Wholesome Wednesday (raspberry peach meringues)

The boys and I have landed back in Oneonta this afternoon.  I quickly unpacked the car with Jay's help (I caught him while he was home on lunch, perfect timing for helping me unload the bags) and am taking a few minutes to upload this weeks recipe for Wholesome Wednesday.  While I was home visiting, I went over to my in-laws for dinner and I volunteered to bring dessert. I knew we were having Chinese and I wanted to make something that was light and friendly to the waistline without giving up the pleasure of a satisfying dessert.  So without any further ado.....I brought raspberry peach meringues.

This recipe is very easy to make and has a nice presentation. People will think you went to an extraordinary amount of trouble to prepare it. The only caveat is, you need a little planning to make this.  The meringues are best made several hours ahead time (even the night before), in order to give them time to dry out and get crispy.  This recipe also has no fat or cholesterol, since you're using just the egg whites.  Here's how to make them:

recipe

4 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag frozen peaches
1 bag frozen raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
whipped cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Whip on very high speed with a mixer the egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar until they form stiff peaks. (add the sugar slowly, about 1/3 cup at a time) Then add vanilla, mix about another 30 seconds.  Take the egg whites and scoop into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and set aside. (if you don't have a pastry bag, fill a large Ziploc bag and snip just one corner off about a 1/4 inch and you'll have a homemade pastry bag)  Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Pipe meringue in discs onto the parchment sheets and bake in the oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

bake on a very low oven

Shut the oven off once the meringues have turned a nice golden brown and leave them in the oven to cool, this will take several hours.  Once the meringues have dried out they will be light and crispy, no longer wet or sticky looking.

In a separate bowl combine fruit with 1/4 cup of sugar and refrigerate for several hours. The fruit will defrost and the sugar with form a light sauce. 

To assemble the dessert, place a meringue on a plate and scoop fruit over the top. Garnish with whipped cream if desired.  Store any left over meringues in an airtight container and store remaining fruit in the refrigerator.  (yields about a dozen 3 inch meringue discs)

tip: never bake meringue on a humid or rainy day, they will never dry out properly

had to take a bite, YUMMY!