Whoever thought that chickpea brine could be used to make deliciously decadent vegan desserts? I have experienced with meringue recipes all summer long and failed time upon time. This recipe works wonderfully – but don’t substitute or adjust anything in this recipe! You can decide whether you want to make small, bite-size meringues, mountain-heap-like desserts or even one big pavlova.
AQUAFABA MERINGUES
Clouds of sweet goodness - this vegan dessert will more than impress your guests.
Ingredients
- The brine from 1x 400 grams chickpea tin (obviously keep the chickpeas for another recipe)
- ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar powder (buy a small packet from your local retailer, it is in the baking aisle with the baking powder)
- 1 cup icing sugar
- Optional: Essence of choice to give your meringues a different flavor. I like using Flavour Nation’s bubblegum essence.
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius. If you are using a convection oven (with a fan), pre-heat to 90 degrees Celsius.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat (make sure the silicone mat is squeaky clean – if there is an oil residue, the meringues will collapse)
In a clean, metal mixing bowl, add the chickpea brine. Using an electrical mixer, whip the brine at high speed for 5 – 6 minutes until it has doubled in size and become white and foamy.
Add the cream of tartar powder and whip another minute on high speed.
Turn the electrical mixing to a low setting and slowly add the icing sugar, one tablespoon at a time. When all the sugar is added, turn the mixing to a high speed again.
Continue to whip for approximately 15 minutes until the mixture becomes thick, white and glossy, and forms stiff peaks when a spoon is inserted and pulled out. Make sure the peaks are stiff, and not soft i.e. they do not curl over. If they do, whip for another few minutes –don’t worry, you cannot over whip meringues.
Spoon the meringue mixture into an icing bag and pipe the mixture onto the lined baking tray into 12 small mountains. If you don’t have a piping bag, simply use a clean metal spoon to scoop dollops of meringue onto the tray.
Bake the meringues for 2 hours and do not open the oven! After 2 hours, turn the oven off, but leave the meringues in the closed oven to cool for another hour.
When cold, remove from the oven and enjoy as is, or top it with chocolate sauce, coconut cream or fresh fruit.
