Vegan Meringues

So. Vegan meringues. An oxymoron? Well not if you use Aquafaba, a brilliant ingredient that is fairly new to me but I am sure everybody else has been using it for years. Aquafaba is the liquid in the can when you buy chickpeas or other pulses, and can be used as a replacement for egg whites in certain recipes. I won't go into the science, because I don't know it enough but the aquafaba has similar protein structures to egg whites and can mimic it's structural properties. Don't worry, the end result doesn't have a chickpea flavour, but that could be due to the amount of sugar, and in my case raspberry purée, that they contain...

As I just said, I swirled fresh raspberry through mine but be aware of water content of such things as they can make the end result soggy...

The left over chickpeas can be made into delicious humus, or other chickpea-based delight

Ingredients. Makes loads!

200ml Aquafaba. The amount from an average can of chickpeas

1tsp White Wine Vinegar

240g Caster Sugar

20 Raspberries, or other soft fruit. Simply blitz and strain out any seeds and bits.

Method

1. Set the oven to 90 degrees fan

2. In a large bowl, start to beat the aquafaba with an electric whisk. You could a stand mixer with whisk attachment, I just don't have one. Yet!

3. After a minute, it will be getting frothy, add the vinegar and continue to whisk

4. The mixture will look like traditional egg whites, getting thicker and frothier. Now start to add the sugar, a little at a time, whisking all the time. The meringues will be getting thicker and glossy, just like the egg versions

5. When you are happy you have the right consistency (go on, try it upside down over your head) you are ready to pipe

6. If you are using a purée, you can either swirl a little gently through the mixture or alternatively, paint the inside of your piping bag with the purée then fill with the meringue mixture

7. Pipe little kisses onto greaseproof paper lined baking trays, they won't spread, but give them space

8. Bake in the oven for an 60-70 minutes. They dry out rather and bake but you might want a slightly chewy centre

9. Enjoy and marvel at the wonder of natural science!