Vegan Lemon Meringue Kisses
Photography by Simeon Crofts
DIETARY – Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Nut-free, Dairy-free
When I first read that whipping up the strained brine from a tin of chickpeas would result in a mixture resembling the stiff white peaks of a traditional egg white meringue, I was dumbfounded. How could it be?
The science stuff
Well, the science behind vegan meringue is actually quite simple. Like egg whites, the brine from a can of chickpeas or beans is full of protein that has leached out from the legumes over time, which mimics the functional properties of eggs to create a vegan meringue known as aquafaba. Though it’s perhaps easiest to get aquafaba from a tin of ready-prepared chickpeas, you can also create the same quality of liquid by boiling legumes in water. Generally, one egg white is equivalent to two tablespoons of aquafaba. The brine from many different legumes will give a similar result; however, chickpeas are renowned for producing the best, most consistent meringue-like white peaks when whipped.
The taste
Now here’s the big question, do they taste like regular meringues (if you’ve ever eaten egg meringues and have something to compare it to that is)? The answer is, not quite, but they are pretty close! I first tried these meringues without any flavouring, and I found, though they had a nice sweet aftertaste and crisp texture, there was a distinct savoury flavour, which I can only assume was from the chickpeas. However, on round two I added a little more sugar as well as the lemon flavouring, and I can tell you it was a real game-changer! The finished meringues were absolutely delicious; sweet, lemony, crisp and a match made in heaven with the soft, sharp lemon curd. The most significant difference I would say between an egg white meringue and a vegan meringue is the texture. While a traditional egg meringue has a crisp exterior and a soft, chewy interior, a vegan meringue is crisp through and through. But I found this made it the perfect accompaniment to the soft lemon curd for this recipe.
Cream of tartar
You’ll notice cream of tartar is added to the brine before whisking. Cream of tartar is a form of tartaric acid frequently used as a leavening agent in baking, but it also helps to stabilise whipped aquafaba in the same way it would beaten egg whites, helping the mix to stand up in tall, stiff peaks. It’s essential to add cream of tartar at the start before you begin whisking to give your aquafaba the best chance of whipping up into cloud-like peaks.
Xanthan gum
This ingredient is not essential in making this recipe work; however, it does help the meringues to keep their shape before and during baking.
The curd
If you’ve been following Deliciously Free you will have seen that I posted a Vegan Lemon Curd recipe at the start of the week. You can find the recipe here. If you want to buy a shop-bought version to save time, ensure you look for a vegan lemon curd (sometimes found in health food stores) as lemon curd is traditionally made with eggs and butter.
Vegan Lemon Meringue Kisses
Ingredients:
- 1 x 420g tin (¾ cup) no added salt chickpea brine
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 160g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1½ -2 tsp lemon extract (depending on how citrusy you like it - I used 2 tsp)
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- 20 tsp vegan lemon curd (½ tsp per lemon meringue kiss) - see recipe here
Method:
- Line 3 or 4 baking trays with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 90°C/200°F.
- Using an electric hand or stand mixer, whisk the chickpea brine and cream of tartar together in a clean, dry bowl on high speed until thick white peaks have formed – this will take 5-10 minutes. It's ready once the whites are stiff enough to stay in place when the bowl is turned on its side.
- Continuing to whisk, add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time. Allow each spoonful to whisk in for 20-30 seconds before adding the next.
- Once the sugar is fully incorporated, continue to whisk as you add the vanilla, lemon extract and xanthan gum. The end result should be a smooth, stiff, glossy white mix.
- Now fill your piping bag – or use a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off – with your vegan meringue mix. If you would like yellow stripes as I have done, simply turn your piping bag inside out and paint on four lines using yellow gel colouring. Then, set back in the right way and add your meringue mix, massaging the colour into the meringue before you begin to pipe.
- Pipe your kisses on to the prepared baking sheets lined with parchment paper until you have used all the meringue mixture.
- Bake in the oven for 90 minutes then turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar (you can wedge it open with a wooden spoon) for at least 2 hours.
- Once completely cool and crisp to the touch, you can pipe a blog of lemon curd in between two lemon meringues until all the meringue kisses are made.