Thursday, April 21, 2011

Little lemon meringues, and passionfruit too!


These little cookies are a distant memory at this point. 3 weeks without cooking is just too long! Only one more week before I have a dramatic reunion with my stove. I can hardly wait, but for now I'll have to hope I can elbow my way into someone else's kitchen this long holiday weekend. In case I can't, I'll just have to be satisfied with the beautiful cakes and pastries from the 4 (!) French patisseries around the corner. Maybe being away from my kitchen is not so bad...
I made these little cuties with the leftover egg whites from the custard tarts. I also had leftover lemon curd from the yeasted coffee cake, and, well, I always feel better if I have passionfruit curd around. I baked the meringues till they were crisp, but didn't fill them until just before eating. The sweet crunch of the meringue combined with the tart creamy curd made these hard to leave alone. I have posted both curd recipes here before, so they are linked below. Happy Easter!

Crisp meringues
2 egg whites
1/2 cup fine granulated sugar
pinch salt

  1. Preheat oven to 200℉/95℃. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. 
  2. Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Add sugar slowly, beating all the while, until very thick and glossy and will hold stiff peaks. Rub a bit of the meringue between your fingers--if you can feel sugar grains, keep beating until they dissolve. 
  3. Pipe a bit of meringue under the corners of the parchment to attach it to baking sheet. Pipe or spoon small blobs (about 1"x1") on lined baking sheets. I use a star tip. Bake for about 2 hours, then turn oven off and let cool in oven until they are completely dry and crisp. When ready to serve, sandwich a pair of meringues with a bit of lemon or passionfruit curd. Plain whipped cream is also good. Serve immediately.

16 comments:

Gloria Baker said...

These cookies look absolutely yummy and beauty! gloria

Baking Addict said...

ooh these look mouth wateringly delicious. Love the shape of them.

Rhyleysgranny said...

They look perfect. I love passion fruit curd too.

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

Very cute meringues and use of left overs. Ah pastries once is fine but have a happy stove reunion soon!

Anonymous said...

Yum! These look so delicate and delicious!

Laurie {Simply Scratch} said...

These are beautiful! I made a meringue frosting the other day and could easily sit on the couch with that bowl of meringue and a spoon! But I like yours better because of the lemon curd! YUM MARY!

Suz said...

Beautiful little meringues! These look gorgeous.

Happy Easter to you too!

RamblingTart said...

I bet you're SO excited to be back cooking soon! :-) These are pretty little meringues - such whimsical shapes. :-)

Valérie said...

Aw, so cute! And now I'm craving passionfruit curd... I feel for you, being unable to cook for a while gets to be hard. Hang in there!

spike. said...

those look beautiful! Hope you and your oven are reunited soon!!

Beth said...

Those look wonderful! Sounds like you're enjoying the time away from your kitchen, but I'm sure you can't wait to get back.

Elaine said...

ooohhh! These look like the perfect Spring dessert!

Anonymous said...

What a delicious looking little treat! (I am crazy about passionfruit)

Mimi said...

Delicious idea, a sweet crunchy meringue with a tangy curd.
Mimi

Gloria Baker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TeaLady said...

THESE are just adorable. I haven't made meringue cookies in AGES, but will now just so I can make sandwich cookies with them.