Cauliflower-Potato Cheese Soup

Soup. Delicious, life-affirming, soup.

Oh it's been up and down and all around, but at any rate, I managed to get into the kitchen and make some soup.

I love soup. Always have. And lately, it's been the only thing I've really been wanting to eat, so I finally got around to making some. I've got my own favorites that I've made, I've got favorites that I want, but this time I went with a whole new soup thanks to (of course) Jamie Oliver. It's his Cauliflower Cheese Soup from Jamie's Food Revolution and ohhhh gracious.

Try. This. Soup.

And not just because any excuse to use an immersion blender is awesome.

It's comforting, it's flavorful, it's actually not really unhealthy because it's made of cauliflower. And it's simple! Insanely so, actually. I adapted it just a pinch, but even with that...well...you'll see. I added some baby potatoes I had, just Russian Blues and a very buttery type.

Ingredients:

- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 medium onions
- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
- 5 cups of cauliflower florets
- 3 cups sliced potato (you can sub this with more cauliflower, if you'd like)
- olive oil
- 1 /34 quarts of chicken stock
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper (actually, mine was a Portuguese Salt Cream but that's neither here nor there)
- basil
- 8 oz chedder cheese (grated)
- 1 TSP English mustard

Instructions: 

Peel and roughly slice your carrots, onions, and garlic. Slice your celery and cauliflower.

Put a large pot on the stove and add in some olive oil, then add all the chopped and sliced veg and mix together with some basil. Cook for about ten minutes with a lid on, askew, until the carrots/potatoes are softened but holding their shape.

Pour the broth into the pot, then let come to a boil.

Reduce the heat and summer, lid on, for about twelve minutes.

Turn off the heat, season with salt and pepper and then add the cheese and mustard, stir it in a bit and then - using your eager roommate if necessary,  use an immersion blender (or in batches in an actual blender, sure) pulse until the soup is smooth.

 Thanks, Matt!

You can serve this with bacon, if you'd like, but you can also do what I did and just cook up some chicken with lemon-pepper, slice it, and add to your bowl. Or you can leave it meatless.

Either way, this should serve 6 - 8 and is insanely delicious.

A Delightful Sunday Roast!

 EAT ME. NOM NOM NOM.

Things are going on! Lots of them. Have been for ages. Thus, no me.

But before things went pear, I did manage to cook a few things (and am, slowly, starting to cook more things again SO that's nice even with my piece of shit oven SORRY ARGH RAGE) and this is one of them.

Now, you may or may not know that I don't eat a lot of non-bacon pork. I just don't, there's no reason, and I was gathering some meats at the store for a fantastic "four for twenty" promotion and decided, on a whim, to snap up a pork roast. Now, I never feel confident when I'm cooking steak or beef that is not hamburger and I've been a similar mind about pork that is not bacon. I'm sure it's possible, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

IT IS.

I owe one Jamie Oliver a huge thanks for this, as I ended up buying the pork because I knew that he addressed pork in the two cookbooks of his that I own and sure enough, in the pages of Food Revolution, he had everything I wanted to know about making a pork roast. So I did!

And now you can!

Ingredients (serves 4 -6 people, or me and my roommate for a few days)

- one 3 pound boneless loin
- two medium onions
- two carrots
- two celery
- lots of garlic cloves (Jamie asks for a bulb, which I somehow did not have, and so I did a fair amount of cloves sliced in half, this can be changed depending on your garlic love)
- olive oil
- salt, pepper
- a potato or two, cut into bite size chunks (my addition)
- other herbs you may want include - rosemary, sage, thyme, etc. do what you like!

Take the loin out a half hour before it goes in the oven. Why? I'm not sure. Jamie says so. I trust him!

Preheat your oven to 475 F. Swear profusely at your oven for taking so damn long.

Don't peel the veg unless you want to, but wash and chop them. I do peel my garlic cloves before hacking them in two pieces, but you don't have to do anything to them if you don't want. Just pile all of the vegetables, garlic, and herbs in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. I like to stir them about a bit, perhaps lightly season.

