SC - Need help redacting candy recipe

[Christi Rigby]

Okay, I confess myself baffled.  I was trying to redact a recipe for 
melindres.  Tried twice, and each time was a failure.  So I'm appealing 
to the list.

First, here's the recipe:

Source: Diego Granado, _Libro del Arte de Cozina_, 1599
translation: Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)

MEMORIA DE MELINDRES -- Memorandum of Sweet Cakes

Take a pound of sugar, ground and sifted.  Take a white of fresh egg and 
beat it with a cane, and cast in in the sugar, and knead it very well, and 
if it should be soft, cast in more sugar, and take a dozen blanched 
almonds, blanched and pounded, add it all together, and after kneading 
them take this dough, and make some spirals as you wish, and cook 
them in an oven with a basin.

- - - -

I took a large egg white and beat it in my KitchenAid.  The first time, I 
beat it until foamy; then slowly added the pound of sugar.  At the end, I 
mixed in 12 blanched almonds, which I had ground finely.  What I got 
was something that resembled wet sand, and would barely hold 
together, let alone be shaped into spirals.  I discarded it and started 
over.

The second time, I beat the egg white until the soft peak stage, then 
turned the mixer to slow, and added in the sugar gradually and the 
almonds at the end.  This time, the texture was more promising.  
Halfway through, it had a dense, smooth look that seemed as though it 
might be heading towards a shapable dough.  But by the time I had 
added in the full pound of sugar, it resembled slightly firmer wet sand.  It 
was not shapable.

I'm not sure what to try next.  Beat the white until stiff?  Less sugar?  
Both?  Or is there some other factor I'm not seeing?

I assume, BTW, that the ground almonds are there primarily for 
flavoring.  Although I taste the "dough" both times, I could not detect 
any almond flavor.  Maybe I should grind the almonds finer than powder, 
to a more paste-like consistency?  Would the oilyness help spread the 
flavor, or would it do Bad Things to the egg white?

Seeking your collective wisdom...

Brighid


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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