| Mrs. Moran's Squares 4 egg whites ¼ tsp salt 1 c sugar 1 c graham cracker crumbs ½ c chocolate chips ½ c coconut ½ chopped walnuts* 1 tsp vanilla 9 graham crackers Heat oven to 350°. Line a square pan with foil, then line the bottom with graham crackers. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar in small amounts, scattering each addition over the top rather than just dumping it in one place and beating it in thoroughly before adding the next. Fold in the vanilla, then the rest of the ingredients. Spread in the pan and bake for 30 minutes. *No.
Mrs. Richard C Moran, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas: Favorite Recipes of America: Desserts, 1968
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It's kind of rare to see someone sending in a recipe she named for herself. Maybe every time they had a church social, someone would say "Oh, Mrs. Moran, please bring some of those squares you make!" Or maybe she always set them out in the center of the dessert table whenever she had company because people always anticipated them. At any rate, they have to be good, right?
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| At the beginning, making these looks just like making kisses. |
Well, they better be good, because the beginning of these involves a lot of time with an electric mixer. When your egg whites grow horns, does that mean they have reached adulthood, that you have a protective spirit in the kitchen, or that Satan will attack your hips?
Meringues may look like pretty ice sculptures when photographed, but this got really iffy looking with the rest of the stuff in it.
Fortunately, the graham crackers at the bottom didn't look any good either, so it all matched. Lacking a square pan, the pot was called into service. Square crackers do not go nicely into round pans.
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| I don't care how bad the foil looks; I didn't have to wash the pot afterward. |
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| Ker-splot! |
It went into the oven looking like someone dumped sand into icing...
...and came out looking like it went through a severe drought.
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| I thought about calling it "Texas Lakebed Cake." |
Très tempting, non?
However, on the inside, all meringue-ness had disappeared. It just seemed like graham cracker, coconut, and chocolate chips held together by some magical force. With meringue on top.
However, these were really good. I really liked how the graham crackers went soft in baking. There was a crisp layer of meringue on top and at the edges. Not sure if they're quite worth the bother, but they're really good all the same.
Hey, weren't those crackers supposed to be in the form of crumbs?
ReplyDeleteThe ones stirred into the white stuff were, the ones in the pan were not. I thought it was a bit odd too, but they made these a cinch to lift out of the pan.
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