KBB #4–Chocolate Swirl Meringues
The fourth challenge from Klub Berani Baking is meringues which I’ve never done before. I’ve avoided making meringues for a long time because I don’t like them too much. They remind me of eating sea water taffy, usually they’re sickly sweet with flavors that I don’t care. Oh, and if they don’t get baked properly, they turned into sticky mess inside your mouth. Having said that, I couldn’t decline this challenge since I’ve commited to the club to stick with whatever challenge they give me. And I like making something new that way I’m actually forced to learn something unique.
I made my meringues this Thursday and I did have leftover egg whites already in the fridge. The process was not as hard as I thought, even with heating the egg white and sugar in water bath something that’s again new to me. I assumed this method of heating egg whites is called Swiss meringue technique. It said to stabilize the egg white better when baked and produced longer lasting meringues. According to one of baking books, to know if the sugar has melted rub the liquid between your fingers. If it doesn’t feel gritty that means the sugar has completely melted. Or if you want to be sure, use a thermometer and wait until it registers 120 degree F or 49 degree Celcius.
From there, the process was still going smooth until I found out that my pastry bag was too small for all the meringues to be put in. Well, I did it in two stages, and the last one turned into a mess. Meringue emerged from the top of the bag into my hand…pretty soon my hands were all sticky. Oh, you won’t see the results here because I managed to squeeze most of them out through the bag. And I wasn’t too particular of making the meringues peaked so much, so they looked a little flat. I managed to get about 18 medium ones and I learned that the size affects how the texture of the meringues would be. Small to medium sizes are the best because they stay crunchy for a few days in a tightly lid container, whereas the bigger size tend to be a little chewier inside. None of my meringues cracked during baking, maybe because I made them small? These were baked exactly like the recipe and I left them in the oven until they’re very cold.
All of them were gone now, despite my disliking them LOL…
Chocolate Swirl Meringues
Makes 6 large or 10 small4 egg whites
225 g caster sugar (I decreased the amount to 190 g)
1 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)
1 rounded tablespoon cocoa powder
Thickened cream to serve (heavy cream)—optional
Preheat the oven to 150C fanbake (I used a regular oven with 300°F at first and then lowered it to 200°F once the meringues are ready to be baked). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the egg whites and caster sugar in a large heatproof bowl and sit over a pan of simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water or the egg whites will scramble. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is quite hot to touch, then immediately remove from the heat.
Whisk egg white mixture using a hand-held electric beater for about 10-15 minutes until very thick, white and glossy. Mix in the cornflour. Sieve in the cocoa powder and, using a large metal spoon, very lightly fold into the meringue using 2-3 strokes. Don’t mix it thoroughly.
Spoon the mixture (you can pipe it with the piping bag, if you wish> I used Ateco #2010) onto the prepared baking sheets in 6 large spoonfuls, making each one as peaky as possible (don’t have to do this when you want to make 10 small meringues). Put the baking tray in the oven, reduce the temperature to 120C and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside until completely cold. Serve with thickened cream if you like.
Source: adapted from Taste
Those Meringues look good.
thanks Kevin!
Comment by Kevin — March 30, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
hasilnya wokeh dan taplak mejanya lutu dweh..
makasih Mindy…itu taplak kan cuma kain kecil doang
emang aku sih suka banget sama desainnya…
Comment by mindy — March 30, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
Beautiful meringues! They looks so fluffy inside!
thank you Jessica, they’re very very crunchy!
Comment by Jessica — March 30, 2008 @ 4:32 pm
keliatan cantikk pisan mbak…keliatan kranci juga..:D..sama kayak mindy taplak mejanya kerennn..:D
duh Sye…padahal ini kain udah lama banget
sampe malu dipake ulang hahahha…thanks ya!
