Almond Meringue

Almond meringue layers are what you need to make the Swiss Pastry Shop's Black Forest Cake. Almonds add a nice extra crunch and nutty flavor to the light texture of meringue. You'll need to complete the following steps with 1 c. of blanched, slivered almonds:

Place 1 c. blanced, slivered almonds in a small food chopper or food processor.

Pulse until the almonds become very finely chopped.

Reserve the finely chopped almonds in a container, and proceed with the recipe for Meringue Layers and Cookies.
When the meringue is at its final stage (Right before you would put it in a piping bag, Pour the cup of finely chopped almonds along with 1 T cornstarch on top of the meringue.

Gently fold it into the mixture.

Now, put this mixture into a ziploc bag (See the instructions on Meringue Layers and Cookies)

Pipe them out in a circular pattern:

Bake the layers at 300 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Now go make yourself a Swiss Black Forest Cake!

Meringue Layers and Cookies

I came across the above book: Bake! by Nick Malgieri at the library a few weeks ago. After scanning through it, I saw he had a couple of pages about meringue layers - something I have desired to perfect so that I can re-create the Swiss Pastry Shop's (in Fort Worth, TX) Black Forest Cake.
I didn't use the exact recipe from the book, but it was a great inspiration and help to my baking of meringues. I have spent hours making meringues, and have learned a lot. I've also used a lot of egg whites! So here goes... my meringue story!
You should also know that making meringue when it is really humid outside just doesn't work. I tried making meringues in the summer when it was hot and humid, and they didn't dry out properly so they became soggy.

You will need:

• 4 large egg whites*
• 1 cup sugar, divided into 2/3 c. and 1/3 c.
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. lemon juice
• 1 pinch of salt

*To reach their optimum volume, the egg whites should be sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you use them. Also, they need to be completely free of egg yolks, and the best way to accomplish this is by separating the egg from yolk in a separate bowl and then adding it to the main bowl of egg whites you are using.

To begin, combine egg whites, 2/3 cup of sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer.

Fill a saucepan 1/2 full with water, and bring to a boil.

Place the bowl on top of the water,

and slowly stir with a whisk until

the ingredients reach a temperature of approximately 140 degrees.

At this point, fix the bowl into the mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.

Whisk on medium high speed,

and in the meantime...

Get your parchment paper ready

by tracing a circle with a thick marker on the underside of the parchment paper.

That way you can see it when you flip the paper over.
At this point your whites are still beating, and you want to let them keep beating until the bowl is no longer warm. So, you have some more time to prepare your piping bag.
I suggest you DO NOT use this (a piping bag and coupler - it will create a huge mess):

Instead, I suggest you use this:

And all you need to do is snip a tiny corner off of the edge of the bag.

Now, back to the whites, once your bowl is no longer warm, reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the remaining 1/3 c. sugar, about 1 T at a time.

Wow your whites are pretty!

So beautiful!

You can easily use a spatula to transfer the meringue into the ziploc bag, making sure to fill the side of the bag you didn't cut first so that nothing spills out of the cut hole. The meringue is pretty stiff so it shouldn't be a problem even if you aren't that careful when filling the bag.

The ziploc bag is a great choice because you can zip up the mess and never worry about it again!

You just use it as you would a regular piping bag to pipe out the meringue in a circular pattern on the parchment. You'll want to first put the parchment onto a cookie sheet.

You can also make meringue cookies by placing dollops of meringue on parchment paper:

Finally you will bake the meringue at 200 degrees for one and a half to two hours on the upper-most and lower-most oven racks. Check it at one and a half hours and touch the meringue to see if it is hard or not. When the meringue is hard and dried out, it is done. You can taste one of the cookies to see if it is nice and crunchy!

After one and a half hours, remove from the parchment and let cool! Enjoy :)

I'll be posting how to make almond meringue and use the meringue layers to make the Swiss Pastry Shop's Black Forest Cake shortly!

Hummus

Making hummus is fun, easy, and delicious! I begin with the following ingredients (pictured above):

• Olive Oil
• Lemon Juice
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Tahini
• Labne
• Water (if needed)

I don't measure when I make hummus. This makes it more fun and easier to make! Once you make it a few times, you will become an expert so just keep trying. Just taste it after you've added everything, and add more of what you like! Also, be careful not to add too much liquid at first, as it is difficult to go back once it gets too watery (Unless you add more chickpeas).

Speaking of chickpeas, they are the most important ingredient in hummus! I like to cook my chickpeas myself in a crock pot opposed to using canned ones. They turn out absolutely amazing after cooking all day! All you do is soak them overnight in water, drain the next morning, and put them in the crock pot with more water (fill to the level of the chickpeas) and garlic cloves on low all day long. At the end of the day, you can whip up some yummy, healthy, fresh hummus! I always make a lot of chickpeas when I do this, so I save some in the freezer. For the recipe I am sharing here, I used chickpeas that I defrosted from a previous time that I slow cooked them. Here they are:

I add them to the blender first. You can also use a food processor; I just don't have one :)

Add a spoonfull of labne (really thick Middle Eastern yogurt/sour cream spread),

tahini...

yum!

Add salt,

pepper,

lemon juice,

and olive oil.

Blend it up until it is nice and creamy.

Beautiful!

Oh, and I almost forgot - you have to press in a clove or two of garlic!

Spread a thin layer on a plate, drizzle olive oil on top, and sprinkle some cayenne pepper on top for looks! Serve with pita bread - or my personal favorite: naan!

 

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