Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space [Meringues] -

Looking back in my blog archives, J. Spaceman and his Spiritualized has served as my muse several times. And I am going to use him again for this foray into food coloring, partly because I’m finally able to listen to him again and partly because the trend of “galaxy” foods is so visually enticing.

So here they are, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space Vegan Meringues:

1 can of chickpeas for 3/4 cup of aquafaba
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Vegan Galaxy making: I used Americolor 101 (Super Black), 148 (Midnight), 122 (Violet), and 127 (Fuchsia); I used Wilton’s White-White Icing Color for star flecks and Wilton White Pearl Dust for some luster.

1.) Preheat the oven to 200 F. Prepare three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2.) Prepare the pastry bag (fitted with large star tip) with stripes of Super Black, Violet and Fuchsia like below. Set the bag aside.

3.) Strain the chickpea liquid (aquafaba) from can. It should be about 3/4 cup. Pour into bowl for stand-up mixer (fitted with whisk attachment) and add the cream of tartar. Store chickpeas for other purposes.

4.) Beat aquafaba for 2-3 minutes until soft peaks form. The cream of tartar really stabilizes and builds peaks far more quickly than without. While this is happening, get your sugar measured out into a bowl and get your vanilla extract and Midnight food color nearby.

5.) Keep your mixer going as you add Tablespoons of the sugar gradually. I added the vanilla gradually as well, adding 1/4 of it every few Tablespoons of sugar.

6.) Once all sugar and vanilla are incorporated, beat for 5-7 minutes on high speed. After this time, I began adding Midnight food coloring to the bowl as it continued to mix. Do this until desired color is achieved. I stopped at a darkish grey.

7.) Scoop into piping bag and pipe meringues onto parchment. They don’t look all too impressive at this point, but do not fret. Let them bake in the oven for 1 hour.

8.) After the hour has passed, check their dryness. You want them very dry. I let mine bake in the oven another 20 minutes. Then I turned the oven off and let them sit in there for 45 minutes to dry out more.

9.) After dry, put out on counter to complete cooling. If they are cool, they lift from the parchment cleanly with a firm pull. I lift them all before the next step but set them back down on the parchment.

10.) In a small bowl, squeeze some white color. With a saturated toothbrush or short-haired paintbrush, flick white speckles upon the tops of the cooled meringues.

11.) With another brush, brush on the pearl dust to their tops. Viola! Now take a bite of space. And take a bunch of pictures.