Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

When I was younger, we lived in a small town. Just me, my brother and my mom. Every other Friday, Mom would pick us up from the babysitter and we would go grocery shopping. Not an exciting activity, however I didn't mind wandering through the bakery department while she was close by. As a treat, Mom would let me pick a small item from the bakery - I often leaned toward the container of colourful little meringues. They were always different colours, but I am pretty sure pink tasted the best. I can still see her face in response to my choice - scrunched up with disapproval. Mom wasn't a big fan of sweets - not the extremely sweet anyway, so she couldn't understand my love for the little meringues. There was just something about the texture, the crunchy melt in your mouth taste of vanilla, and they looked so pretty to my seven year old self.

I smiled as I made my own little meringues with my daughter, and of course I had to tell the story of my grocery store treat when I was young. I paired them with a lemon cupcake - Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. Here is a recipe for meringues if you would like to try them yourself:

A couple important tips when working with meringue: Make sure your eggs are at room temperature. Make sure all utensils, bowls etc. are clean, dry, and free of grease.

Ingredients

4 large egg whites (Room temperature)

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (You can add any flavour)

Sprinkles and food colouring (Optional)

How To

1. Preheat oven to 225º
2. Cover large baking sheets with parchment paper
3. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar and then powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time while mixing on high. Beat until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla (and food colouring if you wish) mix just until blended.

  

4. Place batter into a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe on prepared sheets to desired size. They won't expand during baking.

5. Add sprinkles if desired.
6. Bake at 225º for 1 1/2 hours, turn oven off and let meringues sit in closed oven for another 1 1/2 hours. Carefully remove the meringues from paper.

I placed my little meringues on top of lemon filled lemon cupcakes, topped with buttercream. Delicious!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day!

'Sigh' - It's Valentine's Day. The day of love for everyone, whether it's their children, spouse, friends, pets or parents. Today is the day you are sure to express your love to those that matter most in our lives. Perhaps it's through chocolates, wine (oh how I miss wine!), a romantic dinner for two, or a sentimental card. Romance is in the air today 'inhale'.....no wait....that's Lysol.

Sadly, my better half is sick as a dog today - so sick that I am nervous to be in the same house as I might catch it. Every little shift in my stomach is making me pause as perhaps it is the first sign of illness for me too. So far, it is just the baby moving around a little. I am armed with the can of Lysol and spray it around me like it's a protective shield every 30 minutes or so. It's currently 9am but I have a bad feeling about this one - if I make it to the end of the day I will feel very lucky.

On a brighter side, the kids are have a big cake raffle at their school today - this of course gave me an opportunity to make a Valentine's day themed cake. My daughter was requesting something cute with teddy bears, but I wanted to practice with flowers. Flowers are easy enough to make, even my nine year old managed to make one without guidance (she is certainly following my footsteps). I painted the leaves with food colouring to add more detail and added the fun pink hearts to add more height to the top. It was a fun quick cake to do with a really nice result.

Valentine's Day Rose Cake

May you all have a wonderful Valentine's day!

I have a new website!

I've been off work for almost two weeks now. The baby isn't due until the end of March (though I am pretty sure she will arrive earlier) but I took the extra time to prepare and relax before the big event. Since I've been home, I have done a list of 'things to do' and try to complete as the days go by. So far, since being on maternity leave I have: Washed all the baby laundry, bathed the dogs, found little velcro bows for the baby, took the kids to eye appointments, found new glasses for both of them, gone to an OB appointment, gone to a third ultrasound where they have infact confirmed it's a girl (thank goodness!), shopped for the very important baby swing, finished my 'thank-you' cards from the baby shower, and finally...I created a website for my baking!
I've gone to Weebly before to play around with their free website service and quite liked it, so I went to them again. It is very easy to work with and the finished product looks really good. I would recommend it to anyone interest in their own little website.
Anyway...please have a look and let me know what you think. I would love to hear the feedback!

http://alwayssaveroom.weebly.com/