What to do with an over-abundance of Peacefield Farm eggs…

INGREDIENTS:

3 Large Farm Eggs (Whites only)

1t Vanilla Extract

2/3 C Organic Cane Sugar

1/2t Ground Cardamom

1/4t Ground Cinnamon

1/4t Ground Cloves

1T Powdered Unsweetened Organic Cocoa

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 250F

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (I needed two)

3. Separate whites from yolks

4. Beat egg whites on low until foamy; continue on high until stiff peaks form (You should be able to turn the bowl on its side without the whites moving.

5. Add sugar to egg whites a little at a time while continuing to beat on high.

6. Add spices and cocoa all at once and fold in by hand (Fold in fully but don’t worry about streaks of cocoa).

7. Pipe or drop (by small spoonfuls) the mixture onto the baking sheets and bake for 60-90 minutes.

8. Turn off oven and leave meringues inside with the door shut overnight (I left them for an hour and they were fine)

9. Remove from baking sheets and store in an airtight container (This is important)

NOTES:

I’m famous for my inability to exactly follow directions, er…, recipes as well as for my ability to combine four similar recipes into one.  This recipe is no different.  This stems from a need to cook with ingredients I have on hand because there’s no way I’m making a trip to the store for just a few ingredients.  I developed this recipe using the Chocolaty Meringue Stars recipe from “Betty Crocker’s New Choices Cookbook” and Debby Lovell’s Chai Meringues recipe from “Chai: The Spice of India” and, of course, the creative process unique to…me.

I honestly can’t remember how much cocoa I used because I didn’t write it down (OK.  I do this a lot too.) but I’m pretty sure it was a tablespoon.  But…you can never have too much chocolate, right?  I’m also pretty sure I added a teaspoon of vanilla (Do this at the beginning of the beating process.  (No doubt I had good intentions of following a single, only-slightly-altered recipe for once when I started out.)).  Why don’t I know exact measurements?  Because I add a little until it smells right.  Tip: use your sense of smell when cooking.  It often tells you how much and what to add.

There are lots of tips for making meringues that make them seem kind of picky and maybe a little difficult to make.  I didn’t know any of them until today when I researched making meringues online.  I wanted to find out how little sugar I could get away with (My recipe is a little too sweet for my tastes.).  Sugar is a necessary ingredient and the recommendation is for no less than two tablespoons per egg.  At any rate, I’ve made the Chocolaty Meringue Stars recipe quite a bit and they have always turned out well.  It is, however, really important that you let your meringues rest in the oven and you must put them in an airtight container as soon as you take them out of the oven.  You’re basically just dehydrating the fluffed-up egg whites so my guess is that if the meringues got a little soggy, you could put them in the oven on low for a bit to fix them up.  Here are more tips if you are interested:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/perfectmeringue.htm http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=70&resolution=high

The smell is overwhelmingly divine.  Absolutely unbelievable.  Try not to eat all of the mixture before you bake it.  Yeah, really, it’s going to be hard not to eat raw egg.  I used a plastic sandwich bag with the corner clipped off to squeeze the meringue onto the baking sheets.  You can bake them for as little as 30 minutes but they will be chewy inside.  I baked them for 60 minutes and let them set in the oven for another hour before my perfectly crispy, perfectly spiced meringues were whisked away to a birthday celebration.

Want to make these even more delicious?  Eat them with my Chai Tea.