Salted Almond and Orange Blossom Water Meringues
Photographer:
It seems to fitting to pair meringues with almonds and the flavour of orange blossom flowers; they all share the similarities of being pale and delicate. Because of the nature of the orange blossom, and the belief that they symbolise purity, these tiny flowers are seen as a traditional bridal flower in many countries and therefore, their presence at these auspicious occasions comes in many forms; including the traditional way to flavour to wedding cakes – what a romantic notion.
This meringue recipe produces the most incredible results and it will become one of your fail safe recipes if you need to whip something up as a quick, sweet treat.
Ingredients
Makes 10 large meringues
--75g (3 oz) whole blanched almonds
1 tsp flaky sea salt
2 tsp water
350g (12 ½ oz) caster sugar
180g (6 oz) free-range egg whites (6 egg whites)
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp orange blossom water
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Method
--1. Heat the oven to 180°C on bake (or Vent Bake if you have it).
2. Scatter the whole almonds inside a small ovenproof dish, sprinkle over the salt and water and roast for 10 minutes, or until light-brown. Remove from the oven, chop the almonds coarsely and leave to cool.
3. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread over the water and sugar. Put in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until the edges of the sugar just begin to dissolve.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 90°C.
5. As soon as the sugar is hot enough, start whisking the egg whites in a free-standing mixer. Once they begin to froth, carefully pour the hot sugar (using the baking paper) into the running mixer and keep on whisking on high speed for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is firm and glossy. Add the vinegar, cornflour and orange blossom water and mix on a medium speed for 20 seconds.
6. Fold in almonds by hand.
7. Secure a sheet of baking paper to your baking tray by placing a little bit of meringue mix at each corner of the tray. Use two tablespoons to scoop out and shape the meringues onto the tray, making 10 similar-sized, swirly balls. Sprinkle a few slivered almonds on top of each meringue.
8. Place the meringues in the oven and bake for 4 hours. Turn oven off and allow to cool completely before removing.
yum…….i have grown up with Meringues this will be a great recipe to try
Hi Shannon,
Thanks for leaving us a comment 🙂
Let me know how you get on making the recipe – we love getting feedback.
Jess
I have a couple of questions about this recipe.
What does the water do when you are roasting the almonds, and how much do I use? The ingredients list shows no water for this, only water to go with the sugar.
I get that egg whites are either 6 ounces or 180 grams (near enough) but the sugar that is added is greater than twice in the imperial measue and less than twice in the metric measure. We have a lot more control over the amount of sugar so why not the same proportions?
Look forward to trying this, should be a great taste.
Hi Martin,
The water goes with the almonds and not the sugar. When I developed this recipe I found the water just helped the salt stick to the almonds rather than ending up on the bottom of the dish. In the end the salted flavour on the almonds adds so much to the flavour so this was my method making sure the salty flavour was not lost.
There must have been an error when the calculation was done for imperial (we don’t usually put imperial measurements on the blog only this recipe was published in a cookbook and the editor wanted to add them in). I have always used the metric measurements and I know they are correct so I’ll take the imperial measurements off to avoid any confusion!
Best of luck – these are delicious!
Thanks, trying this morning!
Thanks Martin! Let us know how you get on 🙂
Hmm, not an unqualified success, but I think I know why. In terms of flavour, everybody seems to like them, my wife really got the rosewater and I tasted more salted almonds, so between the two of us…..
The main problem was the cooking. I made about 18 large quenelles about 12 cm long and we cooked for about 4 hours but the bases were still sticking to the baking sheet a bit. Out of time and needed the oven at a higher temperature again, so they had to come out. After resting for about two hours they were quite sticky. Still got eaten though! Suspect the oven temperature is a bit low, the oven is going soon, to be replaced by (don’t want to give you too much of a plug) a Fisher & Paykell, which is how I found this recipe. But would welcome your comments.
So we put the meringues that didn’t get eaten back in the oven the next day and finished the drying. They are very forgiving! They have crisped nicely and are now where I should have got them yesterday. Thanks.
Hi Martin,
So pleased to hear you were successful with your meringue baking! Kate is going to respond in the next few days with some tips which you may find useful. Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know how you got on, we love to hear tales of the recipes we post. Jess 🙂