Following our trials and tribulations as we attempt to remove all grains, many starchy vegetables and most sugars from our diet while maintaining our love of good food! We strive to make all of our recipes GAPS and/or SCD compliant. Note: We didn't know about "Grain-Free Gourmet" when we chose our name. We are not affiliated with those good folks.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Honey "Caramel" Meringues

I arrived at this recipe after modifying the ones I found online, which all called for more honey. I found that with more honey, the whites took much longer to beat, and the finished product was sticky and burned easily. These are crisp all the way through and only a little sticky. They are the color of caramel, and to a non-GAPS diet follower, calling them "caramel" will transform that odd honey flavor into something special.

To make these, I use:
about 5 or 6 egg whites
1 cup of honey
dash of salt

Method:
Combine all ingredients and beat on high for a very long time. Using the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid, I can beat it until stiff peaks form, although I wouldn't call them as stiff as normal meringue "batter". If you are not able to get to the stiff peak stage, this should still work.

Preheat the oven to about 175-200 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using two tea spoons, scoop up about a spoonful of the "batter" and drop it onto the cookie sheet, then use both spoons to form it into a flat circle. These do not spread and can be placed close together.

Bake them at least 2 hours, then check to see if you need to rotate the pans so that they will brown evenly. I then leave mine in the oven overnight with the oven temp set as low as it will go (about 150 degrees). When they are done, they will be mostly firm but still a little gooey and sticky. Turn the oven off, and leave them in the oven with the door propped open to let them dry. If after 30 minutes they are still too gooey, you can just turn the oven back on bake longer. Once they are dried and crunchy, they should immediately go into an airtight container, and make sure to close the container fully each time- these can get a little gooey if left out pretty quickly.

A FEW THINGS TO TRY FOR VARIETY:

Put peanut butter between two of them to make a sandwich cookie.

Instead of baking the batter, put it into an ice cream maker- it makes something close to soft serve ice cream that my kids love.

The batter would work well as a whip cream substitute, which would be delicious served with berries or other fruit. It would also function as a light frosting, especially if a flavor extract where used.

The batter has the taste and texture of marshmallow cream. I will be experimenting soon with trying to make marshmallows out of it.

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