18th Century Syringe Biscuits

This is a great recipe to break your mom's ancient syringe cookie maker from the cabinet! The taste, and recipe is almost identical to modern Italian Almond Cookies or marzipan and would be a fun, historical recipe to add to the list of Christmas cookies this year.

This recipe is essentially marzipan and is very similar to one used today in Denmark for Marzipan ring cakes or kransekage. Kransekage are a traditional Danish New Year's and wedding treat. They make each ring slightly bigger than the one before and after they are baked, stack them to form a tree and drizzle icing on top. It's a wedding tradition to let the couple remove the top layer of the ring cake together. While no one knows the origin of marzipan almost every European country has a form of it and in many countries it has a romantic implication. In Italian, the word for marzipan itself has romantic connotations. It was even featured in Romeo and Juliet.

18th Century Syringe Biscuits

Ingredients:

- 2 Cups pounded, blanched Almonds
- 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- Egg Whites
- Lemon Peel

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Pound your blanched almonds until they are smooth, add the powdered sugar and the lemon peel. Mix in egg whites little by little until it forms a smooth, easily malleable paste. Put your paste into your syringe and squeeze one long line on a floured surface and cut it into 3 inch sections. Connect the ends of each section to form loops. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper place biscuits on the baking sheet and bake for 10-11 minutes. Watch closely as these don't brown like most baked goods. Let cool and enjoy!

*For this recipe you need a homemade syringe like the one pictured, a churro maker, or an old-fashioned cookie syringe that lets you choose the amount of dough on release. If none of these are available you can roll the dough "snake" style on a floured surface.

**To speed things up you can use store bought almond flour and powdered sugar. You can make period powdered sugar by pulverizing granulated sugar in a food processor. Period powdered sugar did not have cornstarch it in as most commercial powdered sugars have today.

The Niña, the Pinta and Columbus' Strange Legacy

Last weekend i was invited out to see the Niña and the Pinta, recreations of two of Christopher Columbus' ships for a friend's birthday. They were docked close by in Wilmington, Delaware. Lately the country has been anti-Columbus because of the horrible atrocities he and his men committed against Native Americans and from that perspective I agree he is not a man to be celebrated in modern times for his so called "accomplishments." However, the ships are interesting to see and add a new dimension to the history of some of the earliest European voyages to the Americas.      

From a nautical perspective, the ships are curious. They are smaller than most of us imagine. Many of us wouldn't dare to try to cross an ocean in one. The ships are called "caravels" and the original ships were only 65 feet long. They bobbed in the ocean and were covered in pine tar, making the ships solid black in color. Around 27 men lived on the deck without significant shelter for the duration of the trip, storms and all. No protection from the elements. The hold was filled with supplies and livestock and smelled so putrid that many refused to go down there for any reason.  Columbus' first voyage was 7 months and he spent a total of 12 years on caravels like these during his 4 voyages.    

It is weird to think of Christopher Columbus as an important part of promoting peace between different groups of people but that is really where Columbus' legacy lies. Columbus Day was first celebrated in 1792 but it did not become a national holiday until 1934 as a result of lobbying.

Why did people think Columbus Day was important? In the 1880s up until WWI, Italians starting emigrating to the United States in sizable numbers where they were faced with hatred and discrimination which included violence. In 1891, 11 Sicilian immigrants in New Orleans were lynched by a mob  in the largest lynching in U.S. history. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison promoted celebration of Columbus Day to celebrate the 400 year anniversary of Columbus' first voyage but instead of focusing on Columbus himself, focused on how far America changed and  prospered. Italian-Americans looked to these celebrations of a famous Italian as a way to become accepted into mainstream society although not all Italians want to be associated with the Celebrations today. Perhaps we should celebrate Melting Pot/ Salad Bowl Day instead?
   

Like many ships, the Niña and the Pinta are always looking for people who want to join the crew and experience ship life. Visit their website for more information about the ships.  If you want a chance to see them, they will be traveling up the east coast all this year so check to see when they will dock near you.

Likewise if you ever want to see a beautiful tall ship or even volunteer on one, Gazela (the most beautiful ship in the world) at Penn's Landing is always willing to train new recruits.  I may be biased. :)

Snow and Biscotti

All of our beautiful snow is gone. We had a huge storm on the 19th, just in time for Christmas (over 9 inches of snow.) During the cold my Grandmom and I baked biscotti.

Biscotti has become very popular in recent years especially in posh coffee shops. Biscotti, the plural of Biscotto (although my Grandmom says it like "bih-scoat"), are a twice baked cookie, originally meant to give the cookie a very long shelf life. 


The shelf life of a Biscotto is naturally about 4 months. Biscotti has been served in Italy for centuries and was a staple food in the Roman military. Some historians say that Christopher Columbus is likely the first person to bring biscotti to the New World.


Grandmom's Biscotti Recipe:

1 Cup Sugar
1 stick of Butter (1/2 cup)
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 teaspoons Orange Peel
2 Cups Flour
1 +1/2  teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Powdered Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sift the flour with the baking powder.








Grate the orange peel. Jodi has a trick on her blog, Curious Acorn for this. My Grandmother's tip: use clementines, they are smaller and work out to about 2 teaspoons. 


 In mixing bowl, beat the sugar with the butter. Add eggs, vanilla, and orange peel. Slowly add the flour/baking powder mix, cinnamon and salt. Mix until fully blended, it should form a soft dough.

Grease 2 small cookie sheets or 1 large one. (Yes, my Grandmom is using her hands! She said she would have used the butter wrappers but our butter was already on a butter dish.)


Divide batter in half and form two loaves on the greased baking sheet. Try to make loaves 3 inches wide and 3/4 of an inch high. Bake in oven for 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack until it is cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes.)

 Slice loaves on an angle, about an inch wide. Be sure to slice off a little bit on each end so there is no "end" pieces.

Lay peices on their sides on the same cookie sheet. Cook for 12 more minutes (no more.) Remove from oven, flip the peices with tongs and replace back in the oven for another 12 minutes. They will harden out of the oven.

Let cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!