Italian Macaroons

Ingredients

 * 8 ounces of sweet almonds
 * a little orange-flower water
 * 1 pound of sifted sugar
 * 3 egg whites

Directions

 * 1) First blanch and pound sweet almonds (expose them to the air for a day or two before they are required to be pounded) with a little orange-flower water, sifted sugar, and the frothed egg whites.
 * 2) Smooth the ingredients by rubbing them well together, and add very gradually the frothed whites.
 * 3) When the paste looks soft and smooth, drop it, in quantities about the size of a walnut, through a funnel on to some wafer-paper.
 * 4) Bake on the ordinary plate, in a rather slow over, to a pale color.
 * 5) A strip or two of almond should be stuck on the top of each macaroon before baking.
 * 6) Time, fifteen to twenty minutes to bake.