These meringue words are a fun way of writing edible messages for a birthday, anniversary or festive celebration. They also make a lovely place name for dinner or wedding parties and if you need to say "sorry" or "will you marry me?", they would be a really fun way of getting your message across too.
I had (and still have) every intention of making "One Direction" (and 1D, Harry, Niall, Louis, Zayne and Liam) meringue words to make the Madhouse girls squeal but I haven't had a chance yet. I'll show the results when I've made them though ! In the meantime, here's the recipe :
Meringue Words
Makes about 36 words
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 ½ hours, plus overnight in the oven
3 large egg whites or 95g (3½oz) liquid egg white
185g (6½oz) Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Golden Caster Sugar
Christmas red, egg yellow, rose, lilac, mint green and baby blue paste food colours, or fewer or more as you’d like, from www.squires-shop.com
You will also need 3 baking trays lined with parchment paper, 6 disposable piping bags fitted with 1cm (½”) plain nozzles or snip off the tips instead, and 6 paint brushes, or fewer or more depending on your colour choices.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan180°, 400°F, Gas 6.
Tip the sugar onto one of the baking trays and spread it out in an even layer. Warm through on the middle shelf of the oven for about 3-4 minutes or until the sugar feels hot to touch and has lightly coloured, stirring once. Don’t let it caramelize. Pour into a small bowl.
Reduce the oven heat down to its lowest, 110°C/Fan90°C, 225°F.
As soon as the sugar is ready, using an electric mixer, add the whites to the bowl and whisk at high speed until it is light and foamy, for about 1 minute. Slowly add the hot sugar, a dessertspoon at a time, and continue whisking until the mixture has cooled and is very thick and glossy. Scrape down the sides halfway through. This will take about 5 minutes.
Turn the sides of the piping bag down to the nozzle and, using a paintbrush, paint 3 lengths of one of the food colour pastes from the nozzle to about 10cm (4”) upwards. Carefully spoon in some of the meringue, and carefully pull the bag upwards over the nozzle and use a little to stick down the paper on the baking tray. Alternatively, if you’re not using nozzles, just snip the tips off with a pair of scissors. Pipe some letters on the baking trays, slightly spaced apart. Then repeat with the rest of the meringue and food colours.
Bake on the top and middle shelves of the oven for 1 hour, swapping the trays over halfway through. The meringues are ready when they are crisp on the outside and the bases are dry and not at all sticky. Turn off the oven and leave them to cool in the oven for a few hours or overnight.
The meringues can be made up to 2 weeks ahead and stored in an air-tight container.
***************************
These "Baking Dreams" meringue words were made to highlight a new campaign called ‘Bake Your Dreams Come True’ from Tate & Lyle Sugars - launched to inspire budding bakers to follow their baking dreams, with £1 million worth of prizes and rewards available to be won. These include a £5,000 cash reward for up to five baking entrepreneurs to provide financial support to kick start their baking business. Up-and-coming bakers can apply for the prizes by picking up a participating pack of Tate & Lyle Baking Sugar or Lyle’s Golden Syrup Baking bottles and submit their pack code and baking dream at www.tasteandsmile.com/bakingdreams.
Disclosure : I received some sugar to try out the recipe.
Other blogposts you may be interested in :
Love these, they are great for kids to leave messages too :)
ReplyDeleteOh I love these so much. Meringues are one of my faves.
ReplyDelete