Raspberry Vanilla Pink Ombre Meringues

Little melt in your mouth meringues, my little pink petit fours meringues flavoured with raspberry and vanilla, in omber pink flowing from white to pink and back.

 I've been making meringues for many years and there always seems to be something new to add to the little sugary bites. I chose the raspberry vanilla combination to match with the colours I chose to portray the popular ombre trend we are seeing everywhere from decor and fashion, to food. 

To let the colours bleed into each other, i split the batch in 3 and mixed a bit of deep pink Americolor and magenta into the separate batches. I then started by filling the piping bag with the white, the deep pink, then then the magenta so a variation was piped onto the baking sheet. 

 The best part is, you could apply the process to any colour and go from white to deep blue, or create the colours of a beautiful sunset (i may have to try that one later).

 Hope you have fun creating and nibbling!

Raspberry - Vanilla Meringues

Equipment:
Baking sheets lined with parchment paper
Piping bag
Stand mixer with whisk attachment

Meringues:
4 egg whites at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 tsp of vanilla bean paste
1/4 tsp of raspberry extract
magenta americolor food colouring
deep pink americolor food colouring

1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2) Beat egg whites and extracts in mixer on medium until frothy. Continue beating and add cream of tartar.
3) Slowly add the sugar into the eggs. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
4) Split the meringue into 3 bowls and add 2 drops of each colouring, leaving one bowl alone to be the white. 
5) Gently fold the colour into each bowl of meringue.
6) Gently scoup the white meringue into the piping bag, then the deep pink. Do not worry if it does not all fit, we will add the remainder to the bag along with the third colour after we pipe the first batch. 
7) Pipe small meringues about an inch in size on the baking sheet, leaving about 3/4 inch between.You will see the pink start to bleed through the white, leaving the ombre gradiation of colour in the meringues as you continue to pipe.
** To pipe, hold the bag 1/2 an inch to 3/4 inch off the parchment, squeeze the bag for the meringue to come out and when the meringues are the desired size, release the pressure at the same time dipping the bag down slightly and lifting directly up. This gets much easier the more piping you do. **
8) When you have completed the first batch, fill the bag with the remaining deep pink colour meringue and the magenta. 
9) Continue piping the meringues until complete and place in the oven for baking. They will need about 90 minutes, or an hour and a half to complete their cooking. Remove from oven and let cool.