Vegan Meringues
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While I was developing my vegan key lime pie milk punch recipe, I noticed that I was overlooking one crucial element to key lime pie…
Vegan meringue!
You’ll need the following equipment:
Ingredients:
Though classic meringues are made with egg whites, they can also be made with aquafaba- aka the liquid left over from cooking dried chickpeas. It’s also the liquid found in cans of chickpeas. It behaves much like egg whites when whipped up with sugar and a bit of acid.
To make vegan meringues I will be using a quarter cup of aquafaba- which you can source from a can of chickpeas, or by saving the liquid from cooking dried chickpeas. To the aquafaba, add a quarter cup of sugar, and heat in a saucepan over low heat until all the sugar dissolves. After the sugar has dissolved, you will want to let this cool down in the fridge until the sweetened aquafaba is cold.
I find that the meringues whip up much faster when the ingredients are cold which is why I will also be refrigerating the metal bowl I will be using to whip the meringues in. While that’s is cooling down, I’m going to preheat my oven to its lowest temperature which is 250 degrees farenheight.
Once the aquafaba syrup has chilled, I will transfer the syrup into a cold metal bowl then I’m going to whip it until frothy. Once I get a good froth going, I will add a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar- this will help the meringues hold their shape as well as whipping up faster.
Lemon juice or lime juice can work here too. Lastly, I will add a half teaspoon of vanilla extract and continue to whip the mixture until I have achieved stiff peaks.
Now all that’s left to do is to spoon the meringues onto a parchment lined baking sheet. A piping bag would lead to neater meringues, but since I don’t have one, I just use a teaspoon.
I kind of like the organic shapes they make.
Now I will just pop these in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes. I let them sit in the oven for an additional 5 or 10 minutes with the heat off and the door cracked to keep them from browning.
These turned out much better than I expected - you would never know they were made with chickpea water.
These make the perfect complement to my vegan key lime pie milk punch and are equally delicious on their own!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Aquafaba
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar or 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Method:
Heat aquafaba and sugar over low heat until sugar dissolves. Store in the fridge until completely cold. Preheat oven to its lowest temperature.
Whip the cold aquafaba in a cold metal bowl until it begins to froth. Add cream of tartar or lemon juice and whip until stiff peaks have formed.
Pipe or spoon dollops of the meringue onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let them sit in the oven with the door cracked for an additional 5-10 minutes with the oven off.
Let meringues cool completely before transferring them to a serving dish.
