GROUND-NUT MACCAROONS.—Take a sufficiency of ground-nuts, that have been roasted in an iron pot, over the fire; remove the shells; and weigh a pound of the nuts. Put them into a pan of cold water, and wash off the skins. Have ready some beaten white of egg. Pound the ground-nuts, (two or three at a time,) in a marble mortar, adding, frequently, a little cold water, to prevent their oiling. They must be pounded to a smooth, light paste; and, as you proceed, remove the paste to a saucer or a plate. Beat, to a stiff froth, the whites of four eggs, and then beat into it, gradually, a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed. Then stir in, by degrees, the pounded ground-nuts, till the mixture becomes very thick. Flour your hands, and roll, between them, portions of the mixture, forming each portion into a little ball. Lay sheets of white paper on flat baking-tins, and place on them the maccaroons, at equal distances, flattening them all a little, so as to press down the balls into cakes. Then sift powdered sugar over each. Place them in a brisk oven, with more heat at the top than in the bottom. Bake them about ten minutes.
Almond maccaroons may be made as above, mixing one-quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds with three-quarters of shelled sweet almonds. For almond maccaroons, instead of flouring your hands, you may dip them in cold water; and when the maccaroons are formed on the papers, go slightly over every one, with your fingers wet with cold water.
Maccaroons may be made, also, of grated cocoa-nut, mixed with beaten white of egg and powdered sugar.
WEST INDIA COCOA-NUT CAKE.—Cut up and peel some pieces of a very ripe cocoa-nut. Lay the pieces for awhile in cold water. Then take them out; wipe them very dry; and grate, very finely, as much as, when grated, will weigh half a pound. Powder half a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Beat eight eggs, till very light, thick, and smooth. Then stir the grated cocoa-nut and the powdered sugar, alternately, into the pan of beaten egg, a little at a time of each; adding a handful of sifted flour, a powdered nutmeg, and a glass of sweet wine. Stir the whole very hard. Butter a square tin pan. Put in the mixture, set it immediately into a quick oven, and bake it well; seeing that the heat is well kept up all the time. When cool, cut it into squares. Have ready a thick icing, made of powdered sugar and white of egg, flavoured with rose-water, or extract of roses. Ice each square of the cake, all over the top and sides.
You may bake it in a loaf, in a deep, circular pan. Ice the whole surface, and ornament it.
For a large cake, baked in a loaf, allow a pound of grated cocoa-nut; a pound of sugar; sixteen eggs; two handfuls of flour; two nutmegs, and two glasses of wine. It will require very long baking.
RICE-FLOUR POUND-CAKE.—Weigh a pound of broken up loaf-sugar of the best quality. Upon some of the largest lumps rub off the yellow rind of three large ripe lemons that have been previously rolled under your hand, on a table, to increase the juice. Then powder finely all the pound of sugar. Cut up into a deep pan a pound of the best fresh butter; mix with it the powdered sugar, and stir them together, with a wooden spaddle, till perfectly light. Squeeze the juice of the lemons through a strainer into a bowl, mix with it half a grated nutmeg, and add it to the butter and sugar. Sift a pound (or a quart) of rice-flour into a pan, and in another shallow pan beat twelve eggs till they are smooth and thick. Then stir the beaten egg and the rice-flour, alternately, into the butter and sugar, a little at a time of each. Having stirred the whole long and hard, put the mixture into a buttered tin pan that has straight or upright sides; set it immediately into a well-heated oven, and bake it thoroughly. It will require four or five hours, in proportion to its thickness. When done, it will shrink a little from the sides of the pan; and a twig from a corn-broom, or a wooden skewer plunged down to the bottom of the cake, will come out dry and clean. When cool, ice it; adding a little rose-water or lemon-juice to the icing. Heap the icing first on the centre of the top, and then with a broad-bladed knife, (dipped occasionally into a bowl of cold water,) spread it evenly all over the surface of the cake.