Banquet Nut Wafers

This is a genuinely old-fashioned confection, the kind of recipe that would have appeared on a church supper table or at an Edwardian tea. The technique is Italian meringue: sugar and water cooked until the syrup “spins a thread” (the old-school test for about 230-235F on a candy thermometer), then poured slowly in a thin stream into stiffly beaten egg whites while beating continuously.

The result is a glossy, stable meringue that holds its shape far better than the classic French meringue made with uncooked sugar. It goes onto banquet wafers - a thin, plain cracker - and gets sprinkled with ground nuts before a quick trip into a very hot oven to brown the surface.

The “amount that will lie on the end of a knife blade” for the cream of tartar is delightfully old-fashioned measurement language for what works out to roughly ¼ teaspoon. The cream of tartar stabilizes the egg whites and keeps the meringue from weeping.

Chef Tips

• Don’t stir the sugar syrup as it boils. Stirring causes crystallization. Swirl the pan gently if needed, but keep the spoon out.
• Pour the hot syrup in a very thin, slow stream into the beating egg whites. Pouring too fast can scramble the edges.
• Watch the oven closely. The meringue browns in just a few minutes at 400-450F and can scorch quickly.
• The meringue should be applied and browned quickly - it starts to break down if it sits too long before going in the oven.