Comment by elsye — March 30, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
mak, meringuenya kagak mbleleran gimana caranya, mak?
duh nak…gak tau gimana, kali prosesnya terlalu lancar? hahaha. aku rasa sih waktu ngetim putih telur nya dan waktu ngocok nya berpengaruh buat hasil akhir meringues. waktu ngetim gulanya harus lumer semua (aku pake superfine sugar, bukan gula biasa bukan gula bubuk), waktu ngocok harus sampe kentel, putih, mengkilap, kalo dipegang lembut sekali. kebetulan semuanya berjalan lancar2 aja, biarpun cuma sekali, jadi aku juga terpana dg hasil karyaku hehehehe…
Comment by arfi — March 30, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
Ihhh ada jambulnyaaahh! Lutuuu…
hehehe…emang kayak ayam aja
Comment by Yulia — March 30, 2008 @ 10:24 pm
oohh… swiss meringue ye….
eh ternyata coklatnya ini bisa ngurangi rasa manisnya juga ya…di rumah laku keras… heran…gak terlalu manis seh…
setujj…. taplak en proppingnya keyeeennn…. _
gimana, gimana Rit? maksud elo coklat ngurangin rasa manis? gue kurangin gulanya koq, coklatnya tetep sama takerannya. kalo 190 gr baru pas di lidah gue.
aduh tu kaen tersohor banget
Comment by rita bellnad — March 30, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
Keren! Keren!
Aku pernah nyoba bikin mereng bentuk yg kayak gini, tapi hasilnya retak…huhuhu.
Punya-mu bagus, Liz. Bisa keliatan mulus, gak retak.
kebetulan kali? hahahha..
Comment by Sheila — March 31, 2008 @ 5:55 am
Duh suka deh ama tempat si meringue itu..tempat cake yah sebenernya. Romantiss bangett.
iya Ne, itu cake stand. pas kebetulan lagi sale, langsung gak pikir2 lagi disabet aja
Comment by Andrie Anne — March 31, 2008 @ 5:58 am
jeng, ini mereng gw
http://mindyjordan.multiply.com/photos/album/309/Klub_Berani_Baking_4_Chocolate_Swirl_Meringues
howkeh jeng…
Comment by mindy — March 31, 2008 @ 6:20 am
Pengennnn nyolekkkk..kuncupnya, cantiiik
hahaha, dicolek gak bergerak Ret, kan kaku
Comment by retno — March 31, 2008 @ 7:11 am
merengnya mah gasah dikomentarin, dah pasti cantik. Itu lohhh….ummmm…kainnya boleh gak buat gue….hwakakak!
ternyata banyak yg suka sama kaen ya? hahahaha… harus balik ke tokonya lagi Dit
Comment by dita — March 31, 2008 @ 10:33 am
Swirl nya lutju banget mba…
Salam KBB _
ketawa dong?
terima kasih ya udah mampir
Comment by WidyaHidayat — March 31, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Chewy meringues…mmmm, my favorite.
i prefer the crispier one Nina
Comment by Nina — April 1, 2008 @ 9:22 am
These are marvelous!
you’re so sweet Pat!
Comment by Patricia Scarpin — April 2, 2008 @ 7:03 am
cantik deh merengnya.. ditambah sama si taplak + cake stand-nya.. cakeppppp…
setuju deh Sofie
Comment by Sofie — April 2, 2008 @ 7:14 am
wowwww…liz, these are gorrrgeeeeooooussss…piringnya cakep deh, aku plg seneng ama yg keliatan vintage2 gini hehe
ngingetin gue dg post elo tentang baju kuningmu
Comment by rita — April 2, 2008 @ 7:16 am
Cantik Liz
thanks Reg
Comment by Regina — April 2, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
Mbak Elizaaa, meringuenya cantik dan nampak renyah.. :9
makasih Ayu…memang pada renyah2
Comment by Ayu — April 2, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
merengnya cantik, fotonya cantik, settingnya cantik, blognya cantik, cantiiiiik smua….
makasih mae….:D
Comment by mae — April 2, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
setuju ama mae… cantik dimana-mana…
bisa aja kamu San
makasih udah mampir…
Comment by santi — April 3, 2008 @ 12:51 am
Despite the problems you had with these, they look too tempting. We can buy all flavors of meringues here (very popular), but they are ridiculously expensive. If you have to feed a sweet tooth, it could add up. ; D
oh really? since i’ve tried swiss meringue recipe, i’m beginning to like it and would like to try different flavors as well.
Comment by Susan — April 8, 2008 @ 1:37 pm