Naples Biscuits

Naples Biscuits were incredibly popular in the 18th Century, Hannah uses them in several recipes as bases for puddings or other dishes, for example as a base for a trifle. They also pop up in literature from time to time:

• 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Penguin 1985, p. 66:

  After saluting her, he led her to a couch that fronted us, where they both sat down, and the young Genoese helped her to a glass of wine, with some Naples biscuit on a salver.

is one example, And I know that Samuel Richardson mentioned them too, but can't find the quote.It matters not, they were widespread and much loved and surprisingly easy to make. They taste richly of roses that linger in your mouth long after the biscuit is finished. Which is quite nice and made me wonder if they were eaten as breath fresheners as well. But maybe that's just me.
Anyway, since they are a Georgian staple ( Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft and Fanny Burney must have eaten them ALL the time) I really wanted to give them a go. Hannah doesn't give a recipe, possibly because they were such a standard that she didn't feel the need to ('surely everyone can make these?') but there are actually a fair few recipes on the internet and I found a suitably historical one and tried it out. The results are exquisite and have an authentic taste to them that is a bit different from the cakes and biscuits we are used to,they are less sweet and sort of eggy. This is because there was no baking soda then, that was a Victorian invention, and the lightness of the cakes came from beating the eggs briskly until fluffy which made them rise.

2 eggs
25g / 1/4 cup granulated sugar
rose water
100g / 1/2 heaped cups flour
salt

'Separate the two eggs—whites in medium size bowl, yolks in small bowl / cup

In medium sized bowl, whip (by hand with a whisk,it's not too hard and good for your arm muscles) the egg whites until frothy and continue to whip, gradually adding in the sugar. After the sugar is all added, preheat oven to 180C /350F

Turn to the small bowl/cup with egg yolks. Beat the yolks gently, then stir in several ample glugs of rose water and salt to taste, beating in gently.

Pour the egg yolk mixture into the medium bowl with egg white mixture and whip together. Sift in the flour in one go and stir gently to combine, being sure to scrape the edges of the bowl to get it all in'.

I poured spoonfuls into a Madelaine tin, which I found suited it perfectly, and was just enough for 12 biscuits

(I found this recipe on the historical fiction blog of Alexa Chipman - imaginationlane.net)

They were quickly made and my daughters liked them so much I have been requested to make them again tomorrow X