Meringues are one of those desserts you can whip up in a hurry, and have a sweet treat for days. They can be very soft, almost like a marshmallow, or they can be very crumbly and crunchy on the outside. These are a special variation on the plain old meringues, with coffee, and those lovely warm pumpkin spices.
You can choose to leave them uncoloured, or you can add some orange and brown colour, to mimic cute little pumpkins. I should mention that these are a tad softer than regular meringues, because that's how we like them, but if you wish, you can leave them in the oven for a little longer, to make them crunchy. And be sure to know, if you bake meringues on a humid day, they will become really sticky, really quickly.
Ingredients
1 medium egg white
¾ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cornflour (corn starch)
½ teaspoon instant coffee granules
¼ teaspoon pumpkin spice
gel food colouring (optional)
Preparation
Take a large bowl (glass or metal works best), pour in the egg white, add the vinegar, and mix with an electric mixer on high, until frothy. At this point, start adding the granulated sugar, a tablespoon at a time, mixing constantly on high. Mix for about 20 seconds between each tablespoon of sugar, to ensure the sugar melts nicely and blends into the egg whites. Once all of the sugar has been incorporated, add in the food colouring (if using), cornflour, coffee, and spices, and continue mixing on high for another minute or so. The mixture should hold stiff peaks, and be glossy, and not dry.
Spoon the meringue into a medium piping bag fitted with a large piping nozzle (or a plain round one), and pipe twelve meringues on a large baking sheet lined with baking paper, about 3 centimetres in diameter. They do not need to be spaced too far apart, as they do not expand during baking. Bake the meringues in a 100°C (200°F) oven for about 40 minutes, then turn it off, and let them dry for another 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven (they should come off the paper really easily once they are properly baked) and serve. Yields 12 medium meringues.