Now, to the pork! You'll want a nice sharp knife to score the skin at 1/4 inch intervals - just do the skin/fat! Drizzle the pork with olive oil, sprinkle your salt and pepper over it, then rub it all over to really get it in there. I like to add a fresh basil leaf in between each score. Do what I do! :) Now, place your delicious pork on top of the veg.

Pop the roasting pan in the preheated oven and directly turn it down to 400 F and cook for an hour and twenty minutes. If you've got a bone in your pork loin because you, unlike me, don't mind dealing with bones in your food - then you will want to add another twenty mins. Baste the pork half way through (note to self, buy a baster) and if the vegetables look dry, splash in some water to keep them, well, not burnt. When the pork is cooked to your liking, take it out of the oven and let it rest.

Not the best picture, but shhhh, it's resting.

Now, I like to have my pork pretty much juuuust cooked through, which is when my meat thermometer hits 170 F when jabbed into the center of the thickest part of the pork. You can do what you like, but I wouldn't really suggest cooking it to a lesser temp. Be careful not to dry out your pork! That can be tricky.

Serve with roasted veg or mashed potatoes or something. A simple salad! Also feel free to get make gravy or applesauce. I've yet to actually make gravy, so I will let you know when I do!

Super Delicious Hamburgers!

 Damn, Americana.

You know, I've never before thought my hamburgers weren't delicious, even when I made them only with ground beef (and we're talking the very cheapest packet at Jewel, here) and whatever seasoning I want to try. I thought that adding a bit of butter to the center was an amazing idea and was thrilled with it. Even more exciting was the bit of butter and cheese addition to the center. Then I did what I presume many others did and experimented further, using a Jamie Oliver (yes! Food Revolution strikes again!) recipe and was pretty delighted. On the one hand - I'd go back to my simple "smack ground beef together and cook" method and be okay, but...then again...my roommate freaked out over it. And it was damn good.

They even freeze and reheat well!

So, use whatever bread or condiments you like and be delighted. I don't particularly like pickles, but others do, and I had guests the night I made this so I managed to find corn-free pickle slices (harder than you think) and a tomato and spinach (which I like more than lettuce, mostly, but I should suck it up and buy the lettuce because today I actually did want it and...you don't need to know all of that, I'm sure) and an onion and mushrooms (both of which I cooked in a bit of basily-butter) and mayo and this cranberry-mustard I picked up at Stanley's. Delicious, even though I never use mustard except in recipes. And buns! I almost never get buns. It's hard enough buying bread with my allergy, bothering to go onto buns is almost not worth it.

UNTIL IT IS.

Anyway. The method of making these burgers is much like making these is a lot like making the meatballs I showed you recently. So you'll need...and should have, if you made meatballs...

MAKES SIX

- twelve saltines
- eight sprigs of parsley (finely chopped) OR a few good shakes, if dried
- two heaped TSP honey-dijon mustard
- one lbs ground beef
- one egg
- salt, pepper, other seasonings, etc (I used cumin)
- olive oil
- butter

Smash up the crackers and mix with the parsley, mustard, and ground beef. Add the egg and some salt and pepper and any other seasonings you may desire - I used cumin. Cumin tastes amazing here. Mix everything together quite well and then divide into six and pat each bit into your burger shape - about 3/4 inch thick. I like to put a sliver of butter in the center of my burgers, I find it adds deliciousness and moisture.

Drizzle the burgers with a bit of oil and pop them in the fridge until needed.

Preheat a frying pan (or a grill pan) for about four minutes on a high setting. Then turn the heat down to medium, place the burgers on the pan, and press lightly down on them with your spatula. Cook them to your liking at three or four minutes a-side. Or grill them.

Remember - if the eaters in question are kids or pregnant or sick or something, you'll want to cook them well-done. That's no pink in the middle. If you like it less so well done (I'm a medium girl myself, I like a bit of pink) then have at. You'll be the one sick, after all, if you don't cook it through enough. Not me.

Prepare all your trimmings as you like them, and serve.

