Salvaging Meringue

November 30, 2017 4:00 PM

Last night I made Hot Chocolate Meringue from ATK. It was great, they are delicious! I doubled the recipe and I didn't have enough time to bake the second batch, so it went in the fridge overnight. The meringue fell because of the oil in the chocolate. If I had thought about it hard enough, I should have known. I want to know if I can do anything with what's left.

Rewhipping it won't help, I tried. Could I jury rig some kind of cookie or cake? Candy? It's shiny and chocolatey and viscous. It's holding some air, but not much. It won't hold its shape on its own so just making dollops of fallen meringue is a no go. Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe I'm googling the wrong thing, but I'm not finding any recipes. My kitchen is really well stocked. This could be just denial but I've got probably two or three cups of the stuff and throwing out something so tasty really breaks my heart. If it matters, I'm drowning in nuts, citrus and dried fruit. Please help.

posted by Bistyfrass to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

You basically already have an egg-white mousse, if a bit fallen. I'd scoop it into little ramekins, maybe top with some whipped cream or nuts or more chocolate chips, and eat it!

Or maybe run it through an ice cream maker and see what comes out?
posted by Pandora Kouti at 4:04 PM on November 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

I am not a meringue baker, but if the only problem is that they don't sit up on their own, maybe bake dollops in well-greased muffin tins?
posted by hydra77 at 4:28 PM on November 30, 2017

You have egg whites, sugar, cocoa. Flourless chocolate cookies? Or add butter, flour baking powder, and make brownies.
posted by theora55 at 6:21 PM on November 30, 2017

lucky you, you're halfway to a dacquoise.

1. Pipe or spatula your stuff in appropriate shapes (either round or rectangle) on parchment or silpat. bake at LOW temp - this is more about drying it out, yeah?

2. ok now get a filling. whipped cream is a good default; consider adding some pudding mix to it perhaps? what about some instant coffee granules and vanilla? some people use buttercream.

3. when your layers are stiff, layer them with your filling. throw it in the fridge to get acquainted and for the layers to get a bit chewy. aw yeah.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:50 PM on November 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

here is a representative example of the kind of thing I'm talking about. They're baking it at 375 though and I think this is wrong. I would do it at 300.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:54 PM on November 30, 2017

You could whip some extra whites and fold them through, that might be enough to get them to be meringues. Or almond meal, to make dacquoise as previously suggested (I'd still add whites), or a lot of almond meal or dessicated coconut and make macaroons.
posted by glitter at 5:46 AM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Could you add butter like you would for a meringue buttercream and have chocolate frosting?
posted by thejanna at 6:28 AM on December 1, 2017

You could separate the equivalent number of eggs, save the whites for another project (make more meringue, etc.), and then put the yolks in with your mixture. Then you have a reasonable base for brownies, chocolate cookies, etc. - easy stuff.
posted by amtho at 12:37 PM on April 9, 2018