From Receipt Book written by Christian Barclay Jaffray: manuscript
Contributor: Marissa Nicosia, Penn State Abington
Recipe
Take 3 quarters of a pund of
sugar, & 8 eggs wanting four
whites, put in the sugar and
Beat them with a stick one
whole hour, put in 3 spoonfulls
rosewater, one spoonfull of
Carvy seed, beat it a quarter of
ane hour longer, take 3 quarters
of a pund of flower, and stirr
it in them, put them in tren
chers buttered & straw a little
suggar on the biskets, & so strake
them a little with a feather, and
them in the oven not very hot:
Notes for a Modern Kitchen
Makes approximately 20 cookies
¾ cup (150g) sugar, plus 1 teaspoon sugar to sprinkle on top
4 eggs, 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks
4 teaspoons rosewater
1 ½ teaspoons caraway seeds
1 1/3 cups (167g) flour
Butter to grease the baking sheets
Preheat your oven to 325F (162C). Butter two baking sheets.
Put the sugar, two whole eggs, and two egg yolks in a large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer). Using a hand mixer (or the whisk on a standing mixer), mix on a high speed for about 10 minutes. Use a spatula to ensure that the sugar is fully integrated. The mixture will turn glossy and slightly bubbly.
Add the rosewater and caraway seeds and mix for 1 minute to integrate both completely.
Gently stir in the flour with a spatula or a large spoon.
Dollop batter onto the baking sheet using a Tablespoon as a guide. Leave room between the cookies as they will spread. Smooth the tops with a spatula. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar over all the cookies.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes. The bottoms and the edges of the cookies will be lightly browned and the tops will be fully set and crispy with sugar.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheets and let cool.
Background
Biscuits, or cookies for Americans, have been around for centuries. This sweet recipe comes from a manuscript in Eberly Family Special Collections that was written by Christian Barclay Jaffray in the late-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The Barclay family were prominent Scottish Quakers, with close ties to William Penn. The manuscript is split into three sections: Medicine, Cookery, and Dyeing.