Hazelnut Meringue (Dacquoise)
By ctozzi
Baking (pg 40) (Makes enough for 3 round meringue disks (9 by ¼ inch)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts (pecans for caramel crunch cake)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons cake flour
- Butter for the tart rings
- 8 egg whites
- Pinch of cream of tartar, unless using a copper bowl
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the nuts on a baking sheet and toast them for about 15 minutes, or until you can smell their aroma. Remove and set aside to cool.
Turn down the oven to 275 degrees f.
In a food processor, grind the nuts with ½ cup of the sugar and flour for about 1 minutes, or until the nuts turn into a fine powder. Take care not to process them until they become oily.
Butter three 9 inch tart rings and set them on parchment paper-lined sheet pans. If you don’t have tart rings, draw circles on the parchment paper and turn it over on the sheet pan.
In a stand mixer fitter with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar (if using) on high speed for about 4 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. Then beat in the remaining sugar. Continue beating for about 1 minute more, or until the egg whites are stiff and shiny. Transfer the egg white mixture to a large bowl and fold in the nut mixture with a rubber spatula.
Fit a pastry bag with a 1/3 inch plain tip and fill it with the meringue. Starting at the centre of each circle, pipe the meringue, gradually working out in a spiral pattern, until you have filled the ring or circle. To end the piping, quickly pull back the tip, reversing its direction. Smooth the tops of the disks with an offset spatula.
Bake for about 90 minutes, or until the disks are hard, crisp, and pale brown and the centre is firm to the touch. If at any point the dacquoise starts to look too brown turn down the oven to 200 degrees F. Let cool.
If you’ve used tart rings, slide a knife around the inside of the rings and pull the rings off. Peel away the parchment paper.
Use dacquoise disks in cakes as you would rounds of other cakes, which works best if you construct your cake in a ring or springform pan.