The way I explore countries is through food. Not a real surprise, huh? I am taking meticulously photos of bakery displays and my friends literally have to drag me out of any shop selling cakes, sweets or chocolate. So did I tell you that I went to Sweden a couple of weeks back? I am not even going to start raving about Sweden’s ability to turn every product into a designer piece. If you think IKEA is stylish you have not even seen the tip of the iceberg. But coming back to Swedish food! One thing Swedes really love is skumbollar. Sounds like scumball, doesn’t it? Basically it is a Vegan Raspberry Mallow Puffs (German Schaumküsse). Swedes make really pretty versions of it adding creative toppings and different flavors. You find skumbollars in Supermarkets and delicacy shops. So when returning from Sweden I was determined to create a vegan version of it.
So I made use of the magical Aquafaba. Some bloggers have done an incredible amount of work experimenting with vegan meringue using Aquafaba. My first attempt was when I made my Papaya Turmeric Cake with Pomegranate Meringue. It worked out ok but using coconut sugar did not give me perfect results. So with the Vegan Raspberry Mallow Puffs I used icing sugar. I have to admit they are not too healthy but I really love them! They look great and the raspberry flavor is divine. Don’t you think they look like boobs a bit? So I guess the ladies will love them for the taste and the guys for the look!
Some aspects that might help you when making those Vegan Raspberry Mallow Puffs (German Schaumküsse):
- This recipe only uses the water of 1 can of chickpeas but this makes a massive bowl of meringue. So I ended up with way too much! But I will show you shortly what magical treats you can create with your leftover meringue. So I didn’t have enough biscuits to use all my meringue. I am guessing if I would have had enough biscuits this recipe makes at least 25-30 small mallow puffs.
- I recommend using cream of tartar, I have not tried lemon juice or vinegar – cream of tartar has really worked for me!
- Don’t make the Vegan Raspberry Mallow Puffs too large. They are pretty sweet in the first place but also you will have issue building them very high. You want them rather small but quite higI have used real icing sugar. I know – not healthy at all! Please be careful if you have to watch your sugar intake. I have reduced the amount of sugar quite a bit. Maybe you could work with less or replace with stevia. I wanted a fool proof version first which I am starting to experiment with. If you have any experinces with other sugars please share! I have tried using finely ground coconut sugar but it did not work as well.
- I made the wafer biscuits but you could buy them – take the shortcut, no issue here!
Vegan Meringue
- water of can of chickpeas
- 120g icing sugar
- 1 tsp cream of Tartar or weinsteinbackpulver
- 3 tsp raspberry powder
Drain the can of chickpeas and put the chickpeas aside. Pour the chickpeas water into a clean bowl or directly into your cake mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on a very high speed for about 3-4 minutes. Reduce the speed a bit, then slowly add the cream of tartar while increasing speed again. Let it mix for another 2 minutes. It should already be quite fluffy. Now add your icing sugar carefully while reducing the speed again. The reason you would want to reduce the speed is that otherwise your whole kitchen will be covered in icing sugar. After 3-4 more minutes the meringue will form glossy peaks and will look perfectly fluffy. Now it is time for the raspberry flavor. Add 3 teaspoons of it and mix for another minute.
Wafer Biscuit (you could also buy the waffles)
- 100g ground walnuts
- 50g date sugar
- tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp flaxmeal + 3 tbsp water = 1 flaxseed egg (vegan egg replacer)
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 tbsp buckwheat flour (optional)
For the biscuit mix the ground walnuts with the date sugar and add the liquid vanilla and the flaxseed egg. Add up to 1/2 cup of water until you get a firm dough. Add some tablespoons of buckwheat if the dough is too wet. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and using a round cookie cutter to cut out approx. 5cm big circles – basically like a shot glass. Then heat your waffle iron and bake the biscuits for 4-5 minutes but check inbetween, every waffle iron is different when it comes to heat. Remove the biscuits and let them cool. Really, I mean it. If they are not entirely cool your meringue will melt away.
Fill the meringue into a piping bag with a round nozzle. You could also use a ziplog bag and cut off a corner and use this as your piping bag. Now pipe your meringue carefully onto your biscuits trying to create height. Once you have finished piping leave your mallow puffs to rest for an hour at least so they are ready to be chocolate coated.
Melt the chocolate with help of a double boiler/microwave. Now comes the tricky part. To chocolate coat your Vegan Raspberry Mallow Puffs carefully place it on a fork. With your other hand take a teaspoon and drizzle the melted chocolate on the mallow puffs trying not to move too much. Otherwise you will end up like me letting 3 of them slip into the chocolate bowl. I guess they wanted to be eaten anyways! Let the mallow puffs rest for a couple more hours so the chocolate can harden. Store them in the fridge so they keep fresh. Since the meringue is not as stiff a the egg based version you will have to eat your Vegan Raspberry Mallow Puffs fairly quickly – they keep fresh in the fridge for 3-4 days.