Freehand Meringue Heart Pops
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Serves: 12
 
These fun freehand meringue heart pops are delicious and fun on their own, but they also make super cute cake toppers! This recipe makes 10-12 pops.
Ingredients
  • 2 large egg whites (about 66g or 2.3 ounces)
  • 150g granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 30g (or 1 ounce) dark chocolate
  • lollipop sticks
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 90°C/195°F (standard oven setting).
  2. Using a rubber spatula, stir together egg whites, sugar and vanilla in a medium-sized, heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a pan with simmering water (making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl) and gently heat the mixture, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. To make sure the sugar has dissolved, rub a little of the mixture between your forefinger and thumb. Once the sugar has properly dissolved, you no longer feel any sugar crystals.
  3. Take the bowl off the water bath and, using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the mixture until it holds stiff peaks, about 7 minutes.
  4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment by sticking the parchment on the sheets with a little meringue.
  5. Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a small star tip. Twist the end of the bag to seal and push the meringue down towards the tip. And go for it! Channel your inner school-girl-with-a-serious-crush and start drawing heart shapes, making sure the hearts don’t touch and that the tops are relatively flat. I made mine about 7-cm/3-inches across. I made tiny kisses with leftover meringue.
  6. Dry the meringues out in the oven for about 3 hours with the oven door slightly ajar, until completely crisp. You should be able to easily pick them off the baking parchment. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool completely in the oven (I usually leave them in overnight).
  7. Once the meringues are completely cool, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Arrange the meringue hearts onto a cookie sheet lined with baking parchment that fits into your fridge, flipping them over so that you can attach the lollipop sticks to the bottom of the hearts.
  8. Spoon about half a teaspoon's worth of chocolate on the back of the hearts (be careful when you turn them over, as they are very fragile) and place a lollipop stick onto the chocolate. Use a wooden spoon to prop the ends of the stick up to keep it level, otherwise it will fall out. Spoon a little more chocolate on top of the stick where you've placed it in the chocolate.
  9. Repeat with the other hearts, then place in the fridge until the chocolate has set. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Recipe by The Tough Cookie at https://thetoughcookie.com/2017/03/02/freehand-meringue-heart-pops/