We were tired of making macarons one of the times we had extra egg whites lying around and I love freeze-dried fruit, so I tried this Strawberry Meringue Kisses recipe and we were pleased with it. I’ve been hankering to try aquafaba meringue kisses and it just so happened I had two cans’ worth of liquid in the fridge from my chana masala-ish pies. In addition, I’ve been enjoying experimenting with the pre-ground organic freeze-dried berry powder I got. I’ve long loved freeze-dried fruit and the Serious Eats fruity whipped cream recipe is a family favorite. However, grinding a package of the nice freeze-dried fruit pieces is both expensive and wasteful—no matter how carefully you scrape, you lose a lot of the fruit in the corners of your food processor or coffee grinder. I knew there must be a way to buy already-powdered freeze-dried fruit and indeed there is. It lacks some of the brightness of freshly-ground powder but the trade-off is well worth it to us. The final piece that inspired this recipe is the wild success we had this year with our first-ever Yule log, again using the Serious Eats recipe. The meringue mushrooms were absolutely incredible, and this from someone who really has never enjoyed meringue very much. One of the secrets is using toasted sugar and I figured this would translate beautifully to meringue kisses. Could this trifecta of recipe changes: chickpea liquid, pre-ground fruit powder and toasted sugar make for an easy and delicious vegan cookie?
Well, yes and no! If I had had better success with my aquafaba meringues I think there would be lots of potential. I made both tart cherry and strawberry meringues and the tart cherry ones are pretty good. The strawberry ones are flatter and overcooked, but may be tasty dipped in chocolate. The toasted sugar made less difference than I thought but if you’ve got some it’s still worthwhile.
I don’t adore meringues in the best of circumstances so I won’t be making these every week or anything but I’ll definitely try again when I’ve got some aquafaba and we need a little something sweet.
To de-veganize these, use 6 egg whites and 1/4 tsp salt instead of aquafaba. A full batch (6 egg whites or 180g aquafaba) works best in my stand mixer. The whisk attachment struggles to get into a half batch but that may be because I need to adjust the mixer head height.
- Preheat the oven to 225 degrees and prepare a few baking trays with Silpat or parchment
- Place the aquafaba, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on low until the liquid is frothy. Increase the speed to high and whisk until you have soft peaks
- Leaving the mixer on, gradually add the toasted sugar and fruit powder. You may combine them prior to adding to the liquid if you like. My aquafaba meringues did not get as stiff and glossy as egg whites do and it’s likely because I wasn’t patient enough with the sugar stage, so beware!
- Add the vanilla extract and continue whisking until you have thick, glossy peaks just like regular egg white meringue
- We like to pipe our meringues but you can get them on your baking tray any way you like. They won’t spread so they can be close (but not touching)
- Bake for an hour and then check them. If they’re still super damp, add another 30 minutes and check again. Once they’re crisp to the touch, turn off the oven and leave the meringues in there with the door closed for at least another 90 minutes or up to overnight
- Store anything you don’t gobble right away in an airtight container. They may still get a bit sticky but it’s a worthwhile price to pay
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