A crispy yet chewy meringue recipe filled with chopped hazelnuts. A great meringue recipe used for cookies, cakes and other desserts.
Prep:
Line the back of a 15" x 21" rimmed sheet pan or a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 225F with the rack centered.
Make the Meringue
Prepare meringue according to the recipe. Or follow the directions below.
Into a thoroughly cleaned, absolutely grease-free bowl, add the 4 large egg whites.
Add 1 cup granulated sugar and a 1/8 teaspoon salt to the liquid egg whites and whip on medium-high speed for about 15 minutes. Or until the meringue balls around the whisk, looks thicky, fluffy and very shiny.
If using a handheld mixer this might take about 5-10 minutes longer.
Chop the hazelnuts: Meanwhile, roughly chop 1 cup lightly roasted hazelnuts. If you plan to pipe the meringue with a piping tip, you will need to chop the hazelnuts very fine so they do not clog up the pipnig tip.
Sift: Add the chopped nuts to a mesh sieve and sift the finer nut pieces out. Use those fine pieces for something else. Use the large pieces left inside the strainer in the next step
Add the hazelnuts to the meringue and carefully fold them in. Go under, and over with the spatula to incorporate the hazelnuts into the meringue with a minimal amount of strokes.
To pipe the meringue into mounds or a disk use either a 16-inch large piping bag or two teaspoons.
If using a piping bag, fit it with a large French open star tip and fill the bag with hazelnut meringue. Twist the open end closed.
To shape the meringue mounds:
Pipe the meringues onto prepared parchment paper in 25-30 mounts, spacing them about 1 - 1.5 inches apart.
Or use the two-spoon method - scoop the meringue with one spoon and scrape it off onto the parchment with the other spoon.
Sprinkle meringues with 1/4 cup lightly roasted hazelnuts you wish. You can make the mounts as even or rough as you want.
Bake in a preheated oven at 225F for 2 hours. To check if the hazelnut meringues are done drying, remove one meringue and break it in half. Let it cool and check the center. If the center is dry, the meringues are done.
To make the disk-shaped meringue (9-inch round)
Draw two 9-inch circles on the prepared parchment paper. Turn the paper over. Set the parchment paper on an upside-down 15" x 21" baking pan/sheet.
Now, in a swirling motion, fill the two 9-inch circles with the meringue, dividing it evenly between the two circles.
Smooth the tops with an offset spatula or a knife. If you wish, sprinkle more chopped hazelnuts on the meringue disks.
Bake in a preheated oven for 2 hours for softer meringue and 3 hours for completely dry meringue.
Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar by putting a wooden spoon in the crack. Allow to completely cool.
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