Cajun Macaroon for First Friday

We have a small gathering at my house on the First Friday of most months, so I made Cajun Macaroons today (Wednesday) so they will be at their prime on Friday night. I blogged about these gems here and here, and after tonight it's safe to say I'm a little obsessed.

Here are the cookies on their way into the oven:

And here they are after cooling:

The Gourmet Cookie Book has the 1941 recipe, and Gourmet continued to publish variations on the original in 1997, 2001, and 2007 (yummy photo here).  I really LOVE the flavor of these macaroons, but I'm not wild about the texture. As discussed earlier, I beat the egg whites harder this time, and I think that was an improvement. But they're still so flat, and that takes some of the yummy out of eating them. I'm happy enough to serve them to friends, but I'm going to keep trying for the perfect recipe.

In other news, I ate so much of my little man-child's Halloween stash yesterday that I wanted to puke most of the night. I had a tummy ache all day and have a headache still tonight. I'm cured of the urge to sugar binge and want to eat nothing but lean protein and vegetables for a few days. But he had a great Halloween and will  happily eat and effortlessly metabolize all that candy by the weekend. If he doesn't finish off his stash, I might try to talk him into this to get it out of the house. (Thanks to Jennifer for turning me on to the Picky Palate blog. I don't have picky eaters but the site has lots of great recipes!)

P.S. I'm thinking about making date bars for First Friday too, those have quickly become a new house favorite!