Meet Spring’s Sweetest Treat: Pastel Meringues Recipe
Ingredients:
– 3 large egg whites
– 3/4 cup caster sugar
– pinch salt
– 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
– 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds removed
Add-ins:
– 1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios – plus more for sprinkling
– 1/2 cup freeze-dried raspberries, minced – plus more for sprinkling
– 1/4 cup chocolate shavings + the zest of one small orange – plus more for sprinkling
– green, pink, and orange gel food coloring
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 215 degrees F.
2. Line baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
3. Place egg whites, sugar and vanilla bean seeds in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk to combine.
4. Add a couple of inches of water to a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Then place the mixing bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double-boiler.
5. Heat for about 3-5 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch.
6. Return mixing bowl back to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until glossy stiff peaks form (about 5-7 minutes or until the bowl of the mixer is cool to the touch).
7. Halfway through mixing, add in the cream of tartar and salt.
8. With about 1 minute left, add in gel food coloring.
9. Stop mixer and removed bowl from stand. Add in the raspberries, pistachios, or chocolate shavings and orange zest and gently fold with a rubber spatula to combine.
10. Using a large disher, cooker scoop, or serving spoon, place dollops of meringue on the parchment-lined baking sheets. Then sprinkle with pistachios, raspberries, or chocolate shavings and orange zest.
11. Bake in a preheated oven for 1- 1 1/2 hours, or until the outsides are crisp and dry and the insides are chewy.
12. Serve immediately after cooling or store in an air-tight container away from any humidity.
Time to whip up your meringue! Whisk together egg whites, sugar, and vanilla, dissolve over a double boiler, then beat on high speed until your peaks are stiff and glossy. Half way through though, drop in that cream of tartar and salt, then about a minute before its done, add a few drops of food coloring to get a light pastel hue. We used pink for our raspberry meringues, orange for our orange-chocolate batch, and green for our pistachio variety—the colors are both super pretty and a cute visual cue relating to what your about to bite into.
Now for the fun part: the add ins! As we mentioned before, we used chopped raspberries, orange zest and chocolate shavings, and ground pistachios in each of our meringues—but you can toss in whatever you’re craving (something sophisticated like matcha powder? or straight up sugar like Sour Patch Kids? Ohh… Sour Patch Kids meringue!) Then, scoop the meringue onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet for a rustic look like we did. Alternatively, feel free to place meringue in a piping bag to create swirls or giant meringue kisses.
Before you bake ’em be sure to sprinkle on some toppings! Then set your batch in a preheated 215 degrees F oven for 1-1 1/2 hours or until the outside is super crisp. As soon as they’re cool, serve them up!
A dainty cake platter seems most appropriate for showcasing these pastel confections. The scoop-shaped meringues stack perfectly, don’t you think?
Though, no matter how good it looks, we’ll probably sneak some away from the main display… who are we kidding? We’ll be nibbling on these light treats all day :)