If you have extra burgers, wrap them up in plastic wrap (or waxed paper, or whatever) and pop them into the feezer in a secured fashion.

This was my Fourth of July main course, but clearly this is amazing for any time.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken or Why I Love Jamie Oliver

 Dear god. 

Lock. It. Down.

I don't want to exaggerate anything, but oh my god I completely love Jamie Oliver. The man is amazing and seems like the sweetest guy. I will genuinely be crushed if there is any scandal about him - but I will still love his food. (also, there will never be any scandal, he is a peach). If I could meet any one chef, I'd want to meet him. Of course, if I could meet any handful of chefs, that'd be even better.

Basically, as much as I detest Bobby Flay, King of Tools, I love Jamie Oliver. That, my friends, is saying something as I have broken into the conversations of strangers when Flay is mentioned.

In Jamie's Food Revolution there is a recipe for Crunchy Garlic Chicken. I can not sing the praises of this recipe enough, seriously, I died. DIED. Then came back to eat more because this is so amazing. If you aren't new to the blog, then you'll know about my quest for the perfect chicken strips. I've found them in panko, yes, but this might actually blow that out of the water. At the first go, I'm going to go ahead and say that - yes, once again - this is a Lock It Down recipe. I made a few minor changes to the original recipe, but essentially let it be.

I suggest serving this with a salad or some simple veggies, but if you'd like to go for full-blown comfort then try some mashed potatoes (to make it healthier, make it a mashed cauliflower or cauliflower-potato blend). Jamie suggests using a cream cracker, such as Jacob's, but my Jewel doesn't carry them and I didn't really feel like hunting them down. Anyway, he'd said the same thing for the meatballs, and saltines were pretty much the bomb in that.

Without further ado...

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

INGREDIENTS

- two cloves of garlic
- seven to eight saltines
- two TBS butter
- a few shakes of parsley (or four fresh sprigs)
- salt and pepper
- two TBS flour
- one egg
- two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- olive oil
- the zest of one lemon OR Garlic-Lemon Trinidad Seasoning
- OPTIONAL -Orange-Pepper (a fantastic change from lemon pepper, if you use this nix on the black pepper above)

WHAT TO DO

Peel the garlic and zest the lemon. If you have a food processor, zoom the crackers with the butter, garlic, parsley, lemon zest, and salt/pepper. You'll want to make the mixture very fine, then pour the crumbs on a plate. If you do NOT have a food processor (clearly, I do not) then mince the garlic very, very finely. Bash the crackers up and mix with the parsley, lemon zest, pepper, garlic, and salt. The butter should be softened and then stir it in with crumb mixture. Put that on a plate.

Helloooooo, crumbs.

Sprinkle the flour onto a second plate. Be thankful that you have so many saucers in your ramshackle apartment.

Beat the egg in a small bowl with a fork.

Cut the fatty bits out of the chicken. If you want more of a strip type of thing, cut them into strips. I cut my chicken breasts in half to make them thin, then lightly score the bottom of the chicken breasts. Smack them with a pan a few times (in plastic wrap, of course) to flatten them out a bit - unless, of course, you already cut them in half because it's a little late and maybe you don't want to whack things.

Dip the chicken in the flour, getting it totally coated, then dip it into the egg, then coat with the flavored crumbs. Pat the crumbs onto the chicken so it sticks.

sizzle sizzle sizzle

"Oh, that delicious smell? It's nothing...but awesomeness."

I fried mine in some olive oil for about five minutes on each side, until cooked through and delightfully golden and crisp. You can also bake them, however. Preheat your oven until it is hot as blazes (475 F yikes!) and put your chicken on a cookie sheet and bake for about fifteen minutes.

Now. You can serve them whole as they are, cut them up into strips or bits or whatever you like. Squeeze a bit of lemon on them if you'd like. Serve with the sides of your choosing. Swoon.

Poor picture, unbelievable food.

The only flaw in this is keeping the breading crisp for the next day, I chucked some in a plastic container and it didn't really keep up. It was still delicious, though. Really, I think this is much more meant to be eaten the night of, which will be fantastically easy as this stuff is killer.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

 Absolutely delicious. Garlic, a hint of spice, amazing meatballs.

