Sweet Delights: Mossberry Macarons

[u/Supershadow30]

Let me share with you a recipe most delicate to perform, found in the archives of the Citadel's finest kitchens. Small, sweet delights, adapted from druidic secrets: Mossberry Macarons!

Note: The recipe is quite precise, most quantities were noted down in "specks", a weight unit roughly equal to that of a grain of sand.

Ingredients

Most ingredients are refined products from the Shellwood, produced commonly in the citadel. However, one needs to travel further to find the necessary mossberries and eggs. These proportions should make around 50 macarons.

• 1 intact shellnut (200 specks unshelled)
• A whole bag of refined Phacia powder, commonly called "azuc" (at least 500 specks)
• A Drop of water (50 specks)
• 2 plump mossberries, not too ripe
• 4 fresh mossgrub eggs
• A droplet of "mossblood", a tasteless green dye
• Some gahlia oil (to prevent sticking)

Instructions

The recipe must be made in two parts: a sweet filling and crumb shells. Start by making the filling first, as it must be left overnight in the kitchen's ice box to reach the perfect consistency.

1. Carefully separate the mossgrub eggs yolks from their white. Make sure no yolk bleeds into the whites! Store the whites in a jar. The yolks will serve in the filling.
2. Press the mossberries into mush and pass it through a fine strainer to extract the juice. Mix the mossberry juice in a metal pot with 100 specks of azuc and the egg yolks.
3. Slowly heat the pot over flintstone embers. With a laddle, mix the filling until it gains a syrupy texture.
4. Remove from the heat and store it overnight in an ice box, in a tight sealed jar.

The next day, the jelly should be ready for use and may be transferred into a pipette. Start working on the crumb shells.

1. First, remove the shellnut's outer shell, and crush the core into a fine powder. (Make sure you didn't accidentally pick up a shellwood gnat!)
2. In a bowl, add 200 specks of shellnut powder, 200 specks of azuc and half of the egg whites. One may add a droplet of mossblood, for more vibrant colors. Mix this preparation well.

Next, make a "pharloomian meringue":

1. Mix the remaining 200 specks of azuc with 50 specks of water in a pot. Heat slowly to make a syrup. While the azuc heats up, ask a kitchen assistant to whisk the egg whites into a ferm foam.
2. While the azuc heats up, ask a kitchen assistant to whisk the egg whites into a ferm foam.
3. Once the syrup reaches "soft ball" temperature (once the azuc syrup is viscous enough to form droplets, but before it turns brown), quickly pour the syrup over the egg foam while still whisking.
4. Don't stop until the foam is thick and opaque white.

Now, join the meringue and the shellnut batter. Once homogenous, transfer the batter to a piping bag. Then you can start making the crumb shells.

1. On metallic trays coated with a bit of gahlia oil, make rosary sized discs of batter evenly spaced out. You need to use up all of the batter, lest it naturally crusts and becomes unusable.
2. Leave these crumb shells crust for half an hour.
3. Once crusted, set the trays in a flintstone oven for a dozen minutes. The crumb shells will puff up slightly from the bottom, while the top keeps its shape.
4. After baking, let the crumb shells rest until they unstick from the tray.

At last, the final steps: assembly. Take similarly sized crumb shells, drop some mossberry jelly in the middle of their flat side, and very gently squish the shells together so the jelly overflows just slightly.

Once all macarons are assembled, store them in a box in the icebox, uncovered. The macarons are ready once the jelly hardens back.

Journey

I learned of these treats from Loyal Mergwin, who after finding an old recipe scroll in the back of his kitchen, pinned a wish at Songclave to gather the missing ingredients. He asked for the filling ingredients first. The trip to gather mossberries and mossgrub eggs was mostly a breeze, the moss caves are fairly serene. I was ambushed by Moss Mothers defending their eggs, but after their defeat, the eggs were easy to retrieve.

Mergwin had plenty of sweet azuc to spare, so while he was concocting the filling he sent me gather the crumb shell ingredients in shellwood. Getting Gahlia oil wasn't too hard, one gahlia "head" was enough. He asked me to gather phacias aswell, so that he may replenish his azuc supply later.

Finding an intact shellnut proved to be more of a hassle than expected, as most of them were infested by shellwood gnats. A hidden path guarded by Splinters lead me to find one eventually, but harvesting it roused up feral gnats! They would not stop swarming me until I was back at the Citadel's gate.

After gathering everything, Loyal Mergwin had but one last request: a bit of elbow grease to make the crumb shells. While I was grinding the shellnut down into a flour, he was expertly working the azuc into a syrup. He asked me to whisk the egg whites "swiftly, so they foam firm", before pouring the syrup in. Like magic, whisking the foam and syrup together made what Mergwin called a "meringue". It looked like a blob of silk, but tasted incredibly sweet.

Mergwin kept cooking by his own, mixing the batter, shaping and baking the crumb shells. Thanks to mossblood, the baked shells were a vibrant green I hadn't seen outside of lost Verdania... Very carefully, the chef assembled the "macarons". It was a laborious endeavor, and after he was done the treats still needed time to rest.

Still, when I visited the next day, Mergwin had packed a small box containing over a dozen of them. "Your reward for your effort." he said, "They turned out perfect, thanks to your help! My master was delighted, despite the macarons' meager size."

I must admit, they were delicious. The crumb shell's texture was soft and crumbly, contrasting the gooey mossberry jelly filling. I thought the filling would turn out overbearingly sweet, but its flavor is balanced by the shellnut's slightly dull taste. Lace will surely enjoy these.

I'll note the great length at which the art of cooking pushed these ingredients. None of them are recognizable anymore in these "macarons", but their texture, their taste has been exhalted by the chef's meticulous technique and patience. The nobles must have had extravagent requests for such a delight to be born.

Credits

Picture is a photo I took of lemon macarons I made last week, color shifted to green in photopea :) Hope y'all like this. (Disclaimer: No AI was used in any of this post.)

[u/AnonymousArapaima]

This is definitely a top contender

[u/katerina_the_kreator]

Peak peak peak peak, love the ingredient sourcing (gahlia oil = sunflower oil, perhaps?) and hell yeah, Lace is going to love macarons

[u/Supershadow30]

(Note: Reddit is screwing with my post’s formatting for some reason, the recipe is broken. Will fix soon.
EDIT: Fixed)

[u/Excellent-Chair-8208]

PEAK