By Melissa Lainn, an Integrative Nutrition, Health and Wellness Coach
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These meringues are beautiful to look at, delicious and they make a very special handmade gift for any occasion. Also, if you prefer to avoid artificial colourants, our pure Rugani beetroot juice makes a wonderful (and striking!) natural food colourant!
Ingredients
120 ml or ½ cup chilled aquafaba (the brine that is in a can of chickpeas)
½ tsp white vinegar
½ cup + 2 Tbsp fine caster sugar
Method
- Line a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.
- In a large, clean bowl beat the aquafaba with an electric whisk or use a stand mixer until you get stiff peaks. Add ½ tsp of vinegar to stabilise the mixture. To test if whipped aquafaba is ready, gently turn the bowl upside down. If the mixture does not start sliding down, you can start adding sugar. Otherwise, keep on whipping until the mixture stays in the bowl.
- Start adding the caster sugar very slowly, tablespoon by tablespoon, whipping well after each addition. Continue until all the sugar is added. By now, the mixture should become beautifully glossy, thick and sticky – no different to an egg-based meringue, really.
- Preheat your oven to 100 ℃.
- Take a clean Ziplock / sandwich bag and trickle ½ tsp of beetroot juice inside making sure it coats the insides of the bag and doesn’t gather at the bottom. Spoon meringue mixture into the bag – lay the bag on its side for this so that the beetroot juice doesn’t all run to the corner of the bag.
- Now cut the corner of your filled bag off – start with a small hole and make it larger if needed. Squeeze small blobs of the mixture onto the tray and quickly pull away after each blob. Allow some space around each blob or else the drops could stick together.
- Bake for about 75 minutes, then turn the oven off but leave the tray with meringue drops inside with the oven’s door slightly open for another 45-60 minutes for the meringues to dry out fully. Keep the meringues in an airtight container.
- Please note that the exact baking time depends on the size of your meringues so if you are going for a larger size, be sure to adjust baking time. Enjoy!
