SC - Need help redacting candy recipe

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 6 Dec 99,, that cclark at vicon.net wrote:

> Don't worry about the oiliness of the almonds. Oil is very bad for egg
> white foams, but this is too thick to make a foam. I think the egg white
> is only beaten to get it partly homogenized for purposes of mixing.
> 
> Alex Clark/Henry of Maldon

I'm not sure that this is true.  Last night I made yet another batch, and 
did two things differently with the almonds.  I doubled the quantities, in 
order to get a stronger almond flavor.  I also added them -- gradually -- 
when I was halfway through adding the sugar.  I figured that way I 
wouldn't put too much solid matter into the egg white.  The white had 
been beaten to soft peaks, and even after adding 5 or 6 ounces of 
sugar, it still had a certain fluffiness to it.  (In my previous experiments, 
it had a certain lightness of texture even after adding all the sugar.)

Last night, when I added the almonds, the batter became much denser.  
I'm not sure which factor was at work: that I added the almonds in the 
middle, or that I doubled the quantity.  I suspect the latter.  Too much 
oil for the egg white to handle.  I had been feeling a little guilty about 
adding more than the exactly specified quantity of almonds, but I 
persuaded myself that it was no different than increasing a spice "to 
taste".

I went ahead and baked the extra-almond batch.  They rose less, 
spread out more, became hollow inside, and crumbled to pieces when I 
attempted to remove them from the baking sheet.

Wasn't it Edison who said optimistically that a hundred failed 
experiments meant that he knew a hundred ways *not* to make a light 
bulb?  I feel that I am becoming an expert on how not to make 
melindres.  :-)


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