Pistachio Meringues

How to make Pistachio Meringues

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Makes 8 to 10

Ingredients 

2 oz (50 g) unsalted, shelled Pistachio nuts

2 egg whites, at room temperature

1/3 cup of sugar

Special Equipment's required:
An electric mixer

• Preheat the oven to 185 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Put the Pistachio nuts on an unlined baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, then place on a clean dish towel and rub to remove the skins.
• Finely grind half the nuts in a food processor and roughly chop the rest.
• Put the egg whites in a large, clean, grease free metal/glass bowl and, using a electric mixer, beat until very stiff peaks form. 
• Gradually add the sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition, until half of the sugar is incorporated.
• Fold in the remaining sugar and ground Pistachio nuts very carefully making sure you do not knock any air out of the mixture, which could deflate the meringue.
• Place heaping tablespoons of the meringue onto the line baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between them, since they will spread as they bake.
• Top each meringue with the chopped Pistachio nuts. Bake the meringues for about 50 minutes, or until they crisp and dry, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside to cool completely. This will help to minimize the amount of cracking.
• These meringues keep very well for up to a week, if stored in an airtight container.

Tips

• When you separate the egg whites - make sure, the yolk doesn't get into the egg whites.
• Do not go over board on the sugar, as they tend to get very sweet.
• Test for stiff peak - Take a utensil and stick it in the mixture, then draw it out forming a little peak or tail; if it sticks up, it is a stiff peak, if it droops over you may want to consider whipping it more.