Yes, and I have failed, many times.
But how do I save failed meringues?
Well basically, I turn them into little bricks of success called financiers – little bricks of moist cake that are made out of mostly egg whites.
It was an accidental sort of a discovery after I had accumulated a whole container of failed meringues in my fridge. I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them out so I decided that I was gonna try to use them in another one of my favourite recipes.
And, it works!
How do I do it?
I adjust the amount of egg whites and sugar depending on how much I’ve already used in making the meringue. For example, if I had already used 100g of sugar to make the meringue, I’ll just add 5g more sugar to bring it to 105g as is required in the recipe below.
Likewise, if I’ve already used 45g of egg whites to make the meringue, I’ll just need to add 120g more egg whites to bring it up to 165g as the recipe requires.
Then I realised, applying that same principle, you can literally use the failed meringue in almost any recipe that requires egg whites and sugar and that the pastry will surely rise, especially if baking powder is also used.
Don’t believe me?
Try this, for yourself and tag me @lovelynettetan when you post pictures your successful bakes.
This recipe makes about 18 financiers.
INGREDIENTS:
| Brown butter | 135g |
| Egg white | 165g |
| Sugar | 105g |
| Vanilla Powder | 1.5g |
| Honey | 30g |
| Almond flour | 85g |
| Cake Flour | 65g |
| Baking powder | 1g |
METHOD:
| 1. | Brown butter, sieve, set aside and let cool. |
| 2. | Preheat oven to 180°C |
| 3. | Whisk together, in a mixing bowl, egg white, sugar, vanilla powder |
| 4. | Whisk to combine sifted almond flour, cake flour and baking powder to the above mixture |
| 5. | Add brown butter, that has been cooled to between 30°C and 40°C, to the mixture above |
| 6. | Whisk well to combine, pour 32g of batter into each well-buttered cavity in the financier mould |
| 7. | Bake at 180°C for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown |