The February issue of the magazine’s first year featured a Mardi Gras menu from Louisiana. In addition to Poinsettia Salad (canned pineapple, pimento strips, cream cheese moistened with French dressing and paprika), the menu included these delightful cookies. Crisp and chewy, with a subtle almond scent, these French-style macaroons are now much easier to make, as we can now employ a food processor instead of a wooden spoon to “work the almond paste until smooth.”
This is just one of Gourmet’s Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008. Although we’ve retested the recipes, in the interest of authenticity we’ve left them unchanged: The instructions below are still exactly as they were originally printed.
4 dozen 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
These should be baked a few days in advance. They will keep several months when kept in a closed tin in a cool, dry place.
Work 1/2 lb. almond paste with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. Add 3 slightly beaten egg whites and blend thoroughly. Add 1/2 cup sifted pastry flour, resifted with 1/2 cup fine granulated sugar and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Cover a cooky sheet or sheets with bond paper. The cooky mixture may be dropped from the tip of a teaspoon and shaped on the paper, or may be pressed through a cooky press, or shaped with a pastry bag and tube. Bake in a slow oven (300°F.) about 30 minutes. The cakes may be removed from the paper by means of a spatula while still warm.
Variations: Finely chopped or ground candied fruits may be added to the mixture before baking. Or the tops of the macaroons may be decorated before baking by placing in the center of each a nut half, a raisin (seedless, black or white), or a bit of candied fruit–such as a bit of angelica–cut fancifully, or by sprinkling with finely chopped nut meats. The cakes may be decorated after baking by dainty frosting designs formed with the help of a cake decorator or a pastry tube.
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