Another cookie that makes me think of liquor. Or perhaps I just need a drink? Being a stay-at-home mom can have that affect, or “so I’ve heard”... Margaritas anyone? Nope, just Marguerites. What the heck is a marguerite, you might ask? Definitely not a cookie I’ve ever eaten or even heard of. And my first impression is not a good one. Only because this recipe refers to another recipe and I hate that. Besides all the page flipping it causes and the extra care I have to take to be sure I have all the correct ingredients, to top it off, I have to half the referred-to-recipe and do math. Oh who am I kidding. That last part doesn’t bother me. I love math. *ahem, cough, nerd*
So I go to my trusty Google and search “Marguerites.” Apparently it’s a common-ish first name because I pull up several business that include “Marguerite” – restaurants, a cake shop, a saloon, a caterer, a night club in Sante Fe, TX. It also pulls up the definition. A marguerite is a Paris daisy or any of several similar or related plants having daisylike flowers. Well that sounds lovely. Growing up my mom LOVED planting daisies and she still has a bed of them on the side of her house. I loved picking them as a kid because they were the perfect flower to play “he loves me, he loves me not.” But what has any of that got to do with this cookie?? Absolutely nothing. I try my search again.
This time I google “marguerite cookies,” and still get nothing. So I type in “marguerite cookie with crackers” (because that is one VERY odd ingredient in this cookie). I find ONE recipe that relates to what I’m actually talking about, but it doesn’t give a back story, just a recipe. This is one extremely coy cookie. No wonder I’ve never heard of them.
So with nothing really to go on, I begin my baking. This is by far the most difficult cookie I’ve had to make this far…The recipe starts off by calling for ½ of the Boiled Frosting recipe. The boiled frosting looks a tad tricky. I have to whip my eggs to a stiff peak. I have to make sure the sugar syrup doesn’t go past the soft-ball stage – a very specific 236⁰F. And I have to be doing both almost simultaneously so A) my eggs don’t lose their stiffness, and B) so my syrup doesn’t get any hotter than 236⁰.
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| My stiff peaks |
Ok, to tackle the first challenging task - Whipping the egg whites to a stiff peak. There are several key elements to perfecting this baking basic:
1. Make sure your eggs have come to room temperature before you begin. This is essential, so don’t skip this step. Let them sit out for at least one hour or let them soak in warm (not hot, because you don’t want them to cook) water for a few minutes.
2. Be sure that there is absolutely NO yolk in the egg whites.
3. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites at the start of whipping.
4. Midway through, if you’re not getting good results, you can add ¼ teaspoon per 2 egg whites of cream of tartar OR lemon juice OR vinegar. This helps to stabilize your egg whites so that they don’t turn back into liquid form. (I didn't do this)
5. Stop whipping as soon as the egg whites form stiff peaks that don't droop. Don't over-beat or the egg whites will destabilize.
My next delicate task, I have to cook the sugar syrup and make sure it doesn’t go past the soft-ball stage. For this, one would normally use a candy thermometer, something I do not own. I have a very old school meat thermometer that only registers up to 190⁰F and an instant thermometer that I’ve never used on anything that gets any hotter than that. I decide to take my chances and use the instant thermometer. Thankfully, it worked like a charm. I had to keep cranking up the flame to get it to the soft-ball stage and the sugar syrup to a rolling boil, but I finally hit 236⁰.
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| 10 minis...Looks like one jumbo marshmallow to me! |
After I got the syrup up to the right temp, I add the marshmallows (see the actual Marguerites recipe now…don’t lose track!). BH&G asks us to quarter 6 marshmallows, so I’m assuming they mean the jumbo (vs miniature) kind. Something else I don’t have. I keep miniature marshmallows in my house because I like to add them to fruit salads, ice creams, hot chocolate, etc. I’ve even tried them in black coffee (tasted pretty good!). I do my research and find out that one regular marshmallow weighs about 1/4 ounce and a miniature marshmallow weighs just about 1/10th of that. Relying once again on my superior kitchen math skills, this means that, according to weight, 1 jumbo marshmallow = 10 mini ones. So I fold 60 mini marshmallows into the hot syrup mix. With a few stirs, they melt down, making the already sticky sauce even thicker and gooier.
Once this is done, I slowly pour the syrup over the egg whites (with the help of my hubby), add the vanilla, and beat it until it resembles icing. Then I fold in the coconut and nuts. FINALLY an easy step! ;) I spoon a bit of the icing mixture onto each of the 24 salted crackers. I originally wanted to use Ritz crackers, but then I noticed the only online recipe I found called for soda crackers. Soda crackers are just another name for plain ole saltines, so I go with those instead. Weird, but possibly delicious? I’m a huge fan of sweet and salty treats, so maybe this is just a play on that?
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| Before and after |
Cookie Grade: C+ = not good, but not bad. Love the cracker and coconut, not fond of the overly sweet icing and (ofcourse) walnuts
What I was jammin’ to: my hubby was studying in the dining room, so besides the clacking of the computer, nothing… boo! But I did have a terrible Nickelodean song stuck in my head.
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