March 3: Meringue Cookies

I knew that life would get in the way of my little project at times, and tried as much as possible to schedule around it (concerts, weekends away, Tuesday night appointments). However, when you forget that you have theatre tickets for 8pm and your baking time is limited to 7pm - 11pm, it sort of puts a fly in the ointment. doesn't it!

I figured I'd make Meringue Cookies when I got home because it's just egg whites and sugar, and I could bake them off before the show. No problem, right? Except the TTC decided to be slower than molasses on the way from Eglinton to College (that 10 minute subway ride took almost 40 minutes!!), which gave me about an hour and a half to whip, pipe and bake. Oh, and eat dinner too.

Yeah.

The meringues were supposed to bake for at least an hour and a half at 200F, and not wanting to have to stay up late when I got home I decided to try the method I remembered my mom using when she made these when I was a kid. I let the oven heat up to about 450F, turned it off and left my meringues to bake while I went to see My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (and was not disappointed).

At first glance they were perfect:

Unfortunately, I think my meringues were a little too big, because when I got home they were crispy on the outside, and the middle had flopped leaving a hollow shell and a chewy bottom:

Oops.

Of course, to taste them - they're delicious! I can even get on board with the chewiness...however you can't leave a moist middle like that, because it will make the rest of your meringues soggy within a matter of hours. Since sugar is hygroscopic, it will draw moisture from anything near it containing moisture (that's why those clay discs you soak in water keep your brown sugar moist). The dry outer shell will attract the moisture from the middle of the meringue, causing the shell to become moist and chewy--in a bad way--too.

So, back in the oven they've gone, in the hopes that any remaining moisture will be banished. Even if they become dry as a bone though, my cute little meringues will be delicious, but ultimately hollow.

Kind of like this guy:

Another mulligan! Learn from my mistake and give these Meringue Cookies the proper long, dry bake they deserve. Speaking of long bakes, 62 sleeps until Puerto Plata!

To order these "Cookies for a Cause" (don't worry, I'd make you new ones!) please click this link to donate at my Daily Bread Food Bank fundraising page.