Sunday, July 31, 2011

Pecan Toffee Meringues


One thing I have never been able to make is meringues. Well, okay....I can MAKE them but they just never turn out nice and fluffy and chewy and puffy. This time was no different. I used my wonderful new Kitchenaid to whip the heck out of the egg whites thinking maybe that has been my problem in the past. You know, maybe a hand mixer just wasn't doing the job properly. Nope. Apparently that was not the problem.
They were looking good, I had my hopes up, even folding the chopped pecans and toffee into the meringue didn't deflate it. BUT...as you can see from the photos....they went flat in the oven. Don't get me wrong, they are still quite tasty and even have the outer crispy / inner chewy that meringues are supposed to have but, dag nab it, they just don't look all poofy like they do in the many photos on line that I have seen. What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?



Pecan Toffee Meringues

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Whip egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time, until stiff peaks form. Around 6 or so minutes.
Gently fold in toffee bits and pecans.
Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake at 250 for 30 minutes then shut off oven. Leave cookies in oven for an hour to dry. Do not open oven.
Remove from oven and transfer to wire cookie racks to cool.


I am not sure if I am destined to not be able to make poofy meringues. Maybe it is one of those recipes where practice makes perfect. I would love to hear from those of you who make those wonderfully high meringues. Any tips you'd like to share would be appreciated.
I love making meringues as they are simple and inexpensive and a great way to use up egg whites left over from other recipes but they are slowly moving to bottom of my list of things to make as it is getting increasingly frustrating to not have them turn out how I want them to. Grrrrr!


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