Saturday, December 1, 2018

Aquafaba Meringues Finally

What do you do with left over chickpea water? Turn it into meringue and fake marshmallow fluff!  I had some left over from my chickpea stew the other night and that created the itch to literally whip up meringues. This time , they turned out picture perfect.

I used the recipe from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken blog and I think it was one of the best. Before you do anything line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You can attach it with a dab of meringue. I didn/t I laid a jar of salt on it to flatten the paper.


It starts with a cup of aquafaba. Mine came from Stop and Shop chickpeas.

Then add in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ,.I used my favorite Nelsen-Massey.
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Then 3/4 cup of granulated sugar.

It was mixing the first three ingredients, using first a stand mixer than a hand held one with a balloon whisk. The recipe said beat for six minutes, adding a spoonful of sugar  until everything is completely  mixed. It took me fifteen minutes to get the meringue into stiff peaks. Then it's dropping them by teaspoon on the parchment. This recipe makes a lot of meringue. I had to use two cookie sheets I baked on on the oven's center rack and the extra on the top most for two hours in a 200 F.  degree oven.
Imagine my surprise when they came out perfect!.  I turned off the oven and then let them dry out in a cooling oven. 
Their shapes were perfect, so different from that gooey mess I made last summer (the weather could have something to do with it).
The baked ones had a slight chickpea flavor which I'm going to amend next time. I may add cocoa or coffee flavoring. The texture was perfect airy and crunchy.
I had a lot of batter left over.  You have to bake it  more or less in one shot. However I had a whole tub left over. Tasting it reminded me of marshmallow fluff . What does that pair with? Frozen dessert! I scooped a big glob on Reveri Chocolate Forest and YUM!
This is my new favorite topping. It's even better than whipped. cream.

This was a fun experiment with exciting and unexpected results. I will definitely vary the recipe to try different flavors.like coffee and cocoa. maybe even peppermint.
Try this recipe for vegan Christmas cookies, It's a truly an interesting  bake!

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