Espumillas

The other day I tried to make a Salvadoran “Torta de Yema” and it was a complete failure. The good news is that I had a bunch of egg whites left over and I used them to make espumillas, which are like the Latin American version of meringues. As you can see, I simply dropped mine by the spoonful onto the baking sheet, but if you want to be super fancy, use a pastry bag, (or even a ziploc bag with one corner cut off), to give them a prettier shape.

Espumillas

You need:

4 egg whites (cold)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
food coloring (optional)

sprinkles and/or ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 225 F.

2. Beat whites to stiff peaks.

3. Mix in sugar little by little.

4. Add vanilla extract and food coloring. (If you want to make several different colors, separate the mixture into a few bowls before adding the colors.)

5. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drop spoonfuls of the mixture. You can put them close together because they won’t spread but make them no larger than about an inch and a half in diameter. If your espumilla is too large, it won’t properly bake/dry in the middle.

6. Sprinkle with sprinkles or ground cinnamon. (I find the sprinkles prettier but the cinnamon ones, not pictured, were tastier.)

7. Bake for 1 hour. Do not open the oven door. After one hour, turn the oven off. Leave the espumillas in the oven while it cools down for at least two hours.

8. Break one open. Espumillas should be shiny outside, dry in the middle with a crunchy texture, and sweet candy-like flavor. Enjoy!