THE ICE DRAGON

Almond and Cardamon Cirlettes
These cookies are inspired by recipes in "The English
Hus-Wife" (1615)
To make Fine Cakes. Take fine flowre and good
Damaske water you must have no other liqeur but
that, then take sweet butter, two or three
yolkes of eggs and a good quantity of Suger, and a
few cloves, and cardmund and mace, as your Cookes
mouth shall serve him, and a lyttle saffron, and a little
Gods good about a spoonful if you put in too
much they shall arise, cutte them in squares lyke
unto trenchers, and pricke them well, and let your
oven be well swept and lay them upon papers and so
set them into the oven. Do not burn them if they be
three or foure days olde they bee the better.
And "The Closet of the Eminently Learned Digbie...."
(1669) EXCELLENT SMALL CAKES -
Take three pounds of very fine flower well
dryed by the fire, and put to it a pound and half of
loaf Sugar sifted in a very fine sieve and dryed;
Three pounds of Currants well washed and dryed in a
cloth and set by the fire; When your flower is well
mixed with the Sugar and Currants, you must put in
it a pound and half of unmelted butter, ten spoonfuls
of Cream, with the yolks of three new-laid Eggs beat
with it. One Nutmeg; and if you please, three spoonfuls
of honey. When you have wrought your paste
well, you must put it in a cloth, and set it in a dish
before the fire, till it be through warm. Then make
them up in little Cakes, and prike them full of holes;
you must bake them in a quick oven unclosed until
golden blonde. Afterwards Ice them over with Sugar.
The Cakes should be about the bigness of a handbreadth
and thin: of the cise of the Sugar Cakes sold
at Barnet.
This recipe was developed to use modern items that
most closely matched what could have been found in
a medieval kitchen. While the
full documentation of this recipe runs several pages,
I will keep this
article short:
This recipe was developed to use modern items that
most closely matched what could have been found
in a medieval kitchen. While the full documentation
of this recipe runs several pages, I will keep
this article short:
Ingredients:
1 Cup, sweet cream butter
2/3 Cup, un-refined, organic turbinado sugar
¼ Cup, Clover honey
1 beaten egg
2 1/2 Cups, King Arthur band Artisan, Organic allpurpose
flour (flour
from hard red what, unbleached)
2 Teaspoon, fresh lemon zest, minced
2 Tablespoons, fresh squeezed lemon juice.
3/4 Teaspoon, crushed cardamon seeds
1/2 Cup, chopped and sliced almonds
Procedure and explanation:
Heat the oven to 350F. Melt the butter and mix it
with the sugar until well integrated. Add in the
honey, cardamon, almonds and the lemon
juice and zest. Mix well. Add the beaten egg to the
mixture (which will be very sticky). Finally, add in
the flour, however, add it in thirds and make sure
that each batch of flour is mixed in before the next
batch is added. Roll the dough out into small balls
and smash them flat: they should be about the diameter
of a poker chip. Do not dock the cookies, as
suggested in the above recipes. Bake until they turn
"golden blonde". Do not leave the Cirlettes alone
while they bake: they can go from pale, to blonde
to burned very quickly. Check every minute after
the first five minutes.
Since there is no yeast or leavening added to the
mix, the cookies receive all of their lift from steam
trapped inside of the sticky dough. The cookies
should be soft and chewy when finished. However,
if you prefer a crunchy cookie, let the batter sit in
the 'fridge over night. The flour will absorb more of
the liquid in the mix, leaving less available to turn
to steam and puff up the cookies.
Submitted by Baron Caleb Reynolds
22