Feet at Last!

Finally, some fetish-worthy feet!

The first few times I ever made macaroons, I got lucky and they came out just right. But I've never really replicated that success. I've made some delicious ones (basil!), and some with fascinating textures (ginger!), but they never get the little feet they are supposed to have.

I made another batch this weekend, and this time I did some experimenting with ratios of dry ingredients (sugar and almonds) to wet (egg white). The ones that I was absolutely sure were too dry were the only ones to develop the feet. So now I know. That doesn't mean I'll be able to replicate it, but I will try!
(They are still a little lumpy, but that just means I need to grind the almonds finer.)

The flavor, by the way, is powdered Sassafras root. They taste remarkably similar to the root-beer flavor of bottle caps, and apparently sassafras will cure gonorrhea, just so you know.

I made a batch of Sarsaparilla bark ones at the same time. The flavor was much more subtle. A bit like cream-soda, really, but mostly it just emphasized the flavor of almonds. That flavor would mix very, very well with candy-cap mushroom.

Last week was Sesame. Tasted like toasted marshmallows (Yum!).

I guess I'm in the "S's" now, so I'll have to try savory, saxifrage, saffron, ...