I may never order this anywhere ever again.

So, there's this guy and more than this guy, there's this book that he wrote, and I love it. I love him. I love the whole kit-n-kaboodle of the whole thing. You've heard me sing the praises of Jamie Oliver before and you'll hear it again, don't doubt it. But it's only reasonable! This fellow knows how to cook!

For my birthday, my mother sent me a copy of Jamie's Food Revolution, which I'd only been going on about since it hit the shelves, and was absolutely delighted to finally have it to add in my cramped cookbook cabinet. That cabinet needs to get a big bigger. I may need a new place to store them, they're all crammed in at angles and crafty little layers and so on and forth. Very impressive. I'm going to need more room.

Not the point. The point is, this book? Amazing. Go get it. Get two! One for you and one for a friend. His theory on this is that you pass it on, and they pass it on, and so on and so forth and then everyone knows how to make good food at home! This is the first recipe I've made out of Food Revolution (and I suspect this book is also Jamie's Ministry of Food over across the pond, but that's neither here nor there) and before I fall asleep, I'm going to share this with you all.

And then I'm going to sleep so well it'll be insane.

My roommate, Matt, in awe of the deliciousness.

I made very few alterations to the original recipe, just a pinch more of this or a bit of that. The usual.

My roommate, Matt, told me that it was so good it was like I slapped the women of Italy in the face. High praise indeed!

Ingredients:

- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary (but, if your rosemary plant as dying and taken to someone's mother's house, then you could use dried - I still chopped it up)
- 12 saltines (or any plain cracker)
- 2 TSP dijon mustard (or a honey mustard is okay too)
- 1 pound ground beef
-  1 TBS dried oregano
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper
- olive oil

- small bunch of fresh basil (but dried is okay too)
- 1 medium onion
- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp Vulcan Fire Salt (for a spicy kick, you can also use cayenne or a red chile)
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes (I get both the plain type and also the ones with garlic or balsamic or onion in them, feel free to mix it up but keep an eye on your taste)
- 6 - 8 mushrooms, chopped
- 2 TBS balsamic vinegar
- 1 pound dried spaghetti or penne or whichever
- Parmesan cheese, for grating (okay, this, I did not use. I had shredded Italian cheese. And I used it.)

Here is how to make the meatballs!

Raw! Like the cavemen liked it! 

Pick the rosemary off the stalks and chop them up or, if using dried rosemary, just chop that up too. Smash the crackers until fine, and add that to a bowl with the mustard, ground beef, rosemary, and oregano. Crack in the egg and add a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix well. Go ahead, scrunch your hands up in there.

Turn it into meatballs - it should make about twenty-four, depending on the size you'd like. Drizzle them in olive oil and roll them about so they are all properly coated. Put them on a plate, cover, and pop in the fridge until ready.

These also freeze fantastically! I put some in waxed paper, to keep them from sticking I rolled them each separate and popped in them the freezer. Today, I just chucked a few in a hot skillet and BLAMMO delicious meatballs. I'm completely using this as one of my "stock up" recipes. Of which I can never get enough of. I need to start doing that more.

Back to the dinner.

To cook all!

Finely chop your onion and garlic and, if using a chile, finely slice it.

Put a pan of salted water on to boil and a heat a frying pan on med heat with a good glug or two of oil.

Add the onion to the frying pan and stir around for seven minutes, 'til softened and golden. Add in the garlic and chile and, if using fresh, large basil leaves (if not, shake in dried basil). Stir about for a moment. Add in the mushrooms and cook for a three minutes. Add in the tomatoes and balsamic, bring to boil and season to taste. Stick a lid on and let simmer, stirring occasionally.

Is the water boiling? If yes, add the pasta and cook to instructions, if not, move on.

Now. Get another frying pan. Add a bit of olive oil and your meatballs. Stir them around and cook for around eight to ten minutes - they should be nice and browned on the outside and when cut open, there should be no pink. If they are cooked through, add them to sauce and let simmer.

