a) I could make them tiny
b) Coffee flavor - who doesn't like that in New England?
c) plus Chocolate
d) plus pistachios and/or pecans
e) meringues are pretty easy
f) they're Martha's recipe!
Note: If you are allergic to eggs... just wait for another post, because meringues are definitely not for you.
If you haven't ever had a meringue, you should. They are lovely - crispy on the outside, light and soft on the inside. Or let them cook longer and have them crispy all the way through, and when you bite them they just melt. (I think that's the way to go, personally, although not traditional.) If you've never made them, and presuming you like to bake otherwise why would you be here, you should. They really are easy - egg whites and sugar is all it is. You whip to the desired consistency, and voila - meringue. Someday, I will introduce you to the Pavlova or the meringue-topped pie, or maybe some meringue-based icings, but today - the meringue cookie.
What special things you need to make these - a whisk, as a mixer attachment, or attached to a really strong arm, parchment paper, and time.
This recipe makes a lot. Really a lot. Three egg whites and you've got 100 meringues. I don't need 100, so how am I going to divide this? I decide to base my recipe on 1 egg white, and reduce the rest of the ingredients by 2/3rds, and I'll have around 30 or so little bitty bites. I have a large stand mixer, so I crossed my fingers that it would be able to whip up just 1 egg white. Why wouldn't it, you ask? Because the bowl is slightly conical, and the whisk is almost heart-shaped, ending with one loop on the bottom, which is essentially all that will make contact with the bottom of the bowl and the tiny bit of (room temperature - it's important!) white in there, but the worst that can happen? I start over with 2 whites and have twice as much as I was hoping for. I can live with that.
So I read the ingredients and..."1 1/2 teaspoons Trablit coffee extract (available at culinarydistrict.com) or 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract". Great - some fancy extract I'd have to order? So what do I do... I remember seeing coffee extract at the store - yay!- because I'm sure the alternative would be ridiculously priced, and not in my kitchen within the day. In fact... hold on.... it's 3oz for about $14 (I just looked it up). It's about the same as the McCormick actually, however, I don't need to go to Los Angeles to get the McCormick. I think I know which I should get. And yes, I realize that you are saying "but this says you can also use vanilla extract". Yeah but that's not the point considering what drew me to the recipe was the title promising "Coffee-meringue". By the way, I should say that one of the beautiful things about meringues - flavor them however you want. This says coffee or vanilla, but you could use peppermint, spearmint, coconut, lemon, maple.. anything. And if you're feeling fun, some food coloring is great too. I wouldn't use food coloring with this since using the coffee extract turns the meringue a very light tan color, all on its own. Vanilla extract will also take away from the stark whiteness, but if you like, you can buy clear vanilla extract to keep the very white color (and not just for egg whites - can use it for cake batters, icings, etc.; Wilton sells it and you can get it at Michaels).
Now here's a little something about me that you may or may not know - if there is a way to screw up a recipe - I will find it and do it. I consider this to be a service to all potential recipe users, because then when I totally f*** something up (yes, I get that angry that the f-bombs may fly if small children are not around), I can tell you what went wrong and how I fixed it, or alternatively, didn't. I made it through labs in college that way: students there until 2am to get an experiment right? Suckers! I just did it, and when it was wrong, I wrote a report about what went wrong and why. My professors loved it and so did I because I was tired and was not going to stay at that hideous place for a single nanosecond more than was necessary. And now, I employ that same logical thinking and troubleshooting to my cooking, to help you all. You're welcome!
If you haven't guessed, that was a segue to the part where I never noticed it said I was going to cook everything in a double boiler before whipping. What a friggin' pain. It also does not make me happy to add an extra pan to the equation. I map out my pan and utensil use carefully so that I only use the very least number of items possible... but....brainstorm! The eggs whites are already in my stand mixer bowl, it's stainless steel... voila: saucepan with water simmering, mixer bowl is now the top of the double-boiler. AND I will stir while simmering with the mixer's whisk, for no extra utensil. Genius! Not totally screwed up, but close call.
Once your whites are all whipped and fluffy and shiny and pretty, it's pastry bag time. Again, I did all the cake decorating class crap and I have gel dyes, a thousand different tips, couplings, plastic pastry bags, know how to make a pastry bag out of parchment, but you know what I'm using? A ziploc bag. I do not want to get out a single extra item (remember it's Christmas Eve and I've been making cookies for 2 days). Put the stuff in a ziploc bag and cut about 1/2" off a bottom corner of the bag. Ta-da! Pastry bag! The tip Martha was calling for is just a smooth round tip, so the bag will do. And it does - popping out little meringues just like in the picture, like little "kiss" shapes. Into the oven and now... we wait.
And wait.
And wait. Meringues take time. Crisp meringues sit in the oven at a low temp, for quite a while. It's just how it is. And Martha says this should take about an hour, to crisp on the outside and pulls off the parchment easily. Only she lied. My meringues stayed in the oven for a little over 2 hours before being able to lift off the parchment and have the nice crisp on the outside. My cookie sheets are insulated so things don't crisp on the bottom how I would like (I will never buy another one of those sheets and I have 3...ugh). I would even like them to be kind of dry and crisp all the way through, but that can take a very very very long time. Typically, they are a little moist on the inside.
They cool really quickly and the next part is beyond easy - melt some chocolate, chop some nuts (and toast them if you like), and dip away. I used pecans and did toast them, which takes all of 10 minutes. I put my dipped meringues on some waxed paper to set, and prayed desperately that I had the willpower not to eat them all before they even made it to the storage container.
About storing - Martha says that "Meringues can be made 5 days ahead and stored in a cool, dry place at room temperature." I baked these on Christmas Eve, dipped them Christmas morning, put them in an airtight container for travel, and they were fine Christmas afternoon. After that, they were, to borrow a chemistry term (because I can't help that) rather hygroscopic; they pick up moisture from the air and get sticky and start imploding a bit. It doesn't matter really - the flavor is so nice... very subtle coffee with the chocolate and nuts - very yum.
There's tons of meringue recipes and really, try one. If it seems intimidating to try whipping egg white and getting that right, it's not! Just try it. Don't have some kind of way to decoratively extrude on a cookie sheet - so what, use a spoon. You can make them big, they'll just need to cook longer. As I mentioned at the beginning, someday we'll discuss a Pavlova which is a giant, divine meringue pillow. And EASY!
So I can add Martha's picture of these little delights, because mine really looked very much like this. I fully recommend trying it.
Coming soon - what happens when professional chefs go commercial.
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