[/caption]I'm going to count the three projects that I have in limbo as wins because they are all in some stage of progression. None of them are collecting dust and that is always a good thing. However, I am going to count my lack of posting and my almond meringues in the loss category. I'd also like to note that my meringues go in the embarrassing, completely tragic loss category (think along the lines of the Cowboys record this season).
I wanted beautiful, puffy, sweet meringues to keep around the house as a sweet snack. So I found a recipe that I liked (read: a recipe that I had all the ingredients for) and started whipping. Currently, I don't have a mixer so I had to whip these puppies by hand which went surprisingly well. After being extremely gentle while folding in the finely crushed (by hand!) almonds, I piped them onto the wax paper and baked them at 225 for two hours and....
Nothing. I got globs of sticky, almond smelling, glue that wouldn't come off of the wax paper and was the texture of day old paste. It was awful. I didn't even bother taking a picture because it made me sad. They were subsequently balled up (while still stuck to the paper!) and thrown away.
So what did I do wrong? Why exactly did they turn to clue intstead of puffy, light, slightly crispy meringues?
Let's end this on a more positive note. My "House Rules" project is coming along well (and the blue paint turned out perfectly), my embroidery project is slow going... but it is going, and my living wall project has gone from a living wall to a living bamboo shoot. Sometimes you just have to make due with what you can find... and sometimes chicken wire is as scare as water in the desert, or a hipster at a job interview.
I love meringues, but I've never made them. My mother used to, though, and I remember it being an all-day-oven-use project. After they were baked, the oven had to stay closed for eight hours (so, she'd often start them after dinner). They always came out well. Give it a try. Oh, and if you shape them into little "nests," they make great dessert cups for fruit, ice cream, etc.
ReplyDeleteShyla, I'm going to give that a try this weekend! And your nest idea? Brilliant. I have some awesome raspberry jame that would be perfect inside of meringues.
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