Bridal Shower Part 4 - Meringue Sandwiches

As if making two cakes and macarons wasn’t enough, I wanted to make something for my friend’s bridal shower party favours. Keeping with the theme of “a shower in Paris”, I decided on meringues. They are so much easier to make than macarons, and as I would soon discover, sooo much more delicious.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Meringue Sandwiches

Meringue recipe from Bakers Royale

Ingredients

3 large egg whites

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon white vinegar

Gel food colouring

Directions

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Wipe down a metal bowl (e.g., of your stand mixer) and whisk with vinegar to get rid of residual grease.
3. Whisk egg whites to stiff peaks. Gradually add sugar while mixing on medium. Add vanilla and vinegar and continue to whip until stiff and glossy (there should be no granules when you rub between your fingers).
4. Add gel food colouring and beat to combine.
5. Place the meringue in a pastry bag with the tip of your choice. I used 2M. Pipe rosettes or other shapes to your liking, 1 inch apart. Smaller rosettes work better (see note at the end).
6. Bake for 90-120 minutes until the meringue easily peel off the paper. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling

Fillings are only restricted by your imagination. Some options are jam, buttercreams, marshmallow fluff, ganache, lemon curd, caramel, Nutella, cookie butter, etc.

I had leftover chocolate swiss meringue buttercream from the chocolate cake that I made for the shower.

Assembly

Spread filling on one meringue and sandwich with another. Place in an airtight container for 12 hours to ripen.This will soften the meringue and improve the texture and flavour.

Verdict: OMG these are amazing!! Go and make these right now! They are my absolute new favorite treat! The texture is so chewy marshmallow-y and delicious. So happy that I made these for the party favours.

Note: Be sure to pipe smaller rosettes as the moisture from the filling does a better job of making the meringue chewy. Larger rosettes stay relatively crunchy.

Chocolate Sable Sandwich Cookies

Today is the one year anniversary of when I received my gorgeous Tiffany blue KitchenAid stand mixer. It’s been one hell-of-a year as I put my hand mixer away and let the big boss go to town, mixing cookie dough, whipping Swiss meringue buttercream for 20 minutes until it comes together, etc., etc., (see blog for more details). It’s my favorite tool in the kitchen (next to my bamboo cutting board, ice cream scoops, and nicely weighted knives), and I’ll even go so far as to say that I’m in love(and I’m pretty sure it feels the same way)! I guess I have to say a big thank you to that cute guy that got it for me last Valentine’s Day.

For our anniversary bake, I decided to give sable cookies a go - super easy, prettily piped, topped with sprinkles, and sandwiching buttercream.

Chocolate Sable Cookies

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 ¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

½ cup + 3 Tablespoons icing sugar

3 Tablespoon egg whites, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 355 degrees F.

2.  Sift cocoa, flour, espresso, and salt into a bowl and mix. Set aside.

3.  In a different bowl, or stand mixer, beat butter until soft. Add icing sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

4.  Add egg whites and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add vanilla and beat to combine.

5.  Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

6.  Fill a piping bag with a wide tip (I used 1M). Pipe designs onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-11 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on sheet before moving to a rack.

Buttercream of your choice. I actually used leftover frosting from my freezer – chocolate and raspberry. Pipe or spread buttercream on one cookie and top with another. Enjoy!

Verdict: The sables are great because they are chocolate-y and but only a little sweet. The filling gives it more sweetness and richness, so it’s up to you whether you want to take it to that level (they are good on their own). Tip: make sure the dough is really soft before piping. I kneaded it a bit in the piping bag to soften it to a pipe-able consistency. All in all, it was a great anniversary!

Coffee Coconut Sandwich Cookies

I finally got a stand mixer!  It’s light blue – the one I’ve been eyeing for years but never bought.  It’s so pretty, I love looking at it.  And looking at it is the only thing I’ve been doing with it since I got it as a Valentine’s Day gift from the boyfriend.  He called it an expensive paper weight.

  

I finally decided to break it in, and thought I’d make a cookie based on one from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, as you need to beat the butter for 7 minutes, and I can’t think of a better way to put it to use.  I can’t believe I was doing it with a hand beater previously.  I know this mixer is going to change my life!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Coffee Coconut Cookies

Adapted from Momofuku Milk bar

Makes 23 cookies = 11.5 sandwiches

Make dough 3 days before baking

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter, room temp

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

½ egg

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup bread flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 Tablespoons instant espresso powder

¼ cup toffee bits

½ cup mini chocolate chips

½ cup shredded coconut

¼ cup oats (regular, not quick oats)

Directions

1.  Combine butter and sugars and beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.  If using stand mixer, use paddle attachment.

2.  Add egg and vanilla and beat for 7 minutes.

3.  On low speed, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and espresso powder, and mix until just combined – no longer than 30 seconds.

4.  Add toffee bits, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, and oats, and mix until just combined – no longer than 30 seconds.

5.  Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out dough and place on a baking sheet.  Store dough in the refrigerator for 3 days for best caramelization.  If you’re in a hurry, chill for 2 hours.

To bake:

6.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spread chilled dough on baking sheet with plenty of space in between.  Bake for 11 min.

7.  Immediately after taking them out of the oven, take a spatula and push the edges of the cookies so that they form perfectly round cookies.  This will make the sandwiches uniform and pretty.

8.  Cool on baking sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Before baking.

After baking.

Toasted coconut – for dipping the edges (optional)

Since you have the oven on, take 1/3 cup of shredded coconut and spread on a baking sheet.  Toast for 5 minutes or until golden.  Watch carefully!

Coconut Filling

From Joe Pastry

Best to make Part 1 a day (or more) before using the filling

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons flour

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup butter, room temperature

3.5 oz of granulated or icing sugar

Directions

Part 1

1.  In a small saucepan, combine four and coconut milk.

2.  Turn the heat to medium and whisk continuously until it reaches a boil. 

3.  After 30 seconds of boiling and whisking, take off heat.  It will be very thick.

4.  Transfer to a bowl and apply plastic wrap right up against the mixture.  Refrigerate until cool, or up to a few days.

Part 2

5.  Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  About 4 minutes on a stand mixer.

6.  With the mixer going, add coconut mixture 1 spoonful at a time.  Beat well with each addition.  If it looks curdled, keep beating until you have the consistency of buttercream.

Flour and coconut milk mixture ready for the fridge.

Filling ready for piping.

Assembly

Fill a piping bag with Coconut filling and pipe filling on one cookie.  Place another cookie on top to sandwich.  Push toasted coconut on the edges where the filling peeks out.

Store in an airtight container.  The great thing about the filling is that you can leave it out in room temperature.  Eat immediately, or if you want softer cookies, wait 12 hours.  The filling softens the cookies and makes them easier to bite into.

Verdict – These were great looking cookies!  They had a great coffee flavor and I really like the filling – not too dense, light and fluffy, and a good compliment to the cookie.  I brought them to work and served them during a meeting.  My colleagues liked them as well, and I had no problem loading them off onto them!  Took home an empty container at the end of the day!