French Meringues with Strawberry Ganache Filling
Ingredients
- For the meringues
- 4 egg whites
- 2 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- For the ganache
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons strained strawberry jam
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 150˚F*. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper (love this parchment paper from Costo. It lasts FOREVER!). With a pen, trace around a small round object (I used the top of a spice container, about 2-inches in diameter). Repeat tracing circles, leaving 1-inch in between, till parchment paper is filled. (I put about 18 on each sheet.) Repeat with second sheet pan. Set aside.
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Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until light and foamy.
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With mixer on low speed, add vanilla then, very slowly, add powdered sugar. Once all sugar has been added, set speed at medium and beat for 20 minutes. Mixture will be very thin at first, but will get quite thick, smooth and satiny.
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At this point you can either spoon the egg white mixture in mounds onto prepared cookie sheets or spoon mixture into a decorating bag (super cheap per bag!!) or a gallon size zippered bag fitted with a 2D Wilton tip (also called a drop petal tip) If using a zippered bag simply snip a tiny cut off one corner. Place 2D tip into bag and slip into corner opening then fill bag with egg mixture.
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To pipe meringues: start in center of one circle and swirl outward in a circular motion till circle is filled with meringue. Repeat till all circles are filled. For a great video tutorial on how to do this type of swirling, check this out.
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Bake for 2 hours or until meringues are crisp. Turn oven off and leave meringues in oven till completely cool. Remove from oven when cool .
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For the ganache and the final step for the meringues. While meringues are baking, prepare ganache; place jam and cream in a medium size microwave safe bowl. Cook on high for 1 minute**. Add the chocolate chips and allow to heat for 3 minutes. Whisk until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate for 45 minutes to an hour to thicken ganache***.
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Remove from refrigerator and whip the ganache for 5 minutes or until it's light, fluffy and color lightens slightly. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. (For "multi-colored effect see tip**** below.) Pipe (or spoon) a quarter size (or larger, if you want a thicker filling) onto half of the cookies Top with remaining cookies and compress gently till filling spreads to edges. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set ganache.
Recipe Notes
Notes:
* ~ If your oven temperature doesn't run this low, set it for the lowest temperature and prop the door open slightly with a wooden spoon while baking.
** ~ If you don't have a microwave, place jam and cream in a small saucepan. Heat until tiny bubbles are just starting to rise to the surface. Turn off heat, add chocolate chips and allow to sit for 3 minutes, then stir with a whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
*** ~ If ganache becomes too thick in refrigerator (meaning it becomes a solid mass and won't come out of the bowl), microwave it for about 10 seconds to soften slightly before mixing.
**** ~ You can add a few drops of pink food coloring to meringues or, for the swirled or striped effect you see in the photos, paint a few thin strips of gel food coloring on the inside of your decorating bag, starting at the tip end and painting about halfway up the bag.