It must be almost thirty years since I last made these. I can remember leaving them on one of the storage heaters overnight to dry. I grew up in a large draughty house with sash windows which rattled in the wind, and no central heating till after I'd left home. In the sitting room and in the dining room we had two old storage heaters that Dad had got from the school he taught in. They must have been almost five feet wide, and a good foot and a half deep. Maybe my childhood memory has enlarged them, but certainly 3 people could sit comfortably on one, even if we weren't really meant to.
It's an American recipe, so the measurements are cups.
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cups flour, sifted before measuring
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tblsp crushed aniseed. I ground mine coarsely in my spare coffee grinder.
Beat the eggs till light.
Add the sugar gradually, then the vanilla.
Sift the flour again with the baking powder, and beat it in to the eggs, along with the aniseed. It should be stiff enough to drop onto a tray and not spread out too much.
Drop by teaspoons onto greased trays and leave in a warm dry place for twelve hours.
Bake in a moderate oven, about 170C, till they just start turning golden.
Makes about 50.
We had these with two sorbets - this is the recipe for the pear one:
Pear Sorbet
Put 200 grams of sugar in a pan along with 100ml water. Stir gently over a low heat till the sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil and remove from heat after boiling for 1 minute only.
Peel, core and purée 2 large ripe pears, and immediately add the juice of two lemons. If the lemons are large, don't use all the juice. Add to the sugar syrup. When cold, freeze or churn. Near the end of the churning time add one lightly beaten egg white if you like a lighter sorbet.
I got a batch of ATCs finished today, a summer theme using Flourishes stamps.
After much indecision C chose a large guitar case for his birthday present. The UPS guy was very curious about what it was, when he carried it into the house for me. That is one present that is not going to be wrapped!!
It's been on and off rain all day, and I had to wait in for UPS, so here's a photo from when we were training - Industrial Abstract.
