Egg free Meringue

It is always good to have clever friends … and it is extra great when they are vegan ‘foodies’ who are prepared to share their clever tricks with you!!

A little while ago I was chatting to my friend Dan and she told me about an egg replacer called ‘Aquafaba’ … the liquid drained from a can of chic peas. Um, what?

Yep – this stuff:

Apparently the clever vegans have been on to it for a while … I’ve just been a bit slow catching up 😉 It is the proteins in egg whites that help them to whip up all frothy and go stiff – which is why this replacement works well – the proteins from the legumes. Who knew?! And I promise you that there isn’t even a hint of a taste of the legumes. They look, feel and eat just like the real thing.

Here is the link to the original recipe for meringues.

I used

The drained liquid from 1 400g can of chic peas (do not buy the no salt version!)
1/3 cup sugar (or about 1/4 cup powdered Stevia), milled to resemble icing sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch cream of tartar
Optional – sprinkles to top (I use the Hoppers brand that is allergies friendly and is also free of artificial colours and preservatives) and a few drops of natural food colours (Madam’s request is for pink next time!).

Place the liquid in a very clean bowl of your stand mixer and turn on to a high speed (Mine is a Sunbeam Mixmaster and goes up to 12 and I used speed 10).

Beat until doubled in size and very frothy.

Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. This took about 5 minutes.

Continue to beat and gradually add in the sweetener.

Beat until stiff peaks form.

Add in the vanilla and colour if you are using it.

Spoon on to a lined baking tray (and add sprinkles if you wish) and place in a preheated 100C oven to bake for about 1.5 hours.

Do not bake any hotter because you are essentially drying out the mixture rather than baking it (kind of like a fruit leather). Low and slow is the best option.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.