Disastrous Meringues!

Meringues or Suspiros as they are called here in Costa Rica were a staple at my house growing up. My mother used to make them all the time and I think it was one of the first things I ever learned to bake. They're so easy right??? Well, I have come to learn that these puffy treats can be quite temperamental when they want to. 

Making these meringues was a total disaster! First off I was dead tired, hmmm, could that have been the problem? Nah! You're never to tired to make these, they are quick and easy...

As I separated the eggs, some broken yolk went into the whites, aaarggggghhhhh Charlie Brown! Don't you just hate that? You know you're not going to get it all, so why even try and scoop it out with the empty shell or a spoon!

Then, as I was turning on the faucet so I could clean my yolky hands, the water just burst out and splashed everywhere! I think some might have gone into the already semi damaged egg whites. What else could go wrong??

Well, let me tell you, the pesky whites did not want to stiffen. You beat and beat and beat until you think the mixer is going to melt, and they were just blah; runny. Not to mention the fact that they did not rise as much because of the nasty yellow yolk that crashed the party!

Seeing as how they simply refused to form stiff peaks I just said %^&;*/ it, they're baking as is and formed discs. Meringue shells which I think is what they are actually called are great all by themselves but they can later be filled or topped with all kinds of delicious goodies that will just melt in your mouth with sweetness. Aaaahhh. Add strawberries and whipped cream and you have a treat fit for a king. Scoop some ice cream on top and you would think you're in heaven! I am going to be making sinfully silky chocolate mousse later in the week, which may or may not go into one of these, depending if they're still here by then.

In the end, after all the hassle, they came out pretty great. They actually came out exactly how I wanted them. So I guess, these aren't as easy to screw up as I thought!

To make meringues you will need:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

That's all you need. Three ingredients. Now some people like to use cream of tartar, but to tell you the truth, I have never really needed it. These three things haved always worked fine. Then again, seeing as how my mixture would not stiffen and rise as much this time, I may reconsider...

To make these all you have to do is beat the egg whites on the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment on low-medium speed until they rise and form soft peaks. You then add the sugar gradually and beat on high until they form very stiff peaks. Then you add your vanilla. That's it!

You can use a spoon and drop these one your baking sheet forming little puffy clouds or you can also use a pastry bag if you want a more sofisticated look.

You can bake these at 300 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes to get a crispy outside and chewy center (which is exactly how I like it) or you can lower the temperature to 200 degrees and bake these approximately double the time to get a crisp almost powder like meringue.

Like I mentioned these are delicious by themselves or with just about everything!

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Twists

They may not be pretty, but they are tasty!

Big, chunky twisted bread sticks filled with cinnamon and sugar, drizzled with a sugar glaze. Yum!  These are more commonly known as cinnamon rolls, sweet rolls or even sticky buns, but I chose to make these cinnamon twists.

Who doesn't love cinnamon rolls, right? They're sweet and gooey and simply delicious. These twists are just as sweet, maybe not as gooey, but equally delicious and they smell sooooo good when they're baking, they are irresistible. 

To make these tasty twists, you will need:

4 to 4 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Directions:
Combine 2 cups flour with yeast.
Heat and stir milk, butter or margarine, sugar and salt until warm and butter is almost completely melted.
Add this  to the flour mixture along with the eggs.
Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl, then beat on high speed for approx. 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour ( 2 to 2 1/3 cups) as you can.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (about 3 - 5 minutes). Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double in size. (About 1 hour)

Punch dough down. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Roll half of the dough into a 12x8 inch rectangle. Melt 3 tablespoons butter or margarine; brush half over the dough. combine 3/4 cup sugar and 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; sprinkle half of the mixture over dough. Fold dough in half and then in half once more. Cut strips of dough along the short end and twist sealing the seams.

Place in a baking sheet. Cover; let rise till nearly double about 30 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. (Be sure to check them, they brown easily.)

For the sugar glaze combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar with 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk. Continue to add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you get a drizzling consistency.

Enjoy!

Other places to find this recipe:



HALF HOUR MEALS
KEY INGREDIENT

Palmiers

You may have noticed that today's post is not entitled Tasty Recipe Review. That's because there's really not that much to review, but I do have for you 2 Palmier options. One is the classic sugary elephant ears that we all know and love and the other is something I decided to whip up for Thanksgiving, sort of pumped up Palmiers if you will.

I had mentioned that I was dying to try and make these sweet morsels, well now I got the chance. I just went for it, decided to go get myself some puff pastry, you know I'm not going to make it it's too time consuming, and just go for it.

They are so unbelievably easy to make, I think I might just whip up a batch every single day for the rest of my life! Of course my hips will hate me for it, so maybe every other day.

All you need to make these are puff pastry and sugar and that's it! It's that simple.

You can find puff pastry anywhere these days, but if you would like to make it (congratulations, I admire you!) I found this site that shows you how to make your own puff pastry.  

Sprinkle your rolling space with about 1/4 cup of sugar and lay your puff pastry sheet on top like so:

Now sprinkle another 1/4 cup of sugar on top of the pastry

Now you have to roll the sugar into the dough

See how the sugar becomes embeded into the pastry, when the layers spread during baking it's going to be one big delicious sugary goodness!

Now on to forming the popular elephant ears. You start by folding in the sides:

Fold another time:

And one more time:

You end up with a long roll of dough, press it down and then cut it to form the rectangles:

These are your Palmiers. I rolled the tops in sugar, you can also coat them with an egg wash if you like. Place them on your cookie sheet about 2 to 3 inches apart to give them room to puff up.

Aren't they cute?

These go into a 375 degree oven for 12 - 16 minutes until they are golden brown. You may have to turn them over in the middle of baking if you see the bottoms are cooking way faster than the tops.

Remove them from the cookie sheet while still warm and let cool on a wire rack. You are now ready to pop these babies in your mouth, Yum!!!

Now for Thanksgiving, I decided to give these a twist. I filled them up with pumpkin, dates and almonds. You prepare them exactly the same way, you just add filling instead of sugar to the dough.

For my pumpkin filling you will need:

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Mix these together to make the filling:

Then proceed the same way as the sugar Palmiers, roll the dough in sugar, but instead of sprinkling sugar on top of the dough, spread out the filling and form your cookies.

Here is the finished product, looks good right. Very tasty!

You can fill these with anything, sweet, salty, whatever you like, or make them with just sugar, they are always going to be delicious ... Enjoy!!!