Ration Recipe: Shredded Wheat Macaroons

Shredded Wheat Macaroon
I've really missed ration cooking, so late last night after the kids were in bed I dug up this little gem for Shredded Wheat Macaroons in my favorite wartime cookbook - Cooking on a Ration by Marjorie Mills. Doesn't that recipe just sound like so much fun? Or maybe ridiculously healthy and gross? Haha!

I wasn't expecting this one to taste very good. You know, maybe really branny and wholesome. But I wanted to try it anyway just because it sounded so weird and intriguing! 

Luckily, I had some shredded wheat taking up shelf space from when I made Armenian Dessert. I was so glad to finally get rid of that box! These macaroons cookies whip up very similar to regular coconut macaroons. For the 2 cups of Shredded Wheat Biscuits, I used 2 packages of three biscuits and it came to a little over 2 cups. For the nut meats I used pecans, which I think was perfect for this kind of cookie. Almonds would be too hard, and walnuts would be too strong-tasting. I ended up using an extra egg white too, because the mixture was too dry. 

I crammed all 24 onto one cookie sheet since they don't spread at all. When they came out, I tried some warm.... Holy cow! They were good! That almond extract and pecans were the perfect addition of flavor for the rather bland shredded wheat. My husband and I had to stop ourselves from eating them all otherwise our kids wouldn't have gotten any. The hazards of baking late at night, I suppose! haha! And strangely, it felt like I was eating breakfast... 

The next day the cookies were much harder, and therefore the danger of shredding your palate goes up, but they were still really yummy. 

Overall, a surprising recipe, and one I wouldn't mind making again. I guess that means I have more buying of Shredded Wheat cereal in my future. Who knew?!

Cooking on a Ration by Marjorie Mills, ca. 1943