Sunshine Meringues

Hello Readers!

Cold weather and grey skies got you down? I have just the solution:

Admittedly not the best picture, but hey – It tastes delicious!

Sunshine Meringues!

Now, I’m not much for frilly names and froufrou titles (unless it’s the band), but I really think “sunshine” describes these treats perfectly.

So, what are they?

Simply meringues filled with pineapple curd! It’s an excellent use for the curd and the egg whites left over when making it. It’s light and crispy on the outside and creamy and tart on the inside – perfect for parties or just dessert.

Meringues are very simple to make. You just have to make sure it’s just egg whites with no yolk, or the meringue won’t form properly.

The pineapple curd recipe is from Alaska From Scratch, and boy, is it amazing!

Onward!

First, make your nests. Make one recipe basic meringue and place it in a pastry bag. You can also use a plastic bag with the corner cut off. I like using a pastry tip, too, but you don’t have to.

Next, pipe out circles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make sure to make them solid circles. Pipe another circle on top of each one, leaving the center open.

Bake for one and a half hours at 275°F. Turn the oven off and let them stay in the oven another hour with the door closed. Remove and keep of the cookie sheets for another two hours before filling.

While the meringues are baking,prep your pineapple curd. I used canned pineapple for this, but if you have a fresh pineapple use that!

In the bowl of a blender or a food processor, puree pineapple until you get a texture you like. Toss it into a saucepan. Over low heat and cook until bubbling.

Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, corn starch, and salt. Temper the mixture with small amounts of the hot pineapple puree, whisking to keep the egg yolks from curdling. Once tempered, whisk into the remaining pineapple puree.

Cook mixture until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Transfer to clean storage jars.

Once the meringue nests have cooled, use a pastry bag or a spoon to fill the centers with pineapple curd. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Sunshine Meringues

Ingredients

1 recipe Pineapple Curd

1 Recipe Basic Meringue

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 275°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Transfer meringue to a pastry bag. Pipe out circles onto the parchment paper. To form the nest walls, pipe a second layer of circles on top, making sure to leave the center open.
3. Bake for 1 ½ hours, then turn the oven off.  Keep meringues in the oven another hour with the door closed. Cool on cookie sheets another 2 hours.
4. Using a spoon or pastry bag, fill nests with pineapple curd. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
5. Enjoy!

Pineapple Curd

Ingredients

1 c Pineapple Puree

1/3 c Sugar

3 Egg Yolks

2 Tbsp Corn Starch

2 Tbsp Butter

Pinch Salt

Procedure:

1. Heat pineapple curd in a large saucepan until bubbling.
2. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Temper and whisk into the pineapple puree. Heat until it comes to a boil and remove from heat.
3. Stir in butter.

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello Dear Readers!

Do you ever get a craving for sweets? I know I certainly do, especially after working a shift in the pool. Something about the chlorine and the kiddos might be triggering a need for sugar. Maybe? Probably not. I do have a sweet tooth, though. So, to combat these sugar cravings, I decided to make cookies! Counterproductive? Maybe. Delicious? Totally.

Yum!

The recipe I used is by Amy McCoy of Tiny Farmhouse. I found the recipe in her gorgeous cookbook “Poor Girl Gourmet”, but more on that later. Definitely give her a look! I like her recipe because it makes a small but delicious batch of cookies – just what I was looking for.

I’ve made a few modifications to the recipe, including adding cloves and whole wheat flour. Oh, and more chocolate, too!

Lots of chocolate!

Start by combining your flours in a medium sized bowls. I substituted whole wheat flour for the last two tablespoons of all purpose flour in this recipe because I like whole wheat, but you can use just all purpose if you want.  Add in baking soda, salt, and cloves and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your butter and sugars. Turbinado sugar has a larger grain than regular granulated sugar, so the texture of the dough will be slightly grainer. Don’t worry though – the graininess disappears during baking and the flavor is amazing!

I cut the butter into tablespoons for easier integration.

Turbinado Sugar

After the butter and sugars have become light and fluffy, add in your egg and vanilla. I find that vanilla is pretty forgiving, so you could add more in if you’d like.

Egg and vanilla

Add in the flour mixture about a fourth cup at a time until well combined. I found that the dough was a little dry here, so I added in about a tablespoon of water to help it stick together. You could also use milk if you wanted to.

Now for the fun part! Add in the chocolate chips! I used half a bag of mini chocolate chips and half a bag of regular semi sweet chocolate chips, because that’s what I had laying around. You can use whatever type you want.

Delicious!

Spoon onto your cookie sheets and bake at 350°F until golden brown. Mine took about 12 minutes.

If you are using two cookie sheets, make sure to rotate your pans halfway through.

About a Tablespoon’s worth of dough

Allow to cool on cooling racks and enjoy!

 

Share and enjoy!

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c All Purpose Flour

2 Tbsp Whole Wheat Flour

½ tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Ground Cloves

8 Tbsp (1 Stick) Butter

½ c Turbinado Sugar (such as Sugar in the Raw)

½ c Brown Sugar, packed

1 large Egg

1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract

½ bag Mini Chocolate Chips

½ bag Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

 

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract to butter mixture, beat until well combined.

4. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture ¼ cup at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl in between until all the flour is mixed in. If necessary, add a small amount of water or milk if the dough is too dry.
5. Add in the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
6. Spoon the dough out onto two cookie sheets. Dough balls should contain about ¾ of a tablespoon of dough.
7. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, switching the top sheet to the bottom and the bottom sheet to the top halfway through. Cookies are done when golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.
9. Enjoy!