Vegan Meringue

Hello everyone, I haven't update my blog for a who-knows-how longggggg... time.  Hopefully this time I am planning to update more often.  I have heard vegan meringue for quite a while and finally I have time to try to make some.  The major challenge is to use something other than egg white which can whisk and become foamy :)  After lots of searching, the amazing chickpea liquid seems to be the most reliable substitute for egg whites!  Yes, chickpea liquid aka aquafaba the liquid which chickpeas sitting in a can... let's start!

For one batch of Vegan Meringue (roughly a bit more than a half baking sheet), you need...

• 75 aquafaba
• 90 g sugar
• 2 g raspberry powder
• few drops of rose essence

These tasty vegan meringues are quite easy to make, just a few simple steps and we are done, my steps of making this wonderful little treats...

my directions...

• firstly, beat aquafaba until foamy
• add sugar gradually until medium peak
• add raspberry powder and keep beating till firm peak
• add rose essence and fold until your mixture is homogeneous
• pipe mixture on baking sheet and bake

Firstly, have your aquafaba at room temperature before baking and pre-heat your oven to 220F. Start beating aquafaba in your standing mixer until kind of soft peak.  Believe me, it look like your beating is going nowhere when it starts, but after a while the aquafaba looks alive and becomes foamy and you are good to go!

Now, slowly add sugar, raspberry and rose essence until your mixture become stiff peak...  its actually feels like normal meringue mixture from egg white.  You can see it looks like a good homogeneous texture under my spatula...  Have your piping bag and baking sheet ready for the next step.  

I used a small star tip to pipe these little treats and I baked them for about 80 - 90 minutes and let them rested in my oven until they are cool.  After sometime, my kitchen is filled with a wonderful aroma and its time to get my coffee ready!
  

Finally, these amazing cuties are ready and I can't wait and have to try a bite. Hmm... they taste amazing and just like egg based cousin, amazingly there is no hint of chickpea at all.  They taste so good with my coffee. One is definitely not enough and I had quite a few haha!  I save the rest in airtight container and probably they will all vanish very soon!!

Enjoy!

Yule Log & Happy Holidays!

Happy Holiday everyone!  Time goes so fast and we are in Christmas already, is one of my favourite holidays!  To celebrate this special holiday, I made this traditional Yule Log, I know there are millions of different kinds, of course mine has all those lovely ingredients and goodies I like. Tell you the truth, by the time I am writing this, half log has gone already.... I wonder should I make another logs??? 

for two lovely Yule Logs (about 12 inches long each)), you need...

• one half sheet biscuit chocolat noisette (chcolate hazelnut biscuit)
• 500 g chocolat ganache (I use 66% Valrhona Caraibe)
• 630 g framboise crème au beurre (raspberry buttercream)
• Kirsch sirop (Kirsch flovored syrup)
• chopped pistachios
• macarons (rose and raspberry, pistache for decoration)
• dark chocolate sprinkles (decoration)

This time I cheated a bit about the making process and skipped straight to tasting. Just cutting through this lovely log I know it will taste good.  Hmmm.... rich raspberry buttercream plus smooth and fruity ganache, texture and amazing taste makes me feel like I have a wonderful and fantastic gift in my mouth.   May I have another slice please?

Enjoy & Happy Holidays!