"To make Cracknells"

I am still enjoying a book I bought recently, titled John Evelyn, Cook. The first recipe I tried from it was for a Quaking Pudding -- see here for the post.

ISBN 0 907325 653

Today I was intrigued by Recipe #127, "To make Cracknells."  I wondered if they were a form of cracker, my neighbor thought they might be like pie crust, and they also struck me as some form of cookie.

The recipe does not look complicated but it is vague about some of the quantities.  I made sure I had ample amounts of all and crossed my fingers.

127. To make Cracknells.

Take a pound of sugar finely searsed, and a pound of the finest floure, mingle them together; take the powder of dry'd Orenge Pills, finelie sersed, mingle it amongst the flowre and Sugar such a quantity as you like, then take a little butter and as much egge yolkes as will make it into a very Stiff paste, then rolle them out very thin, putt them upon Papers verie well flowred, and pricke them thicke, beat a peice of the yolke of an egge with a litle rose or orenge flowre water, and wash them verie well over, and bake them in a slow oven before they be too hard raise them from your Paper, and then put them in againe to harden keep them neere the fire.

My Redaction

1 pound all-purpose flour
1 pound sugar
1/4 ounce dried orange zest (see notes below)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
15 egg yolks, beaten  (see instructions)

glaze:  1 egg yolk, beaten, divided
            1 teaspoon rose water
            1 teaspoon orange flower water

I ended up needing more than 1 dozen eggs!

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Place the flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix well.  Add the orange peel and mix well.

Slightly sparkly from the sugar

Cut in the butter, as you do for making a pie crust.  Use your hands, if necessary, to make sure there are no big pieces of butter left in the flour mixture.

I didn't know in advance how many yolks were needed to make "a very Stiff paste" so I mixed in 2 at a time until the mixture pulled together in a ball.  I recommend you put in 10 yolks at first and mix them in well.  Then put in one at a time, mixing well, until you achieve the goal.  It will be a slightly sticky ball that holds together with only a gentle squeeze.

Just before there were enough yolks in it.  A little crumbly overall.

This is just right.

Flour your rolling surface and keep extra flour nearby.  Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness or less.  I floured the top of the dough as needed to keep the rolling pin from sticking to it.  At first I rolled it on the countertop but found it worked better on my Roul'pat.  It made it easier to pick up the pieces, because they were slightly sticky.

As thin as I could take it, without the paste breaking.

I had to choose how to cut them.  I decided to use a 4 1/2 inch round cutter, so they looked generous.  I also cut some rectangles that were about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide.

The pieces were placed on well-floured pans and pricked many times with a small fork.

For the glaze, I beat the yolk then divided it into two small bowls.  I added the orange flower water to one and the rose water to the other, mixing each well.  I used a brush to put the glaze on each piece; I heeded Mr. Evelyn's direction to "wash them verie well over" -- I spread the glaze thinly but tried to cover each piece well.

Here, five were glazed with rosewater, the one with a notch used orange flower water.

As each tray (there were three) was pricked and glazed, it went into the oven.

I checked them every 30 minutes; after 2 hours I turned the oven to "warm" (175 degrees F) and left them for four hours.  Then I turned the oven off and left the pieces in overnight.  At the 2 hour mark, I loosened the pieces as directed.  I also loosened them again before leaving them in overnight.

All done.

The Verdict

There were 16 rounds and several rectangular pieces in total.

The first thing I noticed was that most of the round pieces had stuck to the pan again, so some broke when I took them off.  I think the pans could have used more flour on them.  Also, they didn't spread, which I appreciated.

The next noticeable thing was that the rounds weren't all dry all the way through.  The middles (and sometimes to near the edges) were still soft and a little sticky, whereas the rectangular pieces (narrower) were dry all the way through.  I think I probably should have cut smaller pieces, perhaps 2 inch diameter rounds.  This would give more to share around and a better chance of having each piece dried all the way through.

You can see the darker region on the round -- that is the sticky part.

This gave me some that were crispy (the ones with a soft middle) and some that were crunchy (dried all the way through), both of which I liked.  Neither were too hard to chew and both had the flavor come through.

And what was that flavor?  Definitely orange, definitely sweet (but not overly so).  The ones with the orange flower glaze were more "orangey" than the rose water glaze.  Both glazes gave a light floral perfume to the flavor, and I can say I really like the rose/orange combination.  The one piece I left unglazed for comparison was good but the glaze increases the flavor level, so I would always want to use a glaze.  I have no preference for the glaze flavor -- both were good!  The differences were subtle but there.

Success!  Here is a picture showing a top and a side view.  I estimate the thickness to be about 1/4 inch.  The glaze became shiny and the paste became dry all the way through.



When I first read the recipe (okay, the first three times I read the recipe), I had no idea what Mr. Evelyn meant by "Orenge Pills" -- I kept thinking, "What kind of pill is he talking about?"  Then I realized he meant "peels" and so I had to figure out how to get dried, powdered orange peel.

My daughter had the best idea: remove the zest off the oranges and then dry it, which is what I did.  I knew I was just getting the good part of the peel without the bitter white part.  So I did that with four small oranges (from my yard!), placed the zest on a pan, and dried it in a warm (175 degree F) oven for about 30 minutes.  Once it cooled I rubbed it with my fingers to break up the clumps.  I considered pounding it in my mortar but decided to keep the particles as big as they were.  I'm glad I did, as I think they added a good orange flavor.

Here is the picture I took about it.  The composition made me laugh!



Finally, the book's editor added a footnote to this recipe:  "Related to the French craquelins.  See Hess, pp. 155-6 for a discussion of cracknells."

I checked with my fellow historical cooks about the Hess book.  My friend JH sent me a picture of the pages; it lists two versions of the cracknell recipe.  One is flavored with caraway and rosewater, and also contains yeast.  There is a half pound of butter and no egg yolks at all.  The other uses 4 yolks, 1 white, and 2 ounces of butter and is flavored with rosewater and coriander seeds.  Neither uses a glaze.  The first bakes in a "soft oven" and the other calls for "an oven that is not too hot."  A variation has them baked on buttered plates in "a pretty quick oven."

As for craquelins, they are defined as "made of the yolks of eggs, water, and flower; and fashioned like a hollow trendle [a cupped disk or ring]."  Another reference says they are to be "thrown into boiling water and when they rise, they are to be lifted out, wiped, and baked", which is a medieval technique.

I can see why making the shape like a ring is recommended -- it would avoid the sticky center I found even after a long, slow bake.

These would be good as a light dessert, perhaps served with cheese and wine, especially if they were smaller.

I still think the glaze is necessary!