Since I have been making ice cream a lot recently, I have a lot of egg whites left in my fridge. One of my favorite recipes to use a lot of egg whites is this crispy light meringue. This meringue is delicious itself but even better with some yogurt, ice cream or some fruit! Today I made meringue dessert with vanilla ice cream and strawberry sauce.
Yield : About 8 meringue cups and 50 meringue mushrooms
Cooking time : About 3 hours including baking time …
Ingredients
5/6 cups (200g) of egg whites
1 1/2 cups (300g) of granulated sugar
4 tbsp (36g) of corn starch
Cocoa powder
Your favorite ice cream
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine egg whites and granulated sugar, and stir with whisk over a bain-marie or double boiler until the sugar completely dissolves. (about 104°F/40°C, it’s a little hotter than lukewarm but not too hot when you touch the mixture)
- Remove the bowl from the double boiler and whip it until the mixture becomes very stiff with glossy peaks.
3. Add cornstarch and whip more until completely mixed.
4. Place the meringue in a piping bag and pipe into desired shapes on parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
I piped round mushroom caps and stems. Dust the mushroom caps lightly with cocoa powder using a tea strainer.
You can also make meringue cups. Starting from the center, pipe the meringue in a circular motion and once you reach the desired size, pipe the edge about 4~5 times to make layers.
5. Bake the piped meringue at 200°F (94°C~100°C) for about 2 hours for the mushrooms and 3 hours for the meringue cups until they come off from the baking sheet easily.
6. Let them cool and poke a small hole in the bottom of the mushroom cap. I used a chopstick.
7. Insert the stem into the cap.
8. For the ice cream dessert, place the meringue cup on a plate, scoop your favorite ice cream on top, and decorate some strawberry sauce and a meringue mushroom. Enjoy!
