The goal was to post a brand new delicious dessert recipe for Valentine’s Day. However, the dessert turned out to be a flop. I might have been overly ambitious with the recipe choice. In my mind, I envisioned trying the recipe once and it being a success. The very same way as a child I knew I would pick up a saxophone and immediately sound like the late, great Clarence Clemons. Some things never change. My sister, an astrology enthusiast, would refer to this as “big Tauro energy” after my sign is the Taurus… That sounds accurate.
But baking is about precision, science, and outside forces that can doom the ingredients before even starting. Therefore, I use the term “baking fail” loosely as it does require practice. Especially when dealing with meringue, a difficult and delicate dessert. One that can be affected by humidity and timing. When you add the sugar and how much you whip and at what speed all changes the potential outcome. These factors were ignored on my part. Here was the mission. To create a light and crunchy vegan meringue made with aquafaba and topped with whipped coconut cream and homemade candied lemon peels.
One component turned out beautifully though, the candied lemon peel. I followed this fabulous recipe. However, three cans of organic chick peas had to be eaten as clearly 3 times was definitely not a charm. Luckily, I was able to make hummus. I guess that is the baking silver lining. When life hands to deflated meringue, make hummus.
I wish I could say for certain what exactly went wrong. The peaks were stiff when I poured the batter onto the parchment paper. The oven was set to the right temperature. The sugar was evenly blended and not grainy. But each and every time, my beautiful cloud like meringues flattened like pancakes in the oven. I allowed them to cool and dry for hours as a final attempt at salvaging the recipe. Hoping and praying they would magically plump, but they stayed collapsed and sad.
The bright side you may ask? They tasted delicious. I mean really superb- a sweet almost vanilla flavor. They were sticky, crunchy and melted in your mouth. Now if I could just get them to hold their shape. This may have been technically a baking fail, but I still wanted to share the process and get any tips from you as to how I can improve on the fourth attempt. Do you have a trick? A failsafe? As for your Valentine’s Day recipe from Sugarpeel… buy a box of chocolates!
