Week 7: The Perfect Vegan Kiss

I don’t know which came first, the depression or the weight gain. But I suspect the two were deeply intertwined.
As a child, I didn’t recognize my mom’s moods as depression, nor was she ever officially diagnosed to my knowledge. But as an adult looking back, I’ve figured out that my mother likely had some form of manic depression. Experiencing prolonged periods of darkness when she’d be in her room for days, with the stark contrast of times when she’d have a lot of energy and we’d laugh, sing and dance to Glenn Campbell while we cooked together.
Often those high times were around holidays or special occasions. I suppose that’s why I tend to go over-the-top on special days. I even spent 15 years in a profession where the focus was on birthdays, parties and holidays… giving me the made-up title “celebration expert”.

Mom didn’t miss a holiday… Ever!  

Whether it was a major holiday like Christmas or minor one like Valentine’s Day, they were all acknowledged in some way.  She’d give us hand-painted cards, small gifts, or a special meal … Mom was always “up” during those times. So for me, holidays represent joy and connection. In my own parenting, for what I hope is for emotionally healthier reasons, I’ve taken after her and acknowledge most holidays in a pretty big way.

Which is why I was surprised to find myself not into Valentine’s Day this year.
It’s not that I don’t love my husband or adore my kids, family and friends… I just wasn’t feeling it.
Until the very last minute…all of a sudden I got a burst of creative energy and painted some Valentines… I suppose my inner creative celebration expert just couldn’t handle it any longer.
As Elizabeth Gilbert says in her book, Big Magic,
“Ideas of every kind are constantly galloping toward us, constantly pass through us, constantly trying to get our attention.”
She goes on to say and I’m paraphrasing, “if we don’t grab them (the ideas)… someone else will.
So… I grabbed ahold of  Valentine’s Day creativity at the last minute and enjoyed a delightful celebration of love!

This week’s Valentine themed meringue kiss recipe was a fun addition.

 

The Process:
Meringues have always been a favorite of mine and really there’s nothing special about my mom’s meringue cookie recipe. I realized pretty early on trying to make this recipe healthier wasn’t possible. It’s a three-ingredient recipe, where one of the ingredients is sugar…so healthier is just silly. Instead, I challenged myself to make it vegan. I’d been hearing a lot about using chickpea brine, or Aguafaba as an egg replacement and that it worked well with meringue. It was hard to imagine that chick pea brine could become a delicious light sweet cookie…I was super skeptical.
An additional substitution I made was to use Sucanat, which is dehydrated sugar cane juice, in place of white sugar. Supposedly it’s a little bit better on the glycemic index because it’s not processed… But again, sugar is sugar. Sucanat has a very strong molasses flavor, so if you don’t like the taste of molasses then use sugar.

Then in a moment of inspiration or complete rationalization…I realized that there was a way to make the recipe just a bit healthier… by using the crazy amount of time it takes for the brine to become a soft peak meringue to exercise…lunges, planks, squats.
Ta-Da! 12 minutes later with my heart rate up a bit…the meringue was done and the recipe was healthier 🙂

The Results
A perfect crisp meringue. It has a really strong molasses flavor from the Sucanat. If that’s not your thing…just use super fine sugar of your choice.

Vegan Aquafaba Meringue Kiss Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 12 Tablespoons Liquid Brine Drained from Can of Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
  or you can half-batch this recipe and save the juice for later.
• ½ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
• ¾ Cups of Sucanat (evaporate sugar cane) must be super fine….place in your blender, Vitamix, coffee grinder or
• Magic Bullet
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract (optional)
• Cacao or cocoa Powder – to be honest, I don’t totally know the difference.
• Parchment paper recommended and a standing mixer is very helpful but not necessary

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees
• Line a Cookie Sheet with Parchment Paper
• Combine the Chickpea Brine (Aquafaba) with the Cream of Tartar in the bow of a Standing Mixer
  fitted with the whisk attachment,
• Whisk on Medium-High speed until it begins to foam (approx 1-2 min).
• While whisking on Medium-High Speed, add in your sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time until dissolved.
• Add the pinch of Salt.
• As the mixture becomes thicker, drizzle in Vanilla (optional)
• Continue mixing until glossy, stiff peaks form. This can take anywhere from 7-12 minutes depending on your mixer.
• Do some squats, planks, dance or hula hoop!
• Prepare a Pastry Bag, cutting the end off a plastic bag, or drop with a spoon.
• Sprinkle powder Cacao
• Bake 45 minutes
• Shut off the oven – DO NOT open the oven door and leave meringues to dry in the hot oven for one hour. Once complete, cool, store in an airtight container.

 

 

 

 

 

NOTES:

• In my mixer, the brine and cream of tartar did not create enough fluid to make contact with the whisk. I whisked by hand a bit first.
• After making the first two cookie sheets, I added a few Tablespoons of Cacao to the remaining meringue before baking and the result was a nice chocolate flavor.
• When the meringues were done, I tossed the chick peas with a mixture of mustard, herbs, lemon and olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them in the oven to make a nice savory snack!For YOU Mom – Happy Valentine’s Day !  

Week 7 Recipe Pick
I’m travelling this week, so I had to go easy….

See you next week!

Tags: baking, cookies, holidays, sucanat, vegan