Tool Kit:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste
- The zest of 1 orange
- Piping bag
A Few Notes:
- The ratio I find works best is 4:1 (4 egg whites to 1 cup of sugar) but if you happen to have more than 4 egg whites saved up from a previous project then adjust the sugar accordingly.
- This makes roughly 24
- So people say not to attempt anything that involves whipping egg whites when the humidity is over something like 85%. I am not sure if this is true or not since I have been too scared to try it, I don’t like wasting ingredients on purpose, so I avoid making these if there is a forecast for rain that day.
- The estimated time this takes overall is about 3- 5 hours depending on the size and if you are doing one batch at a time or if you have a double oven so plan accordingly
- You can make these pretty if you’d like by adding gel food coloring when you add in your flavorings or you could paint on luster dust at the end. Make it your own and have fun! I left mine plain because it was about 11pm by the time I finished and was not feeling anything but sleep.
Let’s Do This
Seperate your egg whites from your egg yolks and save your egg yolks for another project (I made hollandaise sauce with mine but an ice cream base sounds really good right now too.) Next add them to the bowl of your stand mixer and, with your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, set it to a medium high speed and let it do its thing.
Once the egg whites look frothy, slowly add in the sugar, and then beat the mixture on a medium high to high speed until stiff peaks are formed. This step takes longer than you think it will so be patient. You can tell if they are stiff peaks or not by turning the whisk attachment upside down (or the bowl) and everything should stay in place. Once the stiff peaks are formed add in the vanilla bean paste and the orange zest and beat on low for a minute longer.
Arrange the oven rack to the center and preheat the oven to 225 F. While you wait for the oven to warm up, fit your piping bag with whatever piping tip you desire, here is where you can make them your own design and really go crazy with it, fill up the piping bag and pipe them onto either a baking sheet lined with parchment paper OR a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. I used silicone mats for mine but use what works best for you. Put them in the oven and start checking them around the 1 hour 30 min mark. They should be solid on the bottom and not sticky to the touch.
Enjoy them within 3 days for best results.
April