Peppermint meringues are like puffy, fluffy little mint clouds that melt in your mouth! These don’t require eggs like most do and are so easy to make use our Kate’s Safe & Sweet Vanilla Frosting Mix, a can of chickpeas – yes, chickpeas – and just one other ingredient, cream of tarter. If you’re making them peppermint, like we did, you’ll also need pure peppermint extract and if you would like to color them, then some red food coloring too.
Have you heard of aquafaba? It is made from the liquid from chickpeas which you can get in two different ways. The first is draining and can of chickpeas and reserving the liquid (the easier method and what I use.) The second method is to cook your own chickpeas and reserve the leftover cooking liquid but this can be thin and you may need to cook it down, making it more time consuming.
The first step to make these are to gather all your tools and ingredients.
Meringues
Tools Needed:
- Mixing Bowl
- Hand or Stand Mixer
- Spatula
- Measuring Cups / Spoons
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Tray
- Piping Bag
- Piping Tip (1M if what we used)
- Paintbrush or toothpick
Ingredients Needed:
- 3/4 cup of Kate’s Safe & Sweet Vanilla Frosting Mix
- 1/2 cup aquafaba (liquid from canned chickpeas or white beans).
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (can omit if you would like to)
- Red food coloring (can omit if you would like to)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 200 degree F.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Prepare piping bag with piping tip. Set aside.
- Pour 1/2 cup of the aquafaba liquid in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Use a hand or stand mixer and beat the liquid until it starts to get foamy.
- Add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and continue to mix for 5 minutes on high until it becomes very fluffy and forms stiff peaks.
- Slowly add 3/4 cup of Kate’s Safe & Sweet Vanilla Frosting Mix while continuing to mix on high until the mixture becomes very fluffy.
- Add peppermint extract if using.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl with the spatula as needed.
- Mix for another 5 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
- If using red food coloring take a paint brush or toothpick and brush a stroke of food coloring fro the tip to the top of the bag. Repeat to make 3 evenly spaced strokes.
- Fill piping bag with mixture trying to spoon directly into the center as to not smudge the food coloring.
- Pipe 1″ diameter mounds of the mixture spaced 1″ apart onto the prepare baking sheet.
- Bake util the meringues are no longer glossy and feel light and try when picked up for 1 1/2- 2 hours.
- Turn off the oven and allow meringues to dry complexly inside. This can take about 2 hours.
Meringues can be stored in an airtight containers at room temperature for up to 5 days. They are best day of, but do taste great for several days.
Whipping aquafaba by hand takes quite a long time and does not produce as good of results as when using the hand or stand mixer.
Whipping aquafaba generally takes 3-6 minutes to get to semi-firm peaks, depending on your equipment and how thick your aquafaba was to begin with. So take your time and don’t be discouraged if it takes some time to reach stiff peaks! It can require a little practice and patience.
Because aquafaba is such a recent discovery – only in the last few years – there are tons of uses that are yet to be explored yet! So be creative, use these methods and recipes as a starter guide, and go from there!
And be sure to check out more of our recipes here.
