I was wondering if anybody had a rec for meringue ball or cookies of some sort? I was thinking today and since eggs are lc if you put some coca or vanilla ex and splenda and bake them shortly they might be good, and lc. but i am not a very good cook and measurer so i am not sure how much of stuff and how long to cook them.
Anyway just thought i would check.
Pokey

I've made a Pavlava before and the crust is a baked meringue.

You could use four egg whites (in a GLASS bowl.. make sure no oil) whip with mixer till stiff peaks form, while whipping, add 1/4 c. to 1/2 c Splendra to egg whites.

You can either use 1 tsp. vingegar or 1 tsp. of lemon juice and if you'd like some vanilla.

The Pavlava is made by forming a large "bowl-like" form with the meringue, but if you wanted to make cookies, just make little spoonful sized drops of the mixture.

Pre heat oven to 350°

Use a cookiesheet with wax paper.

Bake 45 mins to 1 hour (till they get a LIGHT brownish color) Turn off the oven, but leave the cookies in oven for another hour or until the oven cools.

I got the idea for these little cookies from the Joy of Cooking. The warm method meringue is from the same source.

Ingredients:
4 large egg whites (1/2 c)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 c Splenda
unsweetened cocoa (optional)
1 1-oz LC dark chocolate bar
parchment paper

Set eggs out at room temperature about 2 hours before use, then separate. Save the yolks for hollandaise sauce!

Hand-whisk together whites, vanilla, cream of tartar, and splenda in a large heatproof bowl. Put a large saucepan of water on medium heat until gently simmering, then set the bowl into the saucepan so it's sort of like a double boiler. Whisk the whites constantly by hand until they are warm but not hot -- the JoC says 105-110 degrees, just a little warmer than your skin temp. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk with an electric mixer on high until they are in the stiff-peak stage.

Spoon meringue into a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe out half-dollar-sized round "caps", and "stems" like upsize-down V's, about 1/2 inch tall, onto a sheet of parchment paper in a cookie tray. The parchment paper is *very* important -- it's the only way to keep them from sticking to the tin and crumbling to bits! I always make at least 10-15 extra stems, since I invariably break a couple anyway. Dust the stems and caps lightly with unsweetened cocoa if desired.

For my home oven, I bake at 200F for one hour, then turn the oven off and leave them in the oven for an hour to cool. However, that's *really* dependent on your oven -- my fiance's oven takes about 25 minutes at 200F, his oven thermostat is completely whacked. Anyway, you want the meringue to be completely crisp, no hint of softness or marshmallow-ness inside, but try to turn the oven off before they start to turn golden. Taste a couple of the extra stems to figure out where they are!

Once the caps and stems have cooled in the oven, pull them off the parchment paper. Using a very sharp knife and working very delicately, slice off a tiny bit of the top of the stems to make a flat place. Melt the LC chocolate bars in a double boiler, the microwave, or a heavy skillet on ultra-low heat (be *very* careful with this last!). Once the chocolate has melted, spread a thin coating of it on the underside of each cap, then stick a stem onto the cap. Place upside-down on some paper towels until cooled.

Obviously, you can pipe these into different shapes to make cookies or meringue nests. If you make big shapes, you may need to bake them a bit longer, or they'll be marshmallow-ish inside (of course, I kinda like them that way too!). I have also substituted 1/2 tsp peppermint extract in place of the 1 tsp vanilla for mint-flavored ones, and I'm going to try chocolate extract too. Just be careful with the flavored extracts, they can be rather strong!

These are darling served in baskets with paper "straw", truly Martha Stewart-esque! I served these at my last cocktail party, and not only did 35 people eat two full batches, but they all left firmly convinced of my domestic-goddesshood .

The entire batch of meringue contains

Some notes on meringue:

Never try to make a meringue in a plastic bowl. The slightest trace of fat -- whether egg yolk in the whites or fat embedded in the plastic -- will prevent whites from rising properly. Always use stainless steel or pyrex, and you may want to rub the bowl out with a little salt and vinegar to be sure there's no fat in there.

Don't even bother to try these when the humidity's above 90% -- they just don't rise or cook right. This is not a rainy-day project!

Before handling the baked meringues, make sure your hands are absolutely dry -- these things melt away at a hint of moisture. Also, the baked meringues are extremely delicate, particularly the stems.

Room-temperature eggs work much better than cold eggs. Also, slightly older eggs whip better -- something to do with the way the proteins start to break down -- although they're harder to separate than very fresh eggs.

I saw this on Martha Stewart and thought it could be changed around for it to be Low Carb / Low Sugar... Just thought I would share what I had found.


Meringue Daisies Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar (1 CUP SPLENDRA)
Lemon Curd (direction follows)

1. Fill saucepan with 2 inches of water; bring to a simmer. Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Combine, using a hand-held wire whisk. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water; continue to whisk.

2. Whisk constantly until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture feels hot to the touch. Transfer the bowl to mixer and whip, using the whisk attachment, on high speed until whites are glossy and stand in stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted, about 3 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 175°. Make a pattern to use as a guide for piping by drawing twenty-four circles on a 16-by-12-inch piece of parchment paper; use a pencil to trace around a 2-inch biscuit cutter, creating four rows of six circles. Line a baking sheet with the patterned paper. Place a second piece of 16-by-12-inch parchment paper on top of the patterned paper (you will be able to see the circles through the parchment and be able to use the patterned paper again).

4. Using a medium-size pastry bag with a #11 plain tip, pipe seven petals, starting at the edge of each circle and pulling the bag into the center. (Make sure all points meet in center so that lemon curd does not seep out.) Slip the pattern from under the piped cookies, and use on the second sheet of cookies. With a wet index finger, make a well in the center of each daisy, being careful not to break through to the paper. Bake until meringue is dry in the center, about 1 hour. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

5. With a pastry bag fitted with a #11 plain tip, pipe 1/4 teaspoon of lemon curd in the center of each daisy. Chill cookies to set curd, about 5 minutes


Lemon Curd

Makes 1 1/2 cups
This curd can be prepared several days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

3 large egg yolks, strained
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
6 tablespoons sugar (USE SPLENDRA instead of sugar)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1. Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth.

3. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour. Store refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days.

A picture is located here:

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.j...rue&resultNo=10

Hi low-carbers,

I am new to lo-carbing and new to this forum. Thank you Dr. Atkins!

I tried making meringue with splenda, but the meringue just didn't get crisp the way the sugary stuff does. Is there some kind of additive I can use in my meringue to make it crisp?

Thanks,

Katt

I've never had a crispiness problem I could attribute to Splenda -- did you try baking it a little longer? Also, I've noticed when making other stuff with Splenda that it can tend toward the grainy if you don't dissolve it in something warm . That's one of the reasons I use the warm method meringue (the other is that it's supposed to hold up better in a pastry bag). If you can't just bake the meringues a bit more -- say, if the outsides are getting too dark but the insides are still mushy -- try doing that.

The only time my meringues don't crisp right is when I make them on a very humid day -- they just don't do right. It wasn't about to rain the day you tried your Splenda meringue, was it?

Thanks for the reply... I actually made a batch of splenda meringues, and sugar meringues (for the already slender members of the family!) at the same time - theirs came out all lovely and crisp, and mine was more like a sponge. Tasted good though (layer pancake-shaped meringues with whipped cream & berries... mmmm...).

I will try a few of the hints you have suggested. Thanks for your help!

Katt

Possibly a little Cream of Tarter might help.... also I think you need to let them sit in the oven to harden.