Thursday, March 9, 2017

Meringue Cookies

This recipe is from the cookbook Aquafaba by Zsu Dever.

Recipe: see page 104 of Aquafaba.

This is a wild cookbook. I laughed as I made this recipe because it was such an odd idea! I didn't believe this could actually work.

You know how when you open up a can of chickpeas and you drain out the liquid? It turns out you can make stuff out of that liquid.... like Meringue Cookies! That bean water is called Aquafaba.

You take the bean water and blend it with a mixer or a whisk. After awhile it starts to froth and foam and then it firms up. It's similar to how people whisk egg whites to make meringue.  Vegans don't eat eggs, so this is an interesting replacement.

Add a little sugar to sweeten it, and you have a base that you can use to make things like the recipes in this book: lemon meringue pie, cool-whip-style dessert topping, ice cream, swiss buttercream icing, marshmallows and marshmallow creme, and even vegan butter and cheese.

Once the bean water has been whipped for awhile it starts to get a little sticky. This apparently makes it a very good binder in recipes that usually call for eggs. The cookbook has recipes for baked goods such as brownies, quiche, hot cross buns, challah, brioche, macarons, and butter cookies.

I added a little beet juice to provide a some pink food coloring to these meringue cookies, and used a pastry bag to create the shapes. Meringue cookies are very light and airy. It is almost like eating cotton candy. You don't really chew them, they just kind of dissolve in your mouth.

You can view additional photos from the book on my pinterest page for the Aquafaba cookbook.

You can view this recipe for meringue cookies at The Jazzy Vegetarian website.

Ingredients: granulated sugar, aquafaba (bean water), cream of tartar.