Small,
bite-sized desserts win me over. Every. Time. I see an edible food made small,
mini, and extra super cute, I want it- and by the hundreds. When deciding what
to make for the blog (and my stomach) this week, I went to my gradually growing
list of ideas. I felt ambitious and in the mood for something new. Meringues. I've never even heard of
meringue except on my moms favorite lemon meringue pie. Lots of people (aka my
mom and boyfriend, Kris) told me how hard these are to make and what a pain in
the behind they can be, but I was actually really amazed at how EASY they
were. The hardest part was holding
the electric mixer long enough before getting tired.
I was originally going to make regular meringues
with a raspberry sauce, upon Kris's request, but saw the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations and came up with a different combination. Cinnamon Bun topped with
cream cheese icing.
Excuse the ugly placement of icing. These went
super fast in my house so we kept them out on the counter with the jar of icing
and a knife and everyone placed their own icing. Although- I do suggest warming it up so it's drippy and
drizzling it over the top of each with a spoon or icing bag.
These are
so super easy, but they do take a lot of prep time and baking time, so be
prepared.
Here's the recipe for "simple meringues" that I used. I assume
it's a universal recipe. Plus my
modifications to the directions.
Simple
Meringues
-2 egg
whites
-pinch of
cream of tarter
-1/2 cup
super fine sugar (I used regular granulated sugar and it seemed to work just as
well)
-optional:
packet of Duncan Hines Cinnamon Bun icing creations
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Prepare a piping
bag with desired tip. I used the
star, but it seemed to have been a little watery to hold the shape.
2. Put egg whites in a bowl and
beat with an electric mixer on medium until frothy. Stop the mixer and add the cream of tarter. I used 1/8
teaspoon to be exact.
3. Continue to beat mixture until
soft peaks form. The batter should be thick enough to hold a peak, but it
droops over in seconds.
4. When the batter reaches soft
peaks, speed up the mixer to high and gradually add sugar. This process should take you about 7-9
minutes depending if you used superfine or granulated sugar. Pouring the sugar
should take you the enter 7 minutes. I mixed the flavor packet in with the
sugar and scooped it in a tablespoon at a time.
5. Once the batter is shiny and
holds peaks, it is ready to be placed into a piping bag. Make sure all sugar is
devolved and that the batter doesn't feel grainy. Spoon the mixture into the
piping bag, and begin piping small mounds onto the cookie sheets. They should
be no taller than an inch high
6. Bake for 90 minutes in the
oven. When the meringues are done, turn the oven off and let them sit for a few
hours or over night. I took mine out an extent them sit on my table to cool
COMPLETELY...except for the few we ate straight out of the oven.
After cooled, heat up cream cheese icing in the microwave and drizzle
over meringues. Let dry completely and store in an air tight container for a
few days.