That one is broken because I ate part of it.

I am not ashamed.

I actually held back on a few of mine.

Now. Cook the pasta, if you haven't already, and reserve some of the cooking water in a cup. Then drain the pasta, back in the pot, and spoon half the sauce over it and add a splash of the pasta water to keep it nice and not claggy. This is where I added my set aside meat balls back to the sauce that was to be put on top the pasta. Serve, with sauce and meatballs on top, and sprinkle with some cheese or tiny (or shredded) basil leaves.

Really dig in, this is madly delicious. I had some garlic bread on the side of it and it was absolutely insanely delicious. I'm ready to call it a lockdown here and now, actually. But I will hold off.

'Cause I have a sneaky plan and until I'm ready to REALLY put into action, really unleash my crazy plan for this site here, I'll hold off on anything rash. Like locking something down a touch too early.

But do please make this, teach others, and really enjoy. It's brilliant as leftovers, as well, as I discovered today.

Insanely Delicious Brownies

Okay, my camera is still awful and it's mostly my fault since I've done little to try and fix it. For shame, for shame!

Still. This hasn't stopped me from cooking and won't stop me from posting. I made lazy lazy fish sticks dinner the other night, which was basically sponsored by frozen food (but also included some homemade mac-and-cheese) and to top off the cuteness of the whole meal, I had these out of this world brownies that I had made that morning. You know those mornings where you wake up and realize that you've been wanting to try your hand at something for ages and get right to it?

Yes, you do. Easily done when you are unemployed (still! still!!) but the idea here is the same for anyone.

I had this experience. I had been gazing at a brownie recipe for ages in my much-beloved Jamie Oliver cookbook. I'd even gone so far as to pick up walnuts and dried dark sweet cherries for it, but it had been long enough that I never really thought about it and pretty much had eaten half of the dried cherries just as delicious snacking treats. So healthy! You wouldn't know it from this recipe, but I do put in a good effort in being healthy.

At any rate, rather than post a poorly done picture of my brownies, I didn't. You've seen brownies. You know how it goes.

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Chocolate Brownies

- one cup plus two tablespoons unsalted butter
- seven oz dark chocolate, broken up (mine was part of a large bar of a semi-sweet chocolate)
- 2 1/2 oz dried sour cherries (optional) (I used dried dark sweet cherries)
- 1 1/3 oz chopped nuts (optional)
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder (mine was a dark cocoa)
- 1/2 cup flour
- one teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- four large eggs

NOTE: In addition to the changes I mentioned, the original recipe suggests some great things such as superfine sugar and organic eggs. That sort of thing. I do not have these things, but i'm sure they would make things all the better. He also suggests orange zest mixed into a bit of creme fraiche for serving, which I also didn't do. Although I did involve some vanilla ice cream.

At any rate, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. I buttered my baking pan a little, but the original recipe suggests lining it with wax paper. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl over simmering water. You know the kind, the rigged up pot/pan double boiler way. Or if you are fancy, have at the double boiler. When they are melted, mix until smooth and then add the cherries and nuts if you are using them. Mix together.

In a seperate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and sugar. Mix this together with the chocolate mixture, stirring together well, and then mix in beaten eggs until you have a silky consistency. You should eat some, just so can enjoy the deliciousness.

Pour the batter into the pan, then bake for about twenty-five minutes. Be careful not to overcook them - they should still be a little gooey in the middle although the brownies will be a little springy.

Now, I pulled out my brownies pretty much at the twenty-fine minute mark and they were maybe slightly too undercooked. This, however, did not stop me from eating them. The more-towards-the-middle brownies had a very gooey center. If this is your style, then have at because oh man was it awesome, but if you like them more cooked then I say go for it.

Seriously, these things were bangerang. (you know, bangerang! like in Hook!) Everyone pretty much ate the shit out of them. You know. Scarf, die of delight, scarf.

Flourless Chocolate Valentino Cake and Vanilla Ice Cream

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

I used a different pan (these really cute little bundt pans, actually, that my mother sent me for xmas) than a heart shaped pan. I'm also a little sure that I whipped the egg whites a bit too much but the cake was still tasty.

