Roses are red…

You may have seen my last frustration filled post. An experiment gone wrong. Well, there certainly were a few bumps along the way, but I will admit, the end result was not entirely disastrous! Meringue roses…

…and here they are! There is nothing special about the meringue recipe itself. Just your basic Swiss Meringue recipe. I didn’t want to try anything special or tricky, the main focus of this experiment was going to be in presentation. I recently bought some new gel coloring and new pastry tips and wanted to give those babies a spin.

Icing colors, they work for meringues too!

Beautiful new pastry tips

This is what I came up with!

Red Red Roses

That looks like a rose right?

I am really happy with them considering all the trouble with the pastry bags. I am terribly impressed with the gel food coloring, how bright and vibrant the colors are. The pictures don’t really do justice to that aspect.

Not to mention, after making due with only one pastry tip for all of my meringue adventures so far, it was so much fun to have 12 new tips to play with. It was kind of like writing in black ink for years and then finding out that Crayola markers exist! I went a little crazy.

But after all that effort to make something pretty, you want it to be tasty too right? I tried a new type of flavoring called an emulsion. I’m not too sure what the difference is between that and an extract is, but I will be doing a little more research and experimenting and getting back to you with the answer! Suffice to say now, after using a raspberry emulsion in these meringues, emulsions may be the way to go. The flavor was bright and vibrant and just down right yummy. My head is just spinning with thoughts of raspberry chocolate chip!

I guess that just goes to show that if you don’t try you will never know… and even if you don’t think you succeed at first, the results might be a little sweeter than you think!

Tuesday Tips: Types of Meringue

I firmly believe that the best way to make an amazing product is knowing as much about it as you can. Recently I came upon this amazing description from Domino Sugar about the fine differences in types of Meringues.

“Italian and Swiss meringues are cooked. French meringue is baked.

Italian meringue is made by slowly beating hot sugar syrup into stiffly beaten egg whites and is used in frostings and atop pies and cakes.

Swiss meringue is made by dissolving sugar and egg whites together over simmering water and then beating in an electric mixer. It is often used as a base for buttercream frostings.

French meringue is made by gradually adding ultrafine sugar to whipped uncooked egg whites until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. The meringue is then piped into shapes and baked. It has a light, crisp texture and is often used as a “nest” to hold fruit or sorbets.

Sweet Fact: You need at least 1-1/2 tablespoons of sugar per egg white to get a stable meringue.

Sweet Fact: French (hard) meringue = 4 tablespoons of sugar per egg white.

Sweet Fact: Italian (soft) meringue = 2 tablespoons of sugar per egg white.”

-Domino Sugar

What type of Meringue are YOU making??

Swiss Meringue and the MasterChef

Nothing makes me happier than seeing meringue brought out into the public eye, and very little makes me happier on a Wednesday morning than sitting back, flipping on BBC America and enjoying a cup of coffee.

I have recently gotten into a program called “MasterChef UK Professionals”. I couldn’t have been more excited to see the skills test involve topping a lemon tart with Swiss meringue. Chef Monica Galetti, who is quickly becoming my new role model, demonstrated the technique to the audience before testing the competing chefs. I scored YouTube and even with the power of the internet, I could not find her demonstration. It was astounding, and more than a little exciting to watch the chefs attempt different versions of meringue mixture.

If you get the opportunity, search out this episode: MasterChef UK Professionals, Season 4 Episode 15

You won’t be disappointed!