Gluten Free Tonka Bean Meringues

There is something quite magical about making beautiful meringues, whether its to put on top of a pie, or in my case, to use up the egg whites that I had left over from another dish.

The anticipation when making them, is quite exciting!

I think you know by now, that I’m always looking for new ways to enhance dishes by using the wonderful Tonka Bean.

And on Sunday morning, I woke up and thought, I’d make some to meringues, add some Tonka Bean and see how they turned out.

You know, when you want something crispy and chewy that melts in the mouth with an incredible flavour?

so I decided to make them and mine is a really simple recipe, with one essential ingredient!  If you don’t add this beauty, your meringues may not be stable.  So if you didn’t already know this one, Cream of Tartar is your friend when making meringues

OK the recipe is below, but what did they taste like?

Well, lets just say, I was absolutely bowled over with them, in fact, not only me, but also hubby absolutely loved them too!

Tonka is one of those discoveries, that once you try it, you’re captivated by their aroma, taste and what they add to sooo many dishes.

I paired them with some strawberries that I got from my garden and some of the delicious whipped cheesecake (that’s the cheesecake filling) and of course the meringues. You can get the whipped cheesecake recipe below too!

I have no idea why these taste combinations taste soooo good, they just do.

I realised when my hubby asked, “is there Tonka in that?”, that, not only was it in the meringue, but also in the whipped cheesecake too! You can never have too much of Tonka!

So we all heartily ate our plates of loveliness and savoured each mouthful.

Not only were the meringues crispy with a crunchy bite that holds in the shape they were put into the oven in,

BUT

They also had that chewiness right in the centre, you know, when you bite in and it softly and gently sticks to your teeth, just like a lovely toffee.

Oh my, are they good!

I keep my meringues simple and there is the recipe below. Before you go there, let me share me 3 tip tips with you so yours come our wonderful too.

1. When whisking the eggs, whisk on a medium speed.  Don’t whisk on a high speed as this knocks all the air bubbles our of the meringue
2. Cream of tartar is your friend, it will stabilise your meringues and is soooo forgiving. It helps them to retain their shape and prevent them from collapsing.
3.  Bake then on the lowest heat in your oven and they will stay a beautiful colour, be crispy, but still retain a little chewiness inside.

So now you know the secrets, lets make sure you’re ready to make them!

Do you have Tonka Beans? If you haven’t got a stash of these already in your spice cupboard, you can get some here.  These are the ones that I use and you can get them too by clicking on the link.

Here’s my go to Gluten Free Tonka Bean Meringue Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 8 desert spoons of sugar
• t tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tonka bean – grated

Method

1. First place the 3 egg whites in a clean bowl and whisk for 3-5 minutes, until they form stiff peaks
2. Now add the sugar to the eggs whites, 1 spoon at a time and continue to whisk. The mixture will will start to become really white, billowy and glossy
3. Add the Tonka and cream of tartar and whisk again until well combined.
4. This should make 5 meringues, I use a large spoon and drop the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper, if you’ve run out of baking paper, use foil (as I did).
5. Bake on a very low heat oven (mine was 110’C) for 1-2 hours.  I left mine for around 1.5 hours.
6. Check that they are standing proud and crisp.
7. Turn the oven off and leave them in the oven to cool. I shut the oven door to do this.
8. Leave for a couple of hours or even overnight and then place in a tin or container and they will keep for quite a few days or even weeks!

Mine never last that long though, which gives me the wonderful excitement of making them again.

I’m a great one to see what fruits I have, or those that are in a simple sugar syrup awaiting the day when  the jar is opened and the fruits can join a wonderful desert on the plate.

The whipped cheesecake is a creation from one of my fave restaurants and if you haven’t been there, please take a look and pop along. They have this wonderful recipe on their website. I can honestly say its incredible! It always tases much better in one of their restaurants, however this is pretty amazing make with love at home and its what I call whipped  as good as when you eat in! Itamar and Sarit the husband and wife couple who created Honey & Co, do such incredible food and I have to say it is my very best place to watch the world go by. If you’d like to try this recipe, here’s the link

Of course, as I can’t wat Gluten, I don’t have the Kadaf pastry, but its great on a home made cookie, or just as it is on the side of another great dish. If you ever eat in, they will happily serve the cheesecake without the base with the honey syrup and the most incredible hazelhuts on top.  They’re almost salted and add a dimension that is something quite exquisite.

Adding a final flourish to the plate, a few strawberries handpicked from my garden. I managed to pick just 7 ripe strawberries and sliced these, so we all had a beautiful taste of summer on a plate..

There are some plates that just evoke summer and I do feel this is one such dish.

And now,

I’m thinking of tonight’s finale, I have 2 remaining Tonka Meringues and there are 3 of us for dinner…

So what to do for this evening?

Well here’s my idea for tonight.

Cut the meringue into quarters, a scoop or two of coconut and cardomom ice cream, a spoon of whipped cheesecake and a few cherries that I picked and have been soaking in…

Yes you guessed it!

Tonka Infused Sugar Syrup!

So there’s the main part of dinner ready, and now for the main.

I’ll rustle something up, however the grand finale will take centre stage once again!

Till next time !

Angela

xxx

Psssst… Let me know how they turn out for you! I’d love to see!