SC - Currant vodka cheese

[Stefan li Rous]

Thanks to all those who responded with suggestions.  Tried again 
tonight.  I ran some granulated sugar through my blender to make a 
finer product.  It was not powdered, but definitely finer than what I 
started with.

I beat the egg white to soft peaks at speed 6 on my KitchenAid.  Then I 
reduced speed to stir and slowly added the fine sugar, a tablespoon or 
two at a time.  I discovered that there is a narrow range in which the 
mixture is firm enough to be worked but not so firm it become crumbly.  
Once you hit the saturation point, just a little more sugar can ruin a 
batch.  In my first batch tonight, I added 13 oz. of sugar, then made the 
mistake of adding 1/2 oz. more.  I wound up with "wet sand" which had 
to be discarded.  Started over.  ::sigh::  It's a good thing sugar is 
relatively cheap nowadays.

In the second batch, it took only 10 oz. to get to the same consistency 
as I had previously achieved with 13.  I don't know what made the 
difference.  Size of the egg white?  Degree to which it was beaten?  
(The second time, my "soft peaks" were softer than the first.)  Halfway 
though shaping the spirals, I found my mixture was getting drier and 
more crumbly, so I only wound up using half that batch.  Next time, I'll 
stop at the moister end of that narrow range of workability.

I measured out 1-oz lumps of "dough" and rolled them into ropes, about 
11 inches long by 1/2 inch thick.  I coiled these into loose spirals and 
place them on a non-stick pan.  I placed them in a preheated 300 F 
oven.  After 15 minutes, they were golden-brown and looked done.  I 
removed them from the pan with the help of a thin spatula, and set them 
to cool on a rack.

As expected, the melindres expanded during baking.  What I did *not* 
expect is that the inner parts of the spirals rose higher, so they had 
something of a turban look to them.  They were, of course, extremely 
sweet, and had only a faint almond taste.  My husband liked them more 
than I did, but he has more of a sweet tooth.  They were firm and 
crunchy in texture.  If I had to give them an English name, I would call 
them something like "almond meringue candy".  (I hesitate to call 
anything a cookie which has absolutely *no* flour or starch product in 
it.)  I don't think I will ever love them, but with some tweaking I think they 
can be an item that will apeal to some people.  And it's something 
period to do with all those leftover egg whites from making rosquillas 
and bizcochos.  :-)

Next time I will see if a shorter baking period will produce something 
softer and chewier, but still thoroughly cooked.  Maybe a lower 
temperature, too.  Does anyone have any comments to offer on 
temperature/cooking time?


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