Thursday, May 9, 2013

cranberry almond meringues

When life gives you eggs, bake a cake.

When life gives you egg whites, make meringues!




I had some egg whites left over from making dumplings and they needed to be used. I did not have enough to make a pavlova, neither was there enough to dump into a hor fun gravy. While flipping through Easy Baking by The Australian Women's Weekly, I chanced upon a recipe for Cranberry Chewies and decided to have a go at making them since I had all the ingredients.

I started by preparing the almond flakes. I placed the almond flakes onto a dry pan and roasted them until they turned brown. The almond flakes must be moved around constantly in the pan because they tend to burn rather easily.




Once the almond flakes were brown, I placed them in a bowl and set it aside to allow them to cool.

Making a meringue starts with having a clean, clean, clean mixing bowl. You need to be very sure that there are no traces of fat (butter, etc) on the inside surface of your mixing bowl. Clean the surface of the mixing bowl by using a little lemon juice or vinegar. Make sure the bowl is dry before you start! Meringues are very sensitive and they don't like any moisture


Also, you must separate the egg whites from the yolks very carefully. Cold eggs separate more easily than those at room temperature because the whites hold together better. Because there is fat in the yolk, even a tiny trace of egg yolk can ruin a meringue.


The egg whites are beaten at a high speed using a whisk. The paddle attachment from your mixer will not be able to whip enough air into the egg whites. When you have reached the 'soft peak' stage, start adding the sugar a little at a time, and continue beating until all the sugar has dissolved.




Once the egg whites have reached the 'stiff peak' stage (refer to the following picture), the egg whites are ready. Do not over beat the egg whites. If you overbeat them, they will liquify again. 



Using a spatula, very gently fold in the cornflour, orange rind, cranberries and almond flakes.


Before
After

I lined a baking tray with baking paper and using a tablespoon, I simply dropped heaped spoonfuls of the mixture on to the baking paper. If you wish, you can pipe them onto the baking sheets. I left some space in between the meringues in case they expand while cooking.


The meringues were then baked at 160C for about 30 minutes. They were allowed to cool on a cooling rack,


and were dusted with some icing sugar before being served.



Sweet and Chewy yumminess.

RECIPE

Cranberry Chewies
Adapted from Easy Baking by The Australian Weekly

Ingredients:

3/4 (60g) cup flaked almonds
3 egg whites
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 tbs cornflour, sifted
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
3/4 cup (105g) dried cranberries
1 tbs icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease baking trays and line with baking paper.

2. Dry roast almond flakes in a frying pan until browned lightly. Remove almond flakes from pan, set aside to cool.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar gradually, and beat until all the sugar has dissolved.
4. Gently fold in cornflour, orange rind, almond flakes and cranberries.
5. Drop heaped spoonfuls of mixture onto baking paper using a tablespoon. Leave a 4cm space between the meringues.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Leave on the tray for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
7. Cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.

NOTE: Meringues can be kept in an air-tight container (lined with paper towels) for up to 3 days. 










2 comments:

  1. I've not had the courage to try meringues simply because I don't think I can't seperate yolks & whites cleanly and there's the worry of over-whisking. I guess I just have to try it for myself and learn from there :) Thanks for inspiring me once again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. don't worry, it really is easy. just separate each egg in a different bowl before you put it with the other whites. so if there is an accident, the rest of the whites will not be affected!

      Delete