Heart-shaped Meringue Cookies

Meringue cookies are absolutely light, delicate, sweet, and delightful. They can be enjoyed plain or with a generous topping of whipped cream, fruit, or anything else you can think of! 
Today was my first attempt at making meringue cookies. As a result, they deliciously melted in my mouth. These sweet treats are so fun to make, but should be baked on a dry, warmer day. They may not turn out so well if it is wet or humid. 
Recipe
 Ingredients:
-2 egg whites
-1/2 cup granulated sugar or superfine sugar
-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 250 F. 
1. To make superfine sugar, take 1/2 cup granulated sugar and put it in a food processor. Turn on and process for about 45 seconds, until the sugar is very fine. This will help the sugar dissolve more easily in the meringue. 

Sugar in food processor

2. In a large bowl, separate two egg whites from egg yolks.

Separated eggs

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they become foamy.
4. Add in the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks are formed. To test this, turn off the electric mixer and lift the whisks/beaters towards the ceiling. The egg whites should look like small mountains, slightly bending down. 

Egg whites with cream of tartar

 5. Slowly add in the sugar. The meringue should start to develop a creamy texture. Beat until stiff peaks form. When the beaters are lifted, the peaks should stick up straight towards the ceiling. Make sure that the sugar has fully dissolved by feeling the meringue to see if it is smooth.

Final mixture of ingredients

6. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Either drop the meringues onto the baking sheet in round spoonfuls, or to create the heart shapes, place the meringue in a pastry bag, or plastic bag. If using a plastic bag, fold down the edges of the bag and transfer the meringue into the bag. Form a cone-shape with the plastic bag and snip off the tip of the bag.
8. Make heart shapes on the baking sheet, then smooth out the top with a knife, spatula, or the back of a spoon.

Meringue piped onto baking sheet

9. Bake in oven preheated to 250 F!
10. Let cool in slightly opened oven for 25-30 minutes.

Sitting in the oven

11. Eat plain, or top with any topping of you choice. 
Seen in the first picture above, I made a lovely strawberry cream topping by mixing whipped cream with strawberry jam and a tiny amount of vanilla extract. This tastes absolutely wonderful!
Enjoy your happiness in an oven! :)

Final, baked heart-shaped meringues!

**couldn't have made these without the help of the Meringue Hearts Recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/Meringuehearts.html

Mochi Donuts and Bread

A relaxing, but chilly Sunday in November... the perfect time for making mochi donuts! I am a huge fan of mochi. The sticky, chewy texture is so unique and delicious.. and it works wonderfully in baked recipes as well! So here is my first attempt at mochi donuts... 
 Ingredients:

-1 cup glutinous sweet rice flour (can be found in Asian supermarkets)
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-3/4 cups of sugar
-1 egg
-3/4 cups of milk
-2 tbsp. baking powder
-oil for frying

Procedure:
1. Mix rice flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, egg, milk, and baking powder.

Mochi donut batter

2. In a small dish, stir together sugar and cinnamon. You will roll your donuts in this!
3. Heat oil so that it sizzles when something is placed in it.
4. Drop the batter in round spoonfuls into the oil. 

5. Fry until the shape is definite and the donuts are golden-brown.

Frying the donuts. Those are my grandma's hands. ;)

6. Drain the donuts on a plate on top of a paper towel.
7. Roll your donuts in cinnamon and sugar.
8. Enjoy! :)

Additionally, I decided to try baking the batter in muffin tins.. So I lined my muffin tin with foil liners, baked at 350F for 25 minutes... and voila! A sweet round bread has formed! But it doesn't taste as good as the donuts... :-)

Baked mochi bread

Enjoy~