MOCCA MERINGUES

ingredients; 

• 400-gram superfine sugar or  sugar
• 200-gram egg whites
• seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean pod, optional
• 2 tbsp. espresso powder
• lemon juice for cleaning the bowl and whisk

You will need;

• piping bag
• wilton 1M nozzle

• Preheat your oven to 200 C° /  392 F°
• Line two large baking trays with a silicone mat, or use parchment paper and set aside.
• Prepare the standing mixer, by wiping the standing mixer bowl and whisk with a paper towel moistened with a little lemon juice to eliminate any trace of grease.
• Line a medium baking tray with baking parchment, pour in the sugar and warm it in the oven for 7 minutes. ( use a timer)
• A soon as the sugar is in the oven, right away pour the egg whites into a mixer and whisk them slowly for some minutes, allowing small stabilizing bubbles to form, then increase the speed to medium so the meringues become stiff peaks.
• When you have 30 seconds left of the sugar being in the oven, turn your mixer up to high speed.
• Take the sugar out of the oven, and turn the oven down to 100 C°
• With your mixer on full speed, very slowly add one teaspoon of the hot sugar into the beaten egg whites, take your time when you do this, and don’t be tempted to add more than one teaspoon at a time.
• Make sure  the mixture comes back up to stiff peaks after each teaspoon of sugar
• Once you have added all the sugar, add the seeds of the vanilla bean pod, and continue to whisk on full speed until you have a smooth, stiff and glossy mixture and all of the sugar is incorporated.
• Add the espresso powder and continue to mix for one minutt more.
• You will need a disposable piping bag and anwilton 1M nozzle,  place the nozzle in the bag and cut the tip-off.
• Spoon your meringues mixture into a large piping bag.
• If you are using parchment paper to pipe the meringues on, you will need to add some meringues mixture underneath the parchment paper below so it sticks to the baking tray.
• Pipe out your meringue swirls, ( watch the video above)
• Bake for about 50 minutes or until the meringue bases come off the parchment paper clean.
• These mocca meringues keeps well for 2 weeks, in a container or wrapped in plastic wrap.