Candied Almond Meringues
What with Passover coming up and the fact that flour is in scarce supply, I thought it’d be a great time to share these truly swoon-worthy Candied Almond Meringues. Egg whites never had it so good!
Meringues always make me think of my Grammie. She loved them so and come Passover, I’d always make sure to find the time to whip up a batch of her favorite ones. If she were still with us, I’m pretty sure she’d have a hard time deciding between those and these new ones.
That’s because in addition to being irresistibly light and chewy, these are loaded with little bits of candied, caramelized almond pieces. Major ❤️❤️❤️
I know some people get a little freaked out by the caramelization process, so I’m going to photo-talk you through it.
You start by cooking the almonds with some sugar and water.
After a few minutes of stirring, you’ll see that the sugar has begun to crystallize—keep stirring.
After another few minutes, you’ll see the sugar get kind of sandy. Keep stirring.
After another few minutes, you’ll see the sugar turn golden and mostly disappear as it coats the almonds.
Keep stirring and when it really turns an amber color and the nuts are shiny, you’re done. You turn the almond mixture out onto a greased baking sheet, add some flaky sea salt and let it cool, eventually pulverizing them in the food processor. The hardest part is trying to not to eat it all before you add it to the cookies!
All that’s left is just a whole lot of whipping of egg whites, sugar, salt and vanilla until you’ve got a gloriously sticky, stiff batter into which you fold a generous amount of those candied almonds. Yum!
You can even sprinkle more of on top of the cookies before you bake.
Light and crunchy and chewy and sweet all at the same time! Ahh, these meringues are so addictive. I dare you to eat just one!
And if you’re looking for ways to use up those yolks (no wasting, especially now) might I suggest making this lemon curd, just add a few extra eggs and you’re good to go. It lasts a long time and having a homemade jar of this in your fridge, will go a long way towards happiness now!
Candied Almond Meringues
Makes 18-20 cookies
Prep Time for the candied almonds: 15-20 minutes; Prep Time for meringue: 10 minutes; Bake Time: About 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the candied almonds
Unsalted softened butter for greasing the pan
1 cup slivered raw almonds
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, like Maldon
For the meringue
3 large egg whites
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The Recipe
1. To make the candied almonds: Very lightly grease a small rimmed baking sheet with butter and set it near the stove. Combine the almonds, sugar, and water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula or spoon until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to bubble. Continue to cook, stirring, until you start to see syrup thicken. You will start to see the sugar crystallize and become sandy looking. That’s good. You want all of the liquid to evaporate. The nuts will look like they are coated in sugar and there might be sandy bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring. Do not walk away. As you continue to stir, you will start to see the sugar begin to liquify into caramel. Keep stirring, until it becomes amber and the nuts are a deep mahogany color. Immediately turn the mixture out onto the prepared pan and try to spread into an even layer. Sprinkle evenly with the sea salt. Let cool completely. Then place the nuts into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Set aside.
2. To make the meringues: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350ºF. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. Bring a couple of inches of water to boil in a large pot. Place the egg whites, powdered sugar and salt in a heatproof bowl that fits on top of the pot in a way that the bottom of the bowl won’t touch the water (if you have a double boiler, use that). Place the bowl over the pot and whisk the whites until the mixture comes to about 120ºF on a candy thermometer, about 2 minutes. If you don’t have one, you can go by touch too—the mixture should feel hot but not scalding. Remove the bowl from the heat.
4. Transfer the whites to the large bowl of a mixer and afix the whisk attachment (or just use a handheld mixer if that’s what you’ve got—it might just take a bit longer.) Whip the mixture on high speed for about 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form. You should be able to see the whites stand up straight without curling over when you remove the beaters. Add the vanilla and beat for about 1 minute, until stiff peaks form again.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and sprinkle in ¾ cup of the chopped almonds. Use a rubber spatula to fold them in gently, not turning more than a few times. Use two large spoons to drop dollops of the mixture onto the prepared sheet. It’s ok if they are closer together than you’d normally space cookies, because these don’t spread much. Sprinkle a little more of the chopped almonds on top of each cookie and then store the rest in an airtight container.
6. Place the baking sheet in the oven, and then use a folded up kitchen towel to prop the oven door open a couple of inches. Bake until the meringues puff up, crack along the edges and feel dry to the touch. This took about 30 minutes for me—don’t be afraid to bake them longer if they don’t feel dry enough but you don’t really want to let them get brown. Transfer sheet to a wire rack and let meringues cool completely on the sheet. These are best the day they are baked but also do really well the next day if you leave them on a plate very loosely covered. They get a little more dried out and even chewier.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Where Cooking Begins by Carla Lalli Music. I subbed in chopped almonds for the whole ones and cooked these for about 15 minutes longer than the original recipe called for.
