by Sheila Connolly
One morning
recently I woke up with an odd thought in my head: I have more early memories of food than I do
of my sister, who was born when I was four. What does that say about my
priorities? I do remember my mother boiling glass bottles for her formula
(aren't we glad those days are gone?), and wearing a medical mask when she had
a cold, but I don't remember my sister as a baby. Go figure.
But I do
remember food, and I realize that most of those food memories had to do with
sweets (I'm sure there's some scientific reason for that, but I don't know what
it is). My absolute earliest memory,
from when I was around three, was of our next-door neighbor handing me a
homemade grape ice-cube pop, and I remember how intense the grape flavor
was. The second? My father feeding me
pistachio ice cream.
I had a
mild chocolate allergy when I was very young, which didn't stop me from
tracking down those supposedly hidden chocolate bunnies at Easter and consuming
them, bit by bit (yeah, like my mother wouldn't notice that the ears were
missing).
I'm not
going to fight it. Sugar/flour/butter in
all their lovely permutations are still my favorite foods, although I get along
better with my sister now than I did when I was four, and I think she's
forgiven me for liking cookies better than her. Anyway, cookies still top my
list, and I have the cookie cookbooks to prove it. I've mentioned Robert Day-Dean's ginger
cookies before, but they also made wonderful almond macaroons that my
grandmother would bring when she visited (she never learned to cook, but she
knew where to find good food!).
In this
world there are two kinds of macaroons:
coconut and almond. I have no
patience with the coconut ones, and they don't deserve the name—just call them
coconut cookies and be done with it. But
I love the almond ones, and they're ridiculously simple to make.
ALMOND
MACAROONS
This recipe
is about as basic as it gets, with all of four ingredients: almond paste (do not confuse this with
marzipan, which has more sugar added), sugar, egg white and almond
extract. Amazing what combining these
things in the right way can do!
1 can (8
oz.) almond paste
1 cup sugar
2 egg
whites (from large eggs)
½ tsp.
almond extract
Preheat the
oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie
sheets with parchment paper.
Break up
the almond paste into 1-inch chunks. In
a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the almond paste and the
sugar and blend on very slow speed until the mixture is reduced to coarse
crumbs, at least three minutes.
Add the egg
whites in three or four installments, beating well in between and scraping down
the sides of the bowl. Add the almond
extract and mix until blended.
Transfer
the mixture (it will be stiff) into a pastry bag with a ½" to ¾"
opening. Pipe the macaroons onto the
cookie sheets. They should be about 1½
inch across, and spaced at least 2 inches apart (they will spread during baking).
Pat them
down a bit. I found one recipe that
gives a very elaborate method of folding a linen towel and laying it gently
upon the cookies, but really, you can use your fingers (clean, of course). A spatula won't work because these are
sticky.
Bake until
the macaroons are puffed and golden. It
will take about 20 minutes, but check regularly for the last ten minutes to
make sure they don't overcook. Remove
from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets on a rack, then peel carefully
from the parchment paper. These are best
if eaten quickly, while the outside is
still crisp and the inside chewy. If they don't all disappear immediately,
store them in a sealed container.
Out
of curiosity I looked up the origin of the name, which was not terribly
satisfying. According to the Online
Etymology dictionary, in the 1610s it meant a "small sweet cake consisting
largely of ground almonds," from Fr. macaron
(16c.), from dialectal It. maccarone. Doesn't explain much of anything, does
it? Wikipedia is more helpful:
"This word is
itself derived from ammaccare, meaning crush or beat, used
here in reference to the almond paste which is the principal ingredient."
SOUR APPLES, OUT THIS WEEK!
Sheila, what a simply sweet cookie. And so pretty. I love your non-memories of your sister and your memories of food. I think we all have those. I remember a lot of scents as a child. My other memories are because of photo albums my mother made.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your new release! Sour Apples, indeed. The numbers look great!!!
~Avery aka Daryl
Oh yum! And I love that there are only a few ingredients!!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of almond. They must have a very intense flavor. They look fabulous. Sometimes the best things come from few ingredients.
ReplyDelete~ Krista
OH, I do enjoy almond macaroons - grew up on my mom's. Great post, Sheila, and congrats on your new release. An exciting week for the women of mystery!
ReplyDelete