Peanut Squares

These are a vintage potluck classic that practically nobody bakes anymore, which is a shame. The base is a true sponge cake: separated eggs, beaten yolks fluffed with cold water and half the sugar, then folded into stiff whites that took the rest. No butter, no oil. The water is the secret. It steams in the hot oven and lifts the sponge taller than yolks alone could manage.

Folding is where most people lose their loft. The flour, sifted twice with baking powder and salt, has to go in with a light hand. Stir hard and you knock the air out of the whites; the squares bake flat and rubbery instead of cloud-light.

The assembly is what makes them peanut squares. Once cooled and cut, each cube gets coated in a thin icing and rolled in finely ground peanuts, so every side is encrusted in nutty crunch. Picture a slightly fluffier, sweeter take on a peanut-coated petit four.

Pro Tips

• Separate the eggs cold but beat the whites at room temperature. Cold whites refuse to whip to stiff peaks and you will lose half the cake’s lift.
• Sift the cake flour the full two times the recipe calls for. Cake flour clumps and unsifted lumps show up as gummy streaks in the finished sponge.
• Cut the squares with a serrated knife in a sawing motion. Pressing down with a chef’s knife crushes the airy crumb.
• Coat the squares while the icing is still tacky. Let it set even a minute too long and the ground peanuts slide right off.

Variations

• Use a chocolate ganache in place of the white icing for a peanut-and-chocolate finish that lands close to a Snickers crunch.
• Roll in toasted coconut instead of peanuts for a different texture entirely.
• Add a half teaspoon of almond extract along with the vanilla for a nuttier, more aromatic sponge.