on each,
sift powdered sugar over, and then put a pinch of chopped and blanched
almonds in the centre with just enough pressure to keep them in place.
As the macaroon spreads in the oven the almonds scatter themselves.

Macaroons should be baked _about_ twenty minutes in a moderate oven.
They must be taken out while they are a very pale brown, but they must
also be quite "set," or they will fall. If the oven is too quick they
will brown too soon; in that case leave the oven door open, taking care
that no cold draught can blow on the macaroons. You can tell if they
have browned too quickly by the cracks in them being still white and
sticky. When done both the cracks and surface should be the same pale
color. The macaroons must be left five minutes in the pan after leaving
the oven without being touched. At the end of that time they may be
gently taken off the pans _on the papers_, from which they must not be
detached until they are quite cold. Should they stick to the paper,
moisten the back of it.

_Fine Ginger Dessert Cakes._--Rub half a pound of fresh butter into
three quarters of a pound of flour; beat three eggs with three quarters
of a pound of powdered sugar and half a glass of rosewater, the grated
peel of a lemon, and a teaspoonful of the best powdered ginger--use the
ginger carefully, trying a level spoonful first. Then mix all into a
paste. If the flavor of ginger is not strong enough, add more; they
should taste well of it, without being hot in the mouth. Roll the paste
a quarter of an inch thick, and cut into small oval or round cakes, sift
powdered sugar over them, and bake rather slowly a very pale brown.

XXXII.

FINE CAKES AND SAUCES.

_Madeleines._--Four ounces of butter, four ounces of the best flour,
three ounces of sugar, a teaspoonful of orange-flower water, the yolks
of four eggs, and rind of a lemon. Beat butter, sugar, and yolks of eggs
together, then add the other ingredients; grate in the rind of half a
lemon, and add the well-beaten whites of eggs last of all. Fill little
moulds that have been buttered with washed butter, cover the tops with
split almonds and sifted sugar; bake from thirty to forty minutes in a
moderate oven. These cakes are sometimes served hot with apricot sauce.

_Chestnut Croquettes._--Boil fifty sound chestnuts; take them out of the
shells; reject all imperfect ones; keep the large pieces aside; pound
the crumbs and most broken pieces with an ounce of butte