Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 55VIII. nodaļa

Smilkšu karašas

Sand biscuits with almonds, lemon and brandy

  • Makes about 30
  • about 1½ hours, including chilling
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Smilkschu karraschas.

Modernizētslpp. 351 · PDF 365

The book gives 2 mārciņas (838 g) of clarified butter, 20 eggs (yolks beaten in, whites whisked to snow), 2 mārciņas (838 g) of well-dried flour, 1 mārciņa (419 g) of sugar, the zest of 2 lemons and one spicglāze (a small conical glass, perhaps 30–40 ml) of fine brandy. We use about a sixth of the butter, sugar and yolks, but more flour and only one white: as printed, the dough is far too soft to roll (see notes).

Method

8 soļi
  1. Dry the flour as the book says: spread it on a baking tray and put it in the oven at 100 °C (80 °C fan) for 15 minutes. Let it cool and sift it.
  2. Beat the butter until pale and creamy, 3–4 minutes. Beat in the yolks one at a time.
  3. Whisk the egg white to stiff peaks.
  4. Mix the flour, sugar and lemon zest and work them into the butter with the brandy. Fold in the egg white and bring it together into a soft dough. Wrap and chill for 1 hour, until firm.
  5. Heat the oven to 170 °C (150 °C fan) and line two baking trays with baking paper.
  6. Roll the dough out about 5 mm thick on a floured surface ("not too thin") and cut 5–6 cm rounds with a small cup or a glass. Gather and re-roll the trimmings. Lay them on the trays and press half an almond into the middle of each.
  7. Bake for 12–15 minutes, until set and only just turning pale gold at the edges. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
  8. Another way: the book beats ¾ mārciņa (314 g) of melted butter to a froth, adds 15 yolks and 1 mārciņa (419 g) of finely pounded sugar, folds in the whites of 8 eggs beaten to snow and makes the biscuits "as just taught". It names no flour; it means the flour, lemon and brandy of the main recipe. With our 225 g flour, that is 85 g butter, 4 yolks, 115 g sugar and 2 whites: a sweeter, softer dough that needs good chilling and a well-floured board.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the book beats 2 mārciņas of clarified butter like cream, beats in 20 yolks one by one, whisks the whites to snow, and takes 2 mārciņas of well-dried flour, 1 mārciņa of fine sugar, the grated peel of 2 lemons and a spicglāze of fine brandy, "which makes the biscuits dry and crisp, and this matters most here". The dough is rolled out not too thin, cut into rounds with a small cup or a drinking glass, a peeled, split sweet almond pressed into each, and they are baked in a warm oven so they stay only slightly yellow. The proportions of flour and egg white, the oven temperature and times are ours.

Why we changed the proportions

with all 20 whites, the book's mixture has almost as much egg as flour, as much butter as flour, and is closer to a pound-cake batter than a dough. The numbers are clear on the scan. We keep the book's ratio of butter, sugar and yolks to each other but use about 60% more flour than that ratio implies (225 g instead of 140 g) and only one white, so the dough can be rolled and cut as the book describes. It may be that only part of the beaten whites was meant to go in.

Variant

the book prints a second version in bold, "Another way" (Us zittu wihsi): less butter, more sugar, 15 yolks and 8 whites, and no flour named. It refers back to the main recipe for the rest, so we give it as a variation using the same flour, lemon and brandy.

The name

smilkšu karašas, "sand biscuits", like the German Sandgebäck and the French sablés ("sandy"): short, crumbly and pale.

Brandy and dried flour

both help to keep the biscuits crisp. Drying flour was a common step in old biscuit recipes.

Clarified butter

see 08-056. Being pure fat, it gives a shorter, crumblier biscuit than ordinary butter.

← → receptes · S skenējums · V vārdnīca · ⌘K meklēt

esc
↑↓ izvēlēties↵ atvērt