CREAMSICLE MERINGUES

I must confess that I'm not a fan of meringue. Never have been and probably never will be. So leave it to Martha Stewart and her talented staff of recipe developers to entice me into trying my hand at making these beauties. Lightly flavored with orange zest and vanilla bean, they are a meringue lovers dream. What got me interested was this striping technique. It's pure genius and works like a charm. Like magic really.The technique involves using a small paint brush to make 3 vertical stripes inside a pastry bag with food color gel or paste. You can get creative by trying yellow with lemon zest, green with lime, or red with peppermint. The combinations are endless. I wonder what the effect would be if you painted each stripe a different color? Hmmm...

Here's what you'll need:

18 inch disposable pastry bag Small paint brush Food color gel or paste #805 pastry tip or any tip with a plain round 7/16" opening Tall glass for resting the pastry bag

If you look closely, you can see the specks of vanilla.

RECIPE

makes 25

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• pinch of salt
• large pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 t. finely grated fresh orange zest
• orange gel-paste food coloring

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200F
2. Combine egg whites, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds in a heatproof bowl.
3. Set bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir until the sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes.
4. Add salt and cream of tartar
5. Beat with a mixer on medium high speed until stiff and glossy peaks form
6. Meringue should be almost cool, about 7 minutes
7. Beat in zest
8. Using a small paintbrush, paint 3 vertical stripes of food coloring inside pastry bag fitted with # 805 round tip
9. Fill bag with meringue and pipe 1 inch circular shapes on 2 parchment lined baking sheets
10. Apply less pressure to pastry bag as you finish, and swirl the tip off in a circular motion
11. Bake until crisp on the outside but soft on the inside
12. Martha Stewarts recipe recommends 1 hour 15 minutes but I needed to 2 hours
13. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container

Article source:http://www.playinwithmyfood.com/home/2012/05/16/creamsicle-meringues