, leaving space between them to allow for expansion.

Sprinkle additional chopped filberts on the top of each meringue for garnish, if desired.

Bake in a preheated oven, at 300F for approximately 20 minutes, and then turn the heat off, but leave the meringues in the oven, so that they become crisp and dried. After 45 to 60 minutes, remove the meringues from the oven, and gently lift them off of the waxed paper, and allow them to cool.

Store the meringues in an air-tight tin container to retain their dryness.

Yield: 2 dozen.

These feather-light whimsies are delicate and delicious.

A note from Patricia: I love a light and airy meringue, and have always made little chocolate and cranberry meringues as part of my holiday baking. I do recall my aunt making these little meringues, though, as part of her holiday baking, and these were always a part of the cookie tray that she would bring to Christmas dinner. It seemed interesting to me that these were made with brown sugar (instead of the icing and white sugar that I was accustomed to using for my meringues), so I popped to the local bulk food store to pick up some hazelnuts and got to work. The hazelnuts had skins, so I put them on a cookie sheet and toasted them for 12 minutes in a 350F oven, removed them, sandwiched them in a tea towel, and rolled them between the towel until the skins were nearly all removed. Once cooled, I chopped them, and added them to the meringue mixture. The verdict? A cookie that is delightfully nutty, crunchy, rich, and sweet. Hazelnuts are not a nut that I eat very often, but they have such an elevated, unique flavour when toasted. Delicious! And these meringues were truly so simple to make.

How To Tell Good Eggs.

If you desire to be certain that your eggs are good and fresh, put them in water; if the butts turn up they are not fresh.  This is an infallible rule to distinguish a good egg from a bad one.

~Willey, Francis. The Model Cook Book. Philadelphia: R. B. Jones, 1903.

….if one dish is prepared requiring only the yolks of eggs, select another in which only the whites will be needed, and thus use them economically.

~Handbook of Domestic Cookery.  London and Glasgow: William Collins, Sons & Company, Limited, 1882.