General Yang’s Western Ocean Wafers

At the close of the eighteenth century, the Chinese poet-epicure, Yuan Mei, recorded this recipe for a Western Ocean (that is, European) cookie made in the household of one General Yang:

Mix an egg white and some flour to a paste. Forge a pair of metal scissors with two metal discs at the ends, each the size of a small plate. When you close the scissors, there should be less than 1/10 inch between the discs. Heat over a fierce fire [with some batter in between the discs] ... In a mo