The ice cream was killer though. Oh man.

I don't have an ice cream maker, so I just used a bowl and my freezer. I briefly considered the old kick-the-can method of my Girl Scout days, but probably made the right choice as far as Chicago and weather goes. Also, since the challenge allowed us to choose our own ice cream recipe I used a Jamie Oliver custard recipe.

I love him. I really, really do.



- 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- six tablespoons sugar (Jamie suggests superfine, but I again ignored this)
- vanilla (honestly, I forget how much I used, but it was delicious. the book says to use a vanilla bean.)
- eight egg yolks

Mix the cream, milk, four tablespoons sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a pan. Bring to the boiling point and then remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Seperately, whisk the yolks with two tablespoons of sugar until pale. If you used the vanilla bean, take it out of the mixture. Slowly, you will pour the milk mixture into the egg yolk/sugar blend in bits. Whisk immediately, making sure that the first bit is mixed well before adding the next one. Pour the mixture back in the warm pan and cook gently for a few mins, constantly stirring. I used a wooden spoon and when the custard was thick and shiny, I made sure it could coat the back of my spoon.

I was really worried I was going to accidentally scramble it, but I snatched it off the heat and let it get cold. I then stuck it (in the bowl, not the pan) into the freezer. I mixed it every twenty minutes for a few hours, but mine started to set pretty quickly and from the living room, it was obvious how well I was doing as the more like ice cream it looked the more I cheered.

All in all, this was super fun and not too stressful. I love low stress levels.Delicious food for me, vanilla-less cake for my poor vanilla-challenged friend, and an excuse to do another Jamie Oliver recipe. (note: his ice cream/custard comes from Cook with Jamie and everyone. everyone. everyone. should buy this.)

Meringues!

I may not have mentioned it, but I absolutely love Jamie Oliver. I like the way he describes food, the way his gives his recipes - I relate to "a handful of this" or "a glug of olive oil" and things of that nature. There's room to play with his recipes and it just makes sense. So, when I ordered a (super super discounted) copy of Cook with Jamie, I was beyond thrilled with what I got. And immediately wanted to make about a thousand things but have since only made one.

Meringues! I never made them before, happened to have the ingredients and was really just itching to do something from this book. Not to mention this was at Christmas and, well, it seemed to make logical sense. I was pleased with the final product as well! I liked the slightly chewier ones, but it's personal preference.

Jamie Oliver's Basic Meringue Recipe

- six egg whites
- one cup (plus five tbs) superfine sugar (note: while this makes sense, I used the regular sugar that I had on hand and it turned out fine.)
- a pinch of salt

Whisk the egg whites until they form firm peaks - Jamie says you know that it's thick enough if you can "hold the bowl upside down over your head". I was nervous, but tried it, and was pleased. Gradually, while still mixing, add the sugar and the salt. Whip on high for about seven or eight minutes (or until the mixture is super white and glossy); if you rub a little of the meringue between your thumb and finger it should feel smooth. Grainy? Mix more, but don't whisk it too long 'lest it collapse. (no idea how long too long is, but if I didn't make it collapse, I doubt you will)

Now, if you feel like adding a flavor, this is the point to fold it in. I turned my meringue into two batches and one of them, I added a drop or two of peppermint. The other got some cocoa powder (mocha powder? hm.). I then prepped a baking sheet with foil (Jamie suggests waxed paper, but I didn't have any).

Okay. I confess. I have one baking sheet and I had a lot of meringue, so, I also spread the foil on a cupcake pan and used that as a baking sheet. This, I suspect, helped make them chewier and that made me happier. So. It all worked out.

Regardless. Take your surface and your meringue and you want to make little blobs or big ones or, you know, whichever floats your boat. Chuck them in the oven (300 degrees) for about an hour and then giggle with delight when you realize what you've got.



These can be used for other things or nommed up as-is. I was pleased and gifted some to other people. My roommate was pretty delighted and that was that. Deliciousness in action!