Fancy something sweet? Meringue toppers are actually super easy to make and perfect if you've tried your hand at homemade vanilla ice cream and have "left over" egg whites.
This is what you need for a good batch of meringue tops:
You need a clean glass or metal bowl, don't use plastic or the meringue won't be stiff. Preferably use a food mixer or an electric hand mixer for whisking.
3 egg whites, approx. 120 grams
225 grams of sugar
A pinch of salt
A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Use a piping bag to make beautiful meringue tops. If you don't have a piping bag, it works well to use a clean bread bag/plastic bag that you cut a hole in, or to make a cornet out of food paper.
How to make the meringue:
Beat the egg whites and about 1/3 of the sugar until fluffy, then add the rest of the sugar little by little until the sugar is almost dissolved. This is to avoid sugar crystals in the meringue. When the meringue is stiff and you can make peaks that do not collapse, it is ready.
Now you can fill the batter into a piping bag or you can play around with dividing it up and adding different colours before dividing it into one or more bags.
Pipe the meringue onto baking paper or a silicone mat in small or slightly larger peaks. The larger they are, the longer they need to dry.
Dry in the oven at 60-70 degrees centigrade for about 2 hours. Leave them a little longer if they are not light and dry after two hours.
Sprinkle dried raspberries, popping candy or finely chopped nuts on the meringue before drying, but be careful not to add too much or they will collapse.
Use chickpea water to make meringue and mayonnaise!
Egg yolk is normally used as an emulsifier (binder) in mayonnaise, meringues, cakes and the like. The egg yolks contain fat, proteins and cholesterol that bind together and trap and retain air during whipping, causing the mixture to thicken. This process is called emulsification.
Since the cloudy water from pre-cooked tinned chickpeas is packed with starch, proteins and a chemical compound called saponin, the same emulsification process can be achieved without the use of eggs. Chickpea water works as an egg substitute in some recipes, plain and simple. That's why you should save it!
Meny.no has a great recipe for vegan meringue made with chickpea water.
Check out this recipe for vegan aioli made with chickpea water.
Harald Nesse
Food and drink manager
Harald is a chef with experience from hotels, restaurants, canteens, cafes and catering. He has gone through the ranks from apprentice to general manager and owner. In SSN, he is a Food and drink manager.
For Harald, food is joy, culture and welfare. Good food means well-being alone or with others.
Harald loves vegetables and is passionate about: good ingredients with as short a journey as possible, sustainable choices, good kitchen finances, people and new ways of doing things!
