Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Nutella and pistachio-cherry meringues make a beautiful and long-lasting holiday treat, if you can resist eating them.
The Christmas season brings visions of evergreen trees, twinkling lights and dinner tables spread with delicious food.
We spoke with Carole Griffin, the owner of Continental Bakery and Chez Lulu at 1911 Cahaba Road, who shared a recipe for one of her bakery’s classic holiday treats: these light, delicious meringues.
Q: What do you like about running a bakery?
A: “I am passionate about clean food, community and being creative. This makes running the bakery a perfect job for me. On a good day, I get to do fun things like make a seasonal jam with local fruit, pair that flavor with something interesting for a new macaron or pastry or spend time talking with my head baker to perfect or develop a bread … On top of that, I adore my customers and my employees. I think there’s an art to building community, and we’ve put a lot of energy into that at the bakery and cafe.”
Q: What makes these meringues a good Christmas treat?
A: “They’re tasty; they have a good shelf life; they’re local and handmade from scratch, low-fat, gluten free and, of course, they’re gorgeous.”
Recipe:
► 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
► 5 ounces egg whites (at room temperature)
► 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
► 3/4 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
► 1/8 cup finely chopped dried cherries blended with 1/8 cup finely chopped pistachios
► 1/4 cup Nutella
Steps:
1. Preheat convection oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 400 degrees for a conventional oven.
2. Spread sugar on a clean baking sheet.
3. Heat for 8-10 minutes until sugar just begins to melt around the edges.
4. Remove baking sheet from convection oven and lower heat to 175 degrees (225 degrees for conventional oven).
5. About 5 minutes before sugar is ready, put egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer. Make sure the bowl is completely free of any debris, or else whites will not emulsify.
6. Beat egg whites on high until they begin to froth.
7. Leaving mixer on high, slowly add the warm sugar to the frothy whites.
8. Once all sugar is added, add vanilla extract and continue mixing on high until batter forms stiff, glossy peaks. (Be patient, as this can take as long as 10 minutes.)
9. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
10. Divide meringue batter evenly into two separate bowls.
11. Over one bowl of meringue batter, sprinkle finely chopped cherries and pistachios, and gently turn three or four times to blend. Leave the second bowl of meringue batter as is.
For the pistachio-cherry meringues, you’ll need:
► Large star decorating tip
► Large pastry bag
► Two small food-safe paintbrushes
► Green food coloring paste
► Red food coloring paste
1. Place the large star tip into the large pastry bag.
2. Holding the tip firmly in your fingers, invert the pastry bag over your hand, until it is turned completely inside out.
3. Paint alternating stripes of red and green on the inverted pastry bag.
4. Turn bag back right side out and fill with meringue batter, dropping the batter carefully into the center of the bag so as not to smear the painted sides of the bag any more than necessary.
5. Twist the top of the bag closed and pipe batter onto prepared baking sheet in small mounds.
6. The first “cookies” will be more intensely colored than the later ones, which can be pretty. But to avoid this, work in smaller batches and repaint the interior of the bag before each new batch.
For the Nutella meringues, you’ll need:
► 1 large star decorating tip
► 1 large pastry bag
► 1 medium sized food-safe paintbrush
1. As with the pistachio-cherry meringues, put the tip in the pastry bag, grip it in your fingers, and invert the pastry bag over your hand.
2. Paint the inside of the bag with stripes of Nutella, being sure to extend the stripes all the way to the wide end of the bag. (Whatever Nutella is left after generously painting the inside of the bag can be very gently warmed to drizzle over meringues before baking.)
3. Again, turn the bag right side out and fill carefully with the plain meringue batter.
4. Pipe Nutella meringue onto baking sheet in small mounds.
Baking the meringues:
1. Place the two trays of piped meringues into preheated 175 degree convection oven (or 225 degree conventional oven).
2. Bake for 2 hours until meringues are firm on the outside and cooked through, but still chewy inside.
