Cocoanut Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the albumen
Soak the albumen in cold water overnight.
Beat the albumen until stiff and set aside.
Make the mixture
Cook glucose, sugar, and enough water to dissolve to 238°F (114°C).
Turn off the heat and add 22 lbs of fine coconut and half of the beaten albumen; stir well.
Add the remaining 22 lbs of coconut and the rest of the albumen; mix thoroughly.
Ensure the mixture forms a nice soft ball.
Shape and bake
Roll the mixture into small balls and flatten them into cake shapes.
Place them on greased baking tins and bake until golden brown.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Albumen
- Whipped albumen lightens the mixture and gives the biscuits an airy, set structure.
- Glucose
- Keeps the cooked sugar syrup soft and moist, helping the biscuits stay tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the biscuits and, cooked with glucose, helps bind the coconut into a shapeable mass.
- Fine coconut
- Provides the main bulk, flavour and chewy texture of the biscuits.
The step that matters
Cooking the glucose and sugar syrup to 238°F (114°C). This temperature sets the syrup to a soft-ball stage. Too little cooking leaves the mixture too wet to hold its shape, while overcooking makes it hard and brittle once cooled